We line up and make a lot of noise about big environmental problems like incinerators, waste dumps, acid rain, global warming and pollution. But we don't understand that when we add up all the tiny environmental problems each of us creates, we end up with those big environmental dilemmas. Humans are content to blame someone else, like the government or corporations, for the messes we create, and yet we each continue doing the same things, day in and day out, that have created the problems.
Sure, corporations create pollution. If they do, don't buy their products. If you have to buy their products (gasoline for example), keep it to a minimum. Sure, municipal waste incinerators pollute the air.
Stop throwing trash away. Minimize your production of waste. Recycle. Buy food in bulk and avoid packaging waste. Simplify. Turn off your TV. Grow your own food. Make compost. Plant a garden. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem. If you don't, who will?”
― Joseph C. Jenkins, The Humanure Handbook: A Guide to Composting Human Manure
Feel free to discuss this quote, in the comments just remain civil
@compost 29 years on the humanure system, since I read the first edition of The Humanure Handbook. Joeseph Jenkins is a hero to me. Actions speak volumes.
@compost@jmbushcraft the most convenient and simplest. Local is better, homegrown is best. But a cube of fine wood shavings from tractor supply works fine.
@jmbushcraft those are not so easy to compost, we use that for your chickens, but I was able to have a fine compost with it. Making hugelkultur mounds with those works great.
That would be my first choice as well if I am not able to find local wood chips, thank you for sharing this.
@compost@jmbushcraft agreed it is not ideal, but as a first step not terrible. Better than the status quo. We run a busy off-grid camp where humanure is the secret ingredient to composting everything that will rot. And we can get sawdust from a local mill. I think it is more important to start than it is to be perfect.
@jmbushcraft Absolutely, humanure is great to compost, here we use it on the landscape mostly, not in the vegetable garden. If you want to do hot compost piles, this will make them heat up very fast, it will pasteurize the pile. Then if you let composting worms finish the work you will have a really fine compost.
@compost i do find that people are supposedly concerned about environmental issues yet do nothing to fix them. even worse, they resist the changes attempting to move in that direction, e.g. see any battle for bike lanes or increased residential density.
i am one of two people at my office who rides their bike to work. everyone else is in their cars. one scientist drives 2 miles to the office every single work day.
@wegonnaseeno When I was a teenager I used to practice bicycling a lot, I was able to ride part of the stages of the Tour de France, just because it was fun.
What I can recommend you to do is ride in forests, where the roads are not too crowded. It will provide the same effects as a walk.
@compost i ride in the woods and spend time in relatively unspoiled nature regularly. my wife and i also walk all over the place in the neighborhood. we do what we can.
@wegonnaseeno@compost someone at my work drives from our office to the IGA that is literally right accross the road. It's a 60 walk. They will also let the car run for a few minutes to give the AC a chance to cool down the cabin...I shit you not.
The latest revolution about composting if there has to be one was to realize that you do not need a yard to compost. Composting indoor can be done without smells or bugs if it is well-tended.
@compost Well, sure, be part of the solution. But let's also hold big corps responsible. Climate change is not an issue that we can solve by individual choices. We need laws and regulations that force companies to behave and chose environmentally friendly techiques and materials. Or while we're ad it, let's overcome capitalism altogether, that system of glorified exploitation, that ideology of endless growth on limited resources. Let's become zivilized, caring and nurturing for each other.
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