In the Netherlands, Eat, Drink and Be Monitored

Some studies will focus on waste — one-third of all food is thrown out in the Netherlands, Mr. Koster said. On a tour of the restaurant’s many secrets, he pointed out a storage tank beneath the lawn. Kitchen waste will be kept and taken to a farm, he said, to be mixed with animal dung to produce biogas.

If this works, the solution could be used in large institutions like schools, hospitals or prisons, he continued. “We’ll call this an experiment in green catering, if you will,” he said

"You and Yours" Podcast

Latest news from BBC Radio 4 on 'green' consumerism from taxes on aviation to food miles to availability of grants to insulate the home. Investigations into energy policy and carbon offsetting.

Seattle’s Recycling Success

"What goes in as yard waste and food scraps will emerge two months later as a mountain of loamy compost sold by the bag at garden centers throughout the Pacific Northwest by Cedar Grove Composting. In the process, the waste is ground up, piled up, aerated, dried and sifted. The space-age fabric covering the piles allows air to enter but keeps pungent odors from wafting over the countryside."

Battery Recycling

"One thing everyone agrees on is that all batteries should be recycled, and most communities offer battery recycling sites. For rechargeable batteries, you can log onto www.call2recycle.org, or call 1-877-2-RECYCLE (1-877-2-732-9253) and find the location of a local site that collects rechargeable batteries, including those in laptops and cellphones."

“No Idling Zone”

"The school pickup line has become the latest front in a growing school-based environmental movement that has moved far beyond recycling programs and Earth Day celebrations to challenge long-accepted school norms."

Save the Planet: Vote Smart

"I want to get greener, what should I do? New light bulbs? A hybrid? A solar roof?"

The Farther East River

Mushrooms in Manhattan

Q. At a construction site on West End Avenue at 70th Street, mushrooms (yes, mushrooms!) are growing underneath the construction fence. What kind of soil is necessary for mushrooms to grow?

A. Ah, resilient nature. Roy Halling, curator of mycology at the New York Botanical Garden, said in an e-mail message that he would not expect to encounter mushrooms in a construction site because the soil is mostly mineral. The mushroom fungus requires living or dead organic material to live: for instance, compost, dead wood, manured soil and wood chips. “However,” he added, “at the edge, where some organic material has been pushed aside, it does happen. Just exactly which ones those might be — it is impossible to say.” And not even an expert can tell, sight unseen, whether they are edible, so don’t sample them.

The Green-Collar Solution

“You can’t take a building you want to weatherize, put it on a ship to China and then have them do it and send it back,” said Mr. Jones. “So we are going to have to put people to work in this country — weatherizing millions of buildings, putting up solar panels, constructing wind farms. Those green-collar jobs can provide a pathway out of poverty for someone who has not gone to college.” Let’s tell our disaffected youth: “You can make more money if you put down that handgun and pick up a caulk gun.”

How Green Is My Garden?

"If the government wants to reduce its dependency on imported oil and, in the words of the Department of Energy, “foster the domestic biomass industry,” it has only to stop by my backyard with a pickup."

Save the Planet: Vote Smart

"People often ask: I want to get greener, what should I do? New light bulbs? A hybrid? A solar roof? Well, all of those things are helpful. But actually, the greenest thing you can do is this: Choose the right leaders."

Sunday's Worm Plate Special


Zucchini, basil, tomatoes, lemon, teabags, and banana

RI Worm Composters Network

Just returned from my first orientation. It was held at the Cooperative Extension Education Center on the URI Kingston Campus. I already had been through the URI Master Composter & Recycler Program and feel like I'm ready to take on my own worm herd.

The Worm Ladies of Charlestown conducted training. They're a source for red wigglers and are helping us get wiggling. They started with the wigglers to clean up the waste products from the Angora rabbits they raise. So that's why their website is http://www.angoraandworms.com/

Not Buying It

"Freegans are scavengers of the developed world, living off consumer waste in an effort to minimize their support of corporations and their impact on the planet, and to distance themselves from what they see as out-of-control consumerism."

URI Master Gardener program of the Cooperative Extension Education Center:

For gardening information call our Master Gardener Hotline:

1-800-448-1011
Monday-Thursday
9:00 AM - 2:00 PM

Vermicompost - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Vermicompost (also called worm compost, vermicast, worm castings, worm humus or worm manure) is the end-product of the breakdown of organic matter by some species of earthworm. Vermicompost is a nutrient-rich, natural fertilizer and soil conditioner. The process of producing vermicompost is called vermicomposting ."

A.Word.A.Day--annelidous:

"This week's theme: words having vowels aeiou once and only once, and in order.

annelidous (uh-NEL-uh-duhs) adjective - Of or relating to worms.

[From French anneler (to ring), from Latin anellus, diminutive of anus (ring).]

'The mud in many places was thrown up by numbers of some kind of worm, or annelidous animal.'

Charles Darwin; Voyage of the Beagle; 1839."

Pronunciation:
http://wordsmith.org/words/annelidous.wav
http://wordsmith.org/words/annelidous.ram

The Urban Composting Project

Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Urban Composting Project promotes composting in Brooklyn neighborhoods, community gardens, institutions, and businesses. The Department of Sanitation funds the project, which started in 1993, and operates under Brooklyn GreenBridge, BBG's community horticulture program.

compost@bbg.org
1000 Washington Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11225
Compost Hotline: 718-623-7290

Plastic goods for your compost heap

"Metabolix announced the brand name--Mirel--for its biodegradable plastic made from corn and said it will be used in several consumer products including razor holders and greeting cards."

Urban Composting

How the Worm Turns

From a New York Times OP-ED by Amy Stewart the author of “The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms”

But earthworm taxonomists don’t have it so easy. One has to dig for earthworms, and even though they are blind and deaf, worms are remarkably good at evading the probes and shovels of nosy scientists. There’s also the problem of knowing where to dig. An ornithologist can simply meander through a forest and look up; an oligochaetologist must keep an ear to the ground, so to speak, and try to divine the ideal earthworm habitat.

Pulp Fact

Shaw’s saves by grinding veggies

The results: Shaw’s can offer the waste for consumers and farmers to use as free compost or animal food while incurring reduced costs for sending smaller and lighter loads of it to landfill

Consumers who want to use the waste should talk to the manager of their local Shaw’s store.

Earth Day 2007
Roger Williams Park Zoo - Providence, RI