Compost

felixxx(72)

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A while back, I unfollowed @gardenofeden.
I had followed them since the beginning, never got a vote or comment back.
Don't get me wrong: I do not need to get voted back by someone, if I like their content, but after years of supporting them, it would have been nice to get at least a comment back.

Then, one day, I got a comment back; A snarky reply, where they told me to go meditate in the woods for some years before critizising their post.
All I was trying to point out: Composting produces heaps of CO2*
_{*This is a common misconception about compostation, I see it everywhere, I comment on it everywhere.}

I tried to explain, but got shut down.
I did not feel like showing them my compost.
They will not even see this post.

Still, I want to make clear that even though I do not braid my hair or beard, I do not wear wooden pearls, I have no dreads, I am not a fucking hippie, I still produce my own healthy, organic food.
I refuse to be all magical about it, though.

My Compost Operation

Old Compost:

This has been sitting for 3 years. You can see how wood does not break down as fast as the other stuff

Compost Bin:

Cooked foods and other stuff that rats would love go here. The bin is secured with mesh, so no rodent can get in.

Heaps (finger on lense):

Not clear to see, but that's all compost

Broken Down:

That is 2 years old and just needs to be turned

Berkeley Compostation

Before anyone points it out: Yes, that is not a Berkeley aerobic type of green waste compost.
In this climate, stuff breaks down over winter. I know, I could harvest much more, much more homogenous compost, if I focused on aerobic compostation more.
This is just much less work and all I have to do is throw it in heaps.

com ponere

ponere just means 'to put' and com means 'together'.
Compost is derived from the perfect form of this; '(has been) put together'

Compost

Compost is just all sorts of organic material put together to break down.
Organic just means it is carbon based.
There are different types of compostation, but at the end of the day, when carbon-based stuff breaks (is broken) down, it turns into CO2. (When there is no air in the compost, it will still break down, but the processes are anaerobic, meaning they produce funky stuff like methane, which will later break down to CO2 and H2O)

Whether you burned that material, or let it rot, the CO2 balance is pretty much the same.

If your compostation is highly anaerobic, you might even produce more harmful climate gasses than by simply burning it down.

Climate Gas

I do not really follow the theory that you can boil down the environmental crisis to just CO2 and some numbers. But that is for another post.

However, claiming your compostation was carbon neutral is just nonsense.

I will not go meditate in the woods, yet I already know I am doing the right thing here.
I do not have to go full hippie just to grow some potatoes organically.
I grow some of my own food and often have enough to share with friends.
I am not as cool as @gardenofeden, not as stylish, not as alternative.
Yet I am also doing a thing here and I refuse to be shamed for being less esotheric about it.