When starting adding to the composting bin at the farm I had little idea about the potential that composting has to improve the environment. Humans produce so much garbage, that could be put to better use than just putting in landfills. Worse is that many places (New York included) transport their garbage to landfills to other states, so not only is the methane from these plants hurting the planet, but the emissions from the trains and trucks carrying the waste creates a great impact on the planet. We need better methods of dealing with waste that won't hurt us in the long run.
Compost materials make over 25% of our waste. Taking away all of the compost would reduce a good portion of the emissions. Not only that but the material itself is extremely beneficial to nature. Composting is better than artificial fertilizers, because of its ridiculous amounts of micro-nutrients and macro-nutrients. The compost buffers the soil to neutralize both acidic and base qualities it may have. This allows much easier digestion for plant life. A 5% increase in compost allows plants to quadruple the amount of water that they can hold. The list goes on! Even better is that composting is a topic that is not very well researched compared to other areas of science, so in the classroom, testing is much more purposeful. Not only will it give students a sense of purpose but they develop a much more intimate relationship with nature. A system for composting needs to be instated, perhaps in a similar way to the system for recycling bottles and plastic.
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