My Climate Change Summer TBR, TBW, and TBL // Phewf That’s a Confusing Title

Who came up with the concept of summer vacation? Like, let’s make kids go to school for 5 days a week for 180 days and burn themselves out by learning so much and getting up early, and then let’s give them a many week break on which they lose about half of the knowledge they gained? It. Makes. Zero. Sense. Zero.

Heya! ‘Tis Naomi, and welcome to the SSCC!

Alright, I need to explain the title, don’t I? Alright, so for those who don’t know, a TBR (To-Be-Read) is a list of books that you want to read. So I was like, I should make a climate change TBR for summer! And then I was like, well, I want to watch and listen to things to. Hence, “TBW” (To-Be-Watched) and “TBL” (To-Be-Listened(-To)). Got it? Ohkay, great. Let’s get into this post!

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

I have this book and really want to read it (especially after Kaashvi reccomended it). It’s a nonfiction book (I’m a fiction person) and not super climate changey, but it’s an environmental book that people say started the environmental movement. Seems like something I should read, right?

Goodreads | Amazon

Not my image

Not my image

The Overstory by Richard Powers

My mom read this book a while back and liked it, but that was when I was younger and not so interested in all this. But then I saw it on a list of “eco-fiction”, and thought that, whoah, it looked really good. Trees, activists, and artists? Say no more. This one is on the top of my list.

Goodreads | Amazon

Be More Vegan by Niki Webster

OrdinaryFabGirl recommended this one to me (I asked for book / movie / show / podcast recs in one of my last posts), and it looks so amazing! If anyone feels like getting me a gift for no reason, this is what you should get. Recipes AND information about how eating less meat helps the environment? I need this book!

Goodreads | Amazon

Not my image

Kiss the Ground (Netflix, Vimeo)

This is kinda how I got my mom to get Netflix, and we still haven’t watched it. But it’s fine. I’m sure it’s fine. We’ll get to it, and hopefully we’ll get to it this summer. Oh, I’m supposed to be talking about the movie? Well, in a sentence, it’s apparently a very hopeful climate change documentary and I’ve heard tons of good things about it, so there’s that.

Trailer | Website

Not my image

Not my image

Chasing Coral (Netflix)

I found this one in my list of movie reccomendations from Animation Day, and thought it looked amazing! This one is more ocean-y, centering around coral bleaching (which is when coral basically dies because of the rising temperature of the water).

Trailer | Website

Not my image

How To Save A Planet (Gimlet)

The TBL is a little different since most of these podcasts are ones I’ve LISTENED to before, but just wanna listen to more. How To Save A Planet is an awesome podcast about… well… how to save a planet, and I really need to listen to more episodes!

Trailer | Website | Spotify

Iowa Chapman and The Last Dog (Gen-Z Media)

I’m relistening to a bunch of Gen-Z Media podcasts right now because I binged through literally all of them and now I only get around 90 minutes of new podcasts each week, which isn’t enough. I really wanna relisten to this movie-length audio drama about a girl and a dog in a climate-change-ruined world.

Trailer | Website | Spotify

Not my image

And that’s that! This post was a bit lengthy, but whatevs. See ya Monday!

Happy Green Roof Day! // All About Green Roofs

I’m still getting used to this whole summer thing. I mean, theoretically, it’s amazing because I can like get stuff done and stuff, but um having nothing to do makes it hard for me to feel like doing ANYTHING, and so… welp. Problems.

Heya people! ‘Tis Naomi, and today we’re talking ’bout green roofs (as I promised we would in Friday’s post – look at me, keeping my promises!). I was actually really surprised that I had never written a post on green roofs before, so I did a search on it multiple times… but apparently I’ve never really talked about it before. So, uh, here you go!

Green roofs are basically gardens planted on top of flat-roofed buildings. There’s a lot of layers under and each of them does SOMETHING to keep the plants alive, keep roots manageable, keep water in the right places, or all of the above.

Well, green roofs provide a whole bunch of benefits, but this is a climate change blog, so I’ll focus on the three things they do to help fight climate change. And what are those three things? Well.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com

The first thing is that a green roof, being a green roof, has plants, and those plants, being plants, go through photosynthesis. And if you weren’t aware, when plants go through photosynthesis (so they can, like, make food and stuff), they take carbon in and turn it into oxygen. And, boom, you help climate change. MAYYYBE you don’t make the biggest difference in the whole world, but you make a difference. Woo-hoo!

The second thing is that a green roof makes it so less energy is needed to heat/cool a building. It both provides insulation (wich keeps said building warm), and makes it cooler (because those black roofs are hot and make the building hot and.. that’s not good). And less energy means less greenhouse gases being created to create that energy, so yay!

Photo by Alireza Kaviani on Pexels.com

And the final thing is that a green roof helps the roof last longer. The national park service says that a green roof can last up to twice as long as a normal one. And the less repairs are needed, the less materials and machines are needed. And materials and machines aren’t good for our earth either. So ta-da!

“Green Roofs.” Www.gsa.gov, http://www.gsa.gov/governmentwide-initiatives/federal-highperformance-green-buildings/resource-library/integrative-strategies/green-roofs.

National Park Service. “Green Roof Benefits—Technical Preservation Services, National Park Service.” Nps.gov, 2019, http://www.nps.gov/tps/sustainability/new-technology/green-roofs/benefits.htm.

—. “What Is a Green Roof—Technical Preservation Services, National Park Service.” Nps.gov, 2019, http://www.nps.gov/tps/sustainability/new-technology/green-roofs/define.htm.

And that’s that! I hope you learned a good bit about green roofs from this post and happy green roof, eyewear, yo-yo, Russian language, drive-in movie, and gardening exercise day!

Yes, I decided on a wim to make a new sign-off. Thoughts?

Hello June, Goodbye May! // Yeah, I’m Alive

I am so tired of movies. We watched like a million on our last days of school and just like uuuuuuuuuugh. But, ya know, whatever. I’ll be fiiiiiiine.

Heya! ‘Tis Naomi, and no, I’m not dead. Nearing the end of school, I was in a kinda weird mood where I like couldn’t get ANYTHING done. Blame it on the movies we watched basically the whole school day for a week. But school’s out! And so I’ll hopefully have more time to write blog posts and do all the other things I need to do – except for that one month that I’m away for almost all of. But we’ll get to that when we get to it.

Right now, we’ve got a post to write!

Goals

1. Stick to the schedule
   *ahem* Well you see, I did it really well for like the first half of the month. But um. Well.
2. ACTUALLY do SOME kind of work on This Precious Planet each week
   I did! I did! You hear that everyone? I ACTUALLY COMPLETED A GOAL. Except, uh, it wasn’t This Precious Planet – it’s The Dreamer now. But whatever. I worked on my story and released the prologue!
3. Get The Marrow Thieves back out and finish it, watch Kiss The Ground, and maybe watch Don’t Look Up.
   Oh yeah. That. Well uh – no, no, and no? I kinda forgot about this one…

This Month’s Media

Thanks for asking, but I don’t think I read or watched anything climate change-y this month. Sorries. I’ve got lots of summer reading to do!

Goals

1. Publish at least one more chapter of The Dreamer.
   Pretty easy goal. I think.
2. Stick to the schedule.
   We’ll… we’ll try.
3. Read/watch some environmental stuff!
   Since I failed last month.

Holidays

It’s great outdoors month, and in light of that I’ll try to get some outdoors-y posts out there! And ALSO, June 6 is National Green Roof Day – which yay, because for some reason I haven’t really talked about green roofs on here yet!

And that’s all for today, folks! I’ll see you on Monday with a post about green roofs, and now I better be off – bye!

Question of the day: Do you have any environmental movie, book, or show recommendations for me?
Action of the day: Spend some time in nature!

Happy Belated Earth Day! // My Second Trip to DC ft. a Climate Protest, City Bikes (Again), Learning About New Energy, and a Lot of Water

I really need a book therapist (which HAS to be a thing… right?). I finished Salt to the Sea and (sorta spoiler alert) EVERYONE IS DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAD (well not everyone, but still) AND I REALLY THINK… I should write the post. Heh. Heh. Heh.

Heya! ‘Tis Naomi, and I’m here today to tell you about what I did for Earth Day Weekend. I’m not going to go into aaaall the details because, well, it’s not a lifestyle blog, but I thought it would be fun to share some of the climate change-ey things I did!

Here goes…

The whole reason that I went down to DC was a climate protest, and that was the initial idea of this post – to tell you about my experience! I went to the Fight for our Future protest – there weren’t a whole lot of people there and it was super hot, but the speakers were really good! We saw people from The White House and Fridays for Future as well as The Sunrise Movement.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com

There were also QR codes to scan and actions to take – I couldn’t find the link to send emails/post tweets, but I was smart and sent myself the petition we signed to impose stricter laws on heavy-duty vehicle pollution, so you can sign it here!

Photo credit: Canva

I really hate biking on these things near water. And around crowds of people. Which was basically my entire experience. So like, I kept almost crashing into people and almost falling in the water and my dad kept seeming like he was going one way and then going a DIFFERENT way and so… welp, that was terrifying. But it was really fun! And useful.

Cause like, we were running late to pretty much everything, it was faster than walking, safer than public transportation (COVID-wise), and more eco-friendly than riding our own car. It was also way easier than bringing our own bikes and cheaper than renting them like normal. Perfect!

*I did an entire post on city bikes last time I visited DC that you can find here.*

Since it was super hot out and I needed to fill up my water bottle (more on that later), we stopped in the first museum we could find – which was the American History Museum.

We went to the gallery Places of Invention, where we saw an exhibit about Fort Collins, Colorado, where they’re making new, clean energy! I’m not going to talk too much about it because I’m planning on doing a full post on it later, but the whole town is basically going green! It’s super cool.

It was really hot. And I only had one water bottle. Which meant the whole trip I was looking for as much water as I could possibly find, and the thing I actually want to talk about is the boxed water that I drank – they were giving out boxed water at the climate protest, and I was SOOO THIRSTY, so I obviously got some.

Photo by Julia Sakelli on Pexels.com

So anyway, bottled water is plastic, right? And plastic is bad not only for the seas, but for the air too. Plastic production creates a bunch of carbon and chemicals (coming soon: Plastic Pollution // A Full Post), which is horrible for our environment. So… boxed water is better (hey, that’s the slogan of the company that creates this water!).

I’d still advocate for reusable water bottles, but boxed water is way better than plastic water bottles! Go check their website out right here.

And that’s it! I’m really bad at lifestyle posts, but like whatever. They’re fun to write once in a while… Anywho, see ya Friday!

Question of the Day: Have you been to any climate protests before? Do you want to go?
Action of the Day: Sign the petition I mentioned (it’s here if you don’t want to scroll up).

Answering Google’s Questions About Climate Change // Part 1

Spring is so weird. Like, it’s freezing cold in the morning and then it’s sooooo hot in the evening and,.. I just hate it. Oh, hi. What? *speaking from the distance* oooh, well, weather kinda has to do with climate change, riiiight? *more speaking* FINE. Whatever. I’ll do the post…

Heya! ‘Tis Naomi, and today I’m answering google’s questions about climate change (or at least attempting to). I’ve seen a bunch of bloggers doing “Answering Google’s Questions About…” posts, but I got today’s inspiration from Maggie’s post.

Oh, and! Before I forget. Nope, I’m not dead – sorry I missed posting yesterday, I had blogger’s block for a week. Anyhow, without further ado… the post!

Why is climate change important?
Well, so. Do you want a 100-page essay or a paragraph? *speaking from the distance (I guess I’m writing this post with help from an audience member)* The paragraph? Ok then. Well, according to WWF, we’re losing animal species at 1,000 to 10,000 times the rate we would if humans didn’t exist. The sea levels are rising, which means that countries on the coastline will eventually disappear. There are wildfires in California that you can sometimes see across the country. And we have roughly 10 years to stop the worst of it. Does that convince you that climate change is important?

Why is climate change bad?
I’ll just refer you back up to the previous question.

Why is climate change happening?
We humans, by using fossil fuels and participating in other activities (such as large-scale farming), have released way more greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, etc.) into the air. This traps heat in our atmosphere and has… a lot of other effects on the earth.

Photo by Marcin Jozwiak on Pexels.com

Why is climate change good?
It’s not. While climate change may have some positive effects, such as increased plant growth in some places, this is not guaranteed and also presents the problem of invasive species growing better as well.

When is climate change tipping point?
Well, that question doesn’t necessarily have a simple answer. In general, we probably have around 10 years to stop climate change before it’s too late. However, smaller tipping points kind of… add up to that? For example, say that 20-25% of the Amazon Rainforest is cut down. This would disrupt the cycle of water evaporating into the air, which would cause most of the remaining rainforest to die out. If this happened, the rainforest would let out a lot of CO2, therefore contributing greatly to climate change. There’s a loooot more to talk about here, so expect a post on tipping points in the future….

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

When is climate change going to affect us?
Now. The wildfires in California might not be caused ONLY by climate change, but scientists believe that climate change is one of the causes of them. There’s been a dramatic rise in severe weather rates in recent years, leading scientists to believe THAT’S caused by climate change. Climate change warms the waters, which bleaches the coral reefs, which means less fish for us to eat. This isn’t a future problem. This is a now problem.

When is climate change going to stop?
Well, climate change isn’t going to just STOP. There’s a certain level of climate change that is irreversible at this point. We can’t bring back extinct animal species or refreeze glaciers. But if we can stop our emissions, we can stop climate change from getting much worse. It all depends on us.

Photo by N Jilderda on Pexels.com

Cho, Renee. “How Close Are We to Climate Tipping Points?” State of the Planet, 11 Nov. 2021, news.climate.columbia.edu/2021/11/11/how-close-are-we-to-climate-tipping-points/.

Herring, David. “Are There Positive Benefits from Global Warming? | NOAA Climate.gov.” Www.climate.gov, 29 Oct. 2020, http://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-qa/are-there-positive-benefits-global-warming#:~:text=Also%2C%20studies%20show%20that%2C%20up.

NASA. “The Causes of Climate Change.” Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet, NASA, 23 Mar. 2022, climate.nasa.gov/causes/.

WWF. “How Many Species Are We Losing?” Panda.org, 2020, wwf.panda.org/discover/our_focus/biodiversity/biodiversity/.

Phew, that was a long post for me. I tried to keep my answers short, but well. It didn’t work amazingly. This was one of those posts that made me want to go write a lot of other posts so that I can elaborate on all the things I talked about. But anyhow, thanks for reading to the end! See ya Friday!

Question of the Day: What was your favorite question in this post?
Action of the Day: Try not to use any plastic for a day!

Earth Day is Coming Up! // 5 Ways to Celebrate

Guess what? I actually talked to not-my-friend-people this week! Aren’t I SOOO AMAZING? (I mean I’m very very introverted and literally can’t talk to people so) The- Uh. Hi. Sorry. Yeah. The post. Moving on.

Heya! ‘Tis Naomi Domi, and I’m here today because, well, Earth Day is in 11 days and I thought I’d give you some ideas so you’re not just sitting around on earth day. Cause, like, who wants to do THAT?

I actually did this last year, but ya know, you need a refresher, right? Plus I have new ideas. So. There.

Without further ado… the post!

Ok, ok, I know. I think I was just talking about how basic trees are, but WHATEEEEVER. They’re still cool. Soooooooo planting trees. This is actually sort of a bunch of ideas squished into one, so let’s just do a list.

1. Go to a tree-planting event with OneTreePlanted. I’m not sure what places they HAVE tree-planting events, but you can check here to see if they have one near you! And *cough cough* parents…. *cough cough* I think this is a GREAT idea and we should go to it this year…
2. Buy a tree or 2… or 10… or 20… or 100 that will be planted in a forest where they’re needed. OneTreePlanted ALSO has a program like this – you pay money and they plant a tree! Pretty simple. Here’s the link to THAT.
3. Buy a tree and plant it in your backyard! I recommend getting one from The Arbor Day Foundation.

This one is pretty simple and very versatile. Write and/or share something earthy! You could write an earthy poem, a cli-fi story, or an informative post. You could reblog something, share an article with your friends, tell someone about a great earthy book you read. You could write a blog post, post to social media, or send an email. You could do something that I can’t even think of!

I think that’s enough. Not much explaining for that one!

I was actually gonna include write and/or share in this part, but I really hate transitioning into lists, so I separated the sections. When I say “educate”, I mean educate yourself. Maybe read an article or a climate change-ey book (*cough cough* I have a lot of recommendations on here if you search, like “book”). Or you could listen to a podcast (I recommend “The Big Melt” or “How to Save a Planet”) or watch a video. Just learn something about our earth that you didn’t know before! Pretty simple.

As for attending something, you might have to do some of your own research because I kinda live over here in the US and you all live… lots of different places, so I can’t find things you can all attend in person. HOWEVER, I can suggest two awesome events to watch! The first is Earth Day Live, which has a bunch of different speakers talking about the earth. Second is the Earth Day 2022 Virtual Stage, which is… pretty much the same thing, but see which one you like better!

Okay, okay, this isn’t the BEST category, but seriously! Explore earthday.org. They have a bunch of cool things to do and even some events that might be near you! Just go. Look at the website. Please?

And that’s that! Have a great Earth Day and I’ll see you Friday (well, ya know, I’ll see your… words?)!

Question of the Day: Do you have plans for Earth Day?
Action of the Day: Do one of the things on this list for Earth Day!

Hogwarts Houses + Cli-Fi Books! // This is Bound to Be Interesting…

I know bookish posts aren’t everyone’s favorite posts, but like, erm. I really wanted to do this post, so deal with it. Please? *tries to smile sweetly but probably ends up looking like a maniac but whatever that’s fine*

Heya people! ‘Tis me (aka Naomi), and today I’m popping into your reader or email or… whatever you’re reading this on with a post about… well… exactly what the title says. I’ll be “sorting” cli-fi books into Hogwarts Houses!

And welp, that’s it for my intro. Here we go!

I’ve always wondered why Ravenclaw isn’t called, like, Eagleclaw or something… anyone have an explanation?

Can I just say that ALL books are for Ravenclaws? No? Ok, ok, I’m THINKING.

Am I putting my favorite book in my house? Uh, maybe. Seriously though, this is such a good book! The writing might not be for everyone, but it was so poetic and descriptive and the whole mystery of this book required me to use my brain power so much and OMG IT WAS JUST SO GOOOD!

The whole world (a climate change destroyed world with houses in the sky) was just so creative, so Ravenclaw.

My review || Goodreads

I actually have a good book to put in this one! Here we go!

Ah this book was so good. Yeah, yeah, it’s kind of a middle grade book and for younger people, but I think it’s (one of) the most climate change-ey cli-fi books I’ve come across! It’s got really good themes, and… just read it.

But anywho, I’m putting it on the list as a Hufflepuff-y book because, like, ANIMALS AND KINDNESS and just so many Hufflepuff vibes.

Goodreads

Yeeeah I know I’m kind of stretching on this one. I’m in the middle of The Marrow Thieves, but so far I’d say it’s giving me some brave people vibes. I mean, seriously. The main character’s brother literally gives up his life so that the main character can survive. I think that’s brave in a way. So. There. Totally good reasoning.

Anyhow, this book took me forever to decide to read, but I finally have and I’m liking it so far!

Goodreads

Oh Slytherin. Let’s see…

I dub this one Slytherin because, well, vibes. But also, well, I’m trying to keep this spoiler-free, but like there’s a lot of Slytherins in this book, ok? I think you pretty much HAVE to be Slytherin to survive in a world where everyone is sick. Ya know?

I have no idea whatsoever how I feel about this book, but you should give it a try if you think it might be a good book!

Goodreads

All done! I’ve been wanting to write this post for forever, so thanks for humoring me. Welp, I’ll see you Monday!

QOTD (question of the day): Have you read Harry Potter? If so, what’s your house?

AOTD (action of the day): Read one of these books and share it with a friend!

It’s Tell a Lie Day! // Climate Change Myths

Butterbeer. Is. Awesome. Period. Anyone out there had it? (And no, for those of you who are wondering, I’m not actually drinking alcohol. It’s a Harry Potter thing – not alcoholic) My friends and I had it today and it was so yuuuuuum…
Ok, yeah, yeah, I know. What does this have to do with lying? Or climate change? Or… anything? K, you’re right. Nothing. Try number two!

Heya people (and the rest of you)! ‘Tis Naomi, and because NationalToday says that it’s Tell a Lie Day, I decided why not do a myth-busting post? I’ve actually DONE one before, but that was for April Fools and back in the Naomi-is-slowly-figuring-this-out-but-not-quite-there-yet phase, so I thought I’d try again! Plus, sadly, there’s a lot of different myths out there to bust.

So… enough talking. Who’s ready to bust some myths? *chorus of “me”s*

Here we go!

Ok, so um. Even though it’s Tell a Lie Day, I’m not going to tell a lie… or, well, withhold information.

I actually kind of fell into this lie. Back when I was so basic that I was obsessed with trees (ok, trees are amazing, but they’re seriously overrated), I did a web search and found that the Amazon Rainforest apparently absorbed 20% of the world’s carbon emissions. This fact was confirmed across a BUNCH of sources, and even government officials confirmed it.

But then, uh, a while later, I was listening to The Big Melt and their myth of the day was… that. So I changed the post where I wrote it, but I never actually talked about it. So now we all know! Ta-da!

This myth is that renewable energy is unreliable because when the sun doesn’t shine or it isn’t windy, the energy won’t work. Well, if renewable energy was this unreliable, would California be close to a third of the way to all renewable energy? No.

Renewable energy can be used even when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing, because it can be stored.

A lot of people believe that not all scientists agree that climate change is real, but that’s not the case. Actually, 97% of all scientists agree on climate change. Enough said.

“Climate Change Myths: Sorting Fact from Fiction.” Environment, 21 Dec. 2010, http://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/climate-change-myth?loggedin=true. Accessed 5 Apr. 2022.

Gen-Z Media. “The Big Melt.” Spotify, open.spotify.com/show/0zO7CfWsLphvYtYKzPNILu. Accessed 5 Apr. 2022.

WWF. “10 Myths about Climate Change.” WWF, 2000, http://www.wwf.org.uk/updates/10-myths-about-climate-change.

Alrighty roo! Have a great day/night, dear friends! I’m doing so well on my schedule, agreed? *smiles because she is so amazing*

Anywho, see ya Friday!

QOTD (question of the day): Do you know any climate change myths that I didn’t talk about?
AOTD (action of the day): Try to talk to a climate change skeptic about climate change!

Future // A Poem

I so can’t take risks. Period. Like seriously. We’re playing a stock market game in school, and I bought like 5 stocks in all. My friend has about 30. It’s uh… it’s really great. I guess we’ll see how life goes? I m– yeah ohkay ohkay I get it we can’t listen to me rant cause the title told you it would be a poem and not a rant and so… moving on.

Hiya! ‘Tis Naomi, and welcome (or welcome back) to The SSCC! Today I’ll be sharing a poem… partially because that actually appears to be everyone’s favorite type of post and partially because, welp, I felt like writing a poem. *shrugs*

So anywho, there’s not much else to say in this intro, so sit back (but not so far that you can’t read this post), relax, and enjoy the poem!

10 years later,
Or 20,
Or 1.

What will we think?
When we look back,

To when we were on the brink,
Of this world going extinct.

Will the world turn to mud,
Be soaked with blood?

Will we look back,
And think…

We should have worked harder,
Been smarter.

Should’ve known that less is more,
We shouldn’t have kept score.

Will the world stay green,
Will we keep it clean?

And will we look back,
And think…

We worked hard,
Kept this world from turning boneyard.

The impossible,
Turned possible.

The grass green,
The rivers clean.

Is it too much to ask,
Before we become the past…

We learn to work smarter,
And harder.

We learn that the thing,
Is to be loving.

We learn that there’s a planet,
That we cannot forfeit.

Is it too much to ask,
That we act before this is all in the past?

That’s that! I hope you enjoyed – this one was actually sorta similar to the previous poem I did but… different…

Well, anyhow!

QOTD: Do you have any ideas for poem prompts (they should be environmental, but I mean, I could probably try and spin anything into being environmental… *shrugs*)

AOTD (action of the day): Check out a thrift store!

I’ll see you Monday (3 days on the schedule – I’m so amazing)!

This Magical Thing Called Compost // I Might Have Found Another Obsession…

Did you know that it’s March 21? YES, I SAID MARCH. 21. Like, wha-huh-wha?? I’m giving a presentation to a bunch of scary adults in 9 days and I thought I had more tiiiiiime *dies* Ok, ok, I know what you’re going to say. This has nothing to do with compost (although I mean I’m talking about compost because of said presentation but like whatever).

Greetings friends! ‘Tis Naomi here and today we’ll obviously be talking about compost – I’m doing a slide in my presentation about compost and thought, well, why not share some information with you?

So, here ya go. Enjoy!

(Ok, I admit I’m not good at transitions. But uh. Oh well.)

Food waste accounts for 6% of greenhouse gas emissions – this is because landfills emit methane, a greenhouse gas that is over 25 times more potent than carbon and accounts for about 20% of our greenhouse gas emissions. Said methane is emitted because trash that is dumped in the landfill is decomposed anaerobically (without oxygen).

So can you guess how the food you (correctly) compost is decomposed? You guessed it, aerobically (with oxygen)! This means that the food you compost does NOT emit methane.

Photo by Emmet on Pexels.com

Alrighty, ready for the second point? We’ll just assume you are (told you I can’t do transitions).

Compost means good soil. And good soil means more carbon captured. How? Well, plants capture carbon (a well-known-ish fact) and they store said carbon in the ground. Soil that is richer can store more carbon, and compost is much richer than normal soil.

Compost can be done outside or inside, with food scraps or grass clippings (or, well, both), with worms or without worms.

If you’d like to do indoor composting, you just have to find a container to put your compost in and you’re pretty much ready to begin! I recommend this post for a little bit more information on indoor composting.

If you’d like to do outdoor composting, the process might be a little bit more complicated. Find a good spot – usually shady and near water – to compost, and then I recommend building some sort of fence to keep the compost from just being a… pile in your backyard.

Photo by Sippakorn Yamkasikorn on Pexels.com

No matter what TYPE of compost you’re doing, you’ll want to regulate the amount of greens and browns you use. What are greens and browns? Well, they’re the two different types of materials you compost.

Greens are vegetable scraps, grass clippings, coffee grounds, etc. while browns are leaves and paper.

But, well, knowing what greens and browns are isn’t really helpful unless you know how much of each thing you need in your compost pile, and the answer to that is… well… not clear.

Literally every single website I’ve looked at has given me a different number, so I’ve learned that it’s not going to be a universal thing. My advice? Experiment. If your compost pile is getting smelly, add some brown. If it’s not hot, add green. Sound good? Great.

Final rule: have fun with it and stick to it! It’s going to take some time, but you’ll get there eventually (probably).

Bruggers, James, et al. “Your Trash Is Emitting Methane in the Landfill. Here’s Why It Matters for the Climate.” NPR.org, 13 July 2021, http://www.npr.org/2021/07/13/1012218119/epa-struggles-to-track-methane-from-landfills-heres-why-it-matters-for-the-clima.

How to Save a Planet. “Waste, Worms and Windrows: Domingo Morales’ Quest to Make Compost Cool.” Open.spotify.com, 17 Mar. 2022, open.spotify.com/episode/36qB5r3TJmyYkZwp9wfmVx?si=fc75ed901fc3499e&mc_cid=04470d4792&mc_eid=38fefa196b&nd=1#login. Accessed 21 Mar. 2022.

US EPA. “Basic Information about Landfill Gas | US EPA.” US EPA, 9 Apr. 2019, http://www.epa.gov/lmop/basic-information-about-landfill-gas.

—. “Importance of Methane | US EPA.” US EPA, 8 Oct. 2018, http://www.epa.gov/gmi/importance-methane.

US EPA, OLEM. “Composting at Home | US EPA.” US EPA, 9 Sept. 2019, http://www.epa.gov/recycle/composting-home#benefits.

And that’s that! I’m doing super well with the schedule, agreed? 2 days strong!

QOTD: Do you compost? Do you want to?

AOTD (action of the day): Start a compost pile!

See ya Friday!