“Protecting what’s still in the ground and rebuilding the soil carbon in our agricultural systems is pretty much a no-brainer, because of all the multiple benefits that we get. In a lot of our farming systems, soil carbon levels are at a state where, if you improve them, you get benefits in terms of water regulation, water quality, stabilising production and resilience in the systems.”
This is why we need to push for municipal composting as hard as our parents did for municipal recycling (in addition to implementing the things talked about in the article)
But while you’re campaigning, you can also get started yourself. Composting is dead simple, since it really is just letting stuff rot until it turns into dirt. Guides online tend to get really complex talking about ratios, what not to put in, turning it regularly, keeping it moist, etc - and that stuff will make it happen faster, but rotting is rotting. It’s gonna rot. All you really need is a corner of your yard to throw organic waste onto. No meat or dairy because it stinks like high hell, nothing cooked or salted, but egg shells work, as do most any plant products (including paper/cardboard). Put your waste in one pile until it’s decently large, then start putting it in another pile nearby while you wait for the first one to decompose and turn into rich black (carbon-filled!) soil
Or if you don’t have space or a garden to put the soil in, you can use services like ShareWaste and MakeSoil to connect with others in your area who are already composting. But all this is assuming you don’t already have a municipal program - there may be one that you’ve never heard about! Either way, restoring soil is free and easy and something we can all help with! Get composting!
