The Hidden Solution to Climate Change: Composting

When you think about the causes of climate change, you probably think about factors such as coal, smoke stacks, and cars.

But there are many different causes of climate change that are more influential than you may think. One of these unexpected contributors to climate change is food waste.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, it is estimated that each year one third of all the food produced is wasted.

Food waste makes up about 8% of the greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans. If you don’t believe that is significant, consider this:  if food waste were a country it would be the third largest greenhouse gas emitting country behind China and the U.S.

And the emissions from food waste are 87% the amount of emissions from global road transportation, which is almost equivalent.

So why does food waste contribute so much to climate change? The answer is methane. Methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, which is also produced from decomposing food waste. According to Gayathri Vaidyanathan in an article published in both Scientific American and ClimateWire, “methane warms the planet on steroids for a decade or two before decaying to CO2.”

In the couple of decades that methane remains in the atmosphere, it warms the planet 86 times as much as carbon dioxide. In a one-hundred year period, methane warms the planet 34 times as much as carbon dioxide.

Composting offers a better solution to this issue. Instead of throwing away food waste into landfills where it emits methane and carbon dioxide, composting both cuts down on methane emissions and returns carbon to the soil.

Soil is a carbon sink, which means that carbon can be stored in the soil instead of in the atmosphere where it causes climate change. In the soil microbes break down food waste into nutrient rich soil that is excellent for farming and cuts down on the need for fertilizers.

Are you excited to start composting?

There are three important ingredients in compost: brown material, green material, and water.

Brown material produces carbon and can include dead leaves, branches, twigs, sawdust, wood chips, coffee filters, cotton and wool rags, shredded pieces of paper, newspaper, and even cardboard.

Green material produces nitrogen and includes grass clippings and leaves, fruit and vegetable scraps, hair, lint, tea and coffee grounds.

To start your compost bin or pile, layer the brown and green material so that there are three times the brown material than the green material.

Keep the compost moist and in the shade and turn the mixture every couple of weeks. The mixture should get warm and there could be steam coming out of your compost.

Some things that you shouldn’t compost are pet waste, fats, meat, bones, dairy products, eggs (shells are fine), metal, glass, and any plants such as yard trimmings that are treated with chemicals.

The composting should take about three months before it is ready to use, but it depends on factors such as how large the compost pile is.

Composting can be a great addition to your household, and with it you can create a beautiful garden and a even more beautiful world.