Dare to Care - March 24th 2023

Addressing Climate Change: Composting

As we begin spring, consider composting your food and lawn waste at home or where compostable waste is collected, such as neighborhood Farmer’s Markets. In some areas, curbside compost pick up is available either as part of the municipal composting program or for a monthly fee. 

Benefits of Composting

Improve soil: Gardeners and farmers use compost to improve soil and return nutrients to the food web. They may even use compost instead of soil to grow plants. Mature compost is a stable material with a content called humus that is dark brown or black and has a soil-like, earthy smell.
Reduce methane emissions: Organic waste in landfills generates methane, a potent greenhouse gas. By composting food waste and other organics, methane emissions are significantly reduced.

How to make it

Create compost by combining organic wastes, such as food waste, yard trimmings, and manure, in specific ratios in piles, rows, or containers. Add bulking agents such as wood chips, as necessary to accelerate the breakdown of organic materials; and allow the finished material to fully stabilize and mature through a curing process.

Microbial decomposition of the compacted (pile, container) of organic material generates heat. The high temperatures destroy pathogens and weed seeds that regular decomposition does not destroy. 

For more information go to our sources: Sustainable Management of Food, The Environmental Protection Agency; Compost Council of Canada 

Sustainable Development in Haiti: Ertha Pascal-Trouilot

For National Women’s History Month, we recognize Ertha Pascal-Trouilot’s impact in Haiti. When the Duvalier dynasty ended, Ertha Pascal-Trouillot was serving as Chief Justice of Haiti's Supreme Court. In 1990, she became Haiti’s first female president and the first female president of African descent in the Americas. She is credited with organizing peaceful, democratic elections after 29 years of dictatorship. (From the Beyond Borders facebook page).

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