LocalNews
It may not be sexy, but composting food scraps can save millions of tons of food from the landfills and cut methane emissions. Landfills currently account for 17% of the country’s methane gas emissions./ Photo by Table to Farm Compost
Sequestering superhero When it comes to combating greenhouse gas, one need only look in the trash by Kathleen O’Connor
I
n the fight against climate change, one superhero sidekick is not getting the full recognition it deserves. Despite working diligently every day to combat greenhouse gas emissions, it remains mostly underappreciated worldwide. With Earth Day just around the corner, let’s take a moment to shine a light on this unsung hero whose superpowers are threefold. Not only does it divert tons of methane gas from entering the atmosphere, but it also assists in capturing carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas culprit, and transforming it into carbon – the energy currency utilized by all biological systems on the planet. All this while adding nutrients and increasing water retention in the soil, minimizing the need for herbicides and pesticides, and contributing to healthier, more resilient plants, crops and gardens. Yes, I’m talking about compost.
But why is it so important? According to the Environmental Protection Agency, in 2018 alone, Americans threw away 103 million tons of food scraps, sending them directly to the landfill. Here in Durango, we send around 1,300 tons of food waste to the landfill annually. Once there, these food scraps and other organic materials are buried deep within the landfill in an oxygen-deprived environment. In the absence of oxygen, this organic waste releases methane into the air. In the U.S., around 17% of our methane emissions come from landfills, more than coal mining and livestock manure combined. As methane has approximately 25 times greater heat-holding capacity than carbon dioxide and contributes significantly to further planetary warming, this is bad news. But here’s the good news: something simple can be done with minimal effort to combat this. And it costs way less than a Tesla. Yes, I’m talking about composting again. Every banana peel, eggshell and sundry that we compost
"% '
instead of throwing in the trash can help transform what would inevitably become methane emissions into a powerful tool for growing plants while also assisting in the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In other words, we’re recycling carbon in the carbon cycle where we and the Earth can benefit from it indefinitely, rather than releasing it into the air as methane gas. Carbon farmers, unite! Table to Farm Compost co-owners Monique DiGiorgio and Taylor Hanson, in partnership with the City of Durango, are working together to get the word out on the vast benefits of composting and the concept of “carbon farming.” Carbon farming describes the process of pulling carbon dioxide from the air and sequestering it into soils and plants through regenerative agricultural and gardening practices. This results in greater below-ground carbon storage via plants, fungi, soils and associated microbes. Basically, the soil serves as a carbon reservoir that can hold up to three times more carbon than Earth’s atmosphere.
'
'
& !
telegraph
" # '
&
!
&
& $ %
April 21, 2022 n 13
