Compost= Counts as Carbon Offset Credit!

Compost=Carbon Offset Credit!  The folks that brought the world the Carbon Offset Credit have added a new line to their regulations..............you can reduce your carbon footprint by COMPOSTING!  Check out the full story at the American City & Country website.

Or better yet, here is a direct link to the Current Organic Waste Composting Project Protocol

Is your state composting?
The US Environmental Protection Agency has a map of the USA on their website detailing composting programs BY STATE!!  WE are a COMPOSTIN' NATION!
Well not all of the states are listed YET, but many more than I expected.  We are starting to realize the importance of our 'waste'.  CHECK out the EPA:  Where YOU LIVE & COMPOST!

RE-THINK-RE-USE: How I "composted" my leaking fish tank

When my old fish tank started to leak I was at a bit of a crossroads. It isn't recycleable here in Seattle (suprizingly). There were a couple options (for the environmentalist that I am): give it away on craigslist OR do something else with it. Well..........I have a clear glass coffeetable and the 10 gallon aquarium fit just perfect under it. I decided to create a living table ..........I filled the tank with stones I had collected and a couple of terracotta pots filled with plants that I had rescued.   With glass on three sides, a piece of 'junk' became a lovely terrarium.

LET IT RAIN~!! Rain Gardens in Seattle

Seattle -the RAIN city-has a pilot program that grants landowners rain gardens!  Designed by landscape architects and approved by the city what are being called "RAIN GARDENS" are not only improving the visual landscape of the Seattle, they are helping limit run off, flooding, and drainage problems. Check out the City of Seattle's Rainwise Program-Seattle Public Utilities .  This program is currently available in only one neighborhood --Ballard-- (Gotta love Ballard!).  Hopefully it will be branching out to other neighborhoods too!

In addition Steward Partners - a local (Northwest) non-profit is helping landowners create their own rain gardens! 

LET IT RAIN!

Wanna put in a rain garden?  Check out these websites:

Rain Garden Network

Rain Garden Design Templates

Raingardens.org

Rain Garden How To Book

Click on the book images for more info!

 



How to save green by going green

I found this great booklet "Good Stuff" which discusses how to do what you do in life in a "green" way. Check it out! We can do simple things that will save the planet and help us save money!

Or check out the following website:

The Green Guide -By National Geographic

Check out some books on the subject from your local library:




photo found at Phoenix City Living Blog

COMPOST needs to be COLLECTED in all CITIES!

Diary of a Compost Hotline Operator:  Edible Essays on City Farming, by Spring Gillard

Back in 2002 (that is almost 10 years ago now....I know time goes by so fast), the EPA created a pamphlet for city officials to use. It details how to set up a recycling/composting service. WHY is it that Seattle seems to be the only place in the USA that is composting regularly and has made it costly NOT to compost? Check out the EPA suggestions here---EPA COMPOSTING

I am going to try to find as many communites that I can that are composting and list them on this blog. Hmmmm. I will start with the City of Seattle ---

For all the details visit the City of Seattle utilities webpage

then check out what all the compost makes! Cedar Grove Composting company transforms what would normally go into the dumpster into COMPOST!

Just read that SEATTLE was the first city to make composting FOOD waste (that includes meat, cheese, and anything that can bio-degrade that had food on it --ie pizza boxes, etc) a mandate (you get fined here --includes apartments and resturants!!) and hay hay San Franscico has jumped on the bandwagon realizing that NOT only does composting the city's food waste cut down on stuff going into the landfil, it CREATES material that can be sold back to the community as a commodity --lawn and garden compost. Oh yeah and the 'gross me out dumpster smell'? GONE! Exactly what does a dumpster smell like you wonder when everything but styrofoam can be recycled or composted? Well, honestly it smells like nothin' .

Check out these resources:

Implementation of an Urban Community Composting Programme
In-Depth Studies of Recycling and Composting Programs: Designs, Costs, Results : Urban Areas

The utilization of municipal wastes: Report on the processing of urban wastes in a mechanized composting plant (CSIR research report)

Guerilla Gardening -Seattle

 
On my walk back to my apartment from the postoffice in Capitol Hill/Seattle I found a garden. Situated in an open space on the other side of a parking lot. LOVE IT! GO SEATTLE. THERE SHOULD BE NO LAWN (in the traditional sense). WHY in the WORLD should we have a lawn that requires chemicals.......... to be green?
Repeat after me "NO LAWN--PLANT GARDENS--NO LAWN--PLANT GARDENS"