Composting
From http://charlottedieckmann.de/en/parasite-farm/ :
“Today 88% of Germany’s population lives in cities and only 5.8% of the country’s cultivated land is farmed ecologically. While most fruits and vegetables have become available all year round we are loosing touch with how it was grown, harvested and transported. But how could we counter these alienation of our basis of life?
The expensive, highly compacted urban area doesn’t leave much room for agricultural practices and not everybody has access to a balcony or garden. Our poetic answer to that question is the “Parasite Farm”: A system that enables you to compost your biological waste, produce humus soil and to grow your own vegetables and herbs — all within your apartment!
To integrate with your interior and your habits both the vermicompost system and the plant boxes use existing furniture as infrastructure. The parasitic objects are fed by your food scraps and provide you — in turn — with fresh vegetables. We hope that this small-scale nutrient cycle makes people discover the fascination of growing you own food and evokes questions about the current industrial food production and possible alternatives.”-
—————————————————————————
From NYTimes:
Composting in New York City is not for the faint of heart. It requires commitment, space and sharing tight quarters with rotting matter and two-inch-long wiggler worms that look like pulsing vermicelli.
But an increasing number of New Yorkers have been taking up the challenge, turning their fruit skins and eggshells into nutritious crumbly soil in an effort they regard as the natural next step to recycling paper, bottles and cans. Food accounts for about 13 percent of the nation’s trash — it is the third largest component after paper and yard trimmings — and about 16 percent of New York’s.
“There’s a growing awareness of its value,” said Elizabeth Royte, the author of “Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash.” “We had a recycling revolution, now we need a composting revolution.”
[…]
“Is all this effort doing the planet good?
Composting does not have as big an environmental effect as recycling, Environmental Protection Agency figures show: recycling one ton of mixed paper is four times as effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions as producing the same amount of compost.
But keeping food discards out of landfills does more than twice the good of keeping mixed paper out, E.P.A. officials said, because decomposing food that is buried and cut off from air releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas, at higher rates than paper. (The ventilation in composting prevents methane creation.)
The real environmental benefits, of course, come when composting is done on a large scale. Robert Lange, the recycling director at New York’s Department of Sanitation, said the city investigated this route a few years ago, testing food scrap collection in some neighborhoods but finding it a tougher sell than recycling.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/garden/19worms.html?pagewanted=all
-
eisenhower402 liked this
-
processingde9 liked this
-
ish8calabash reblogged this from fuckyeahdomesticity
-
ashleelisbeth reblogged this from fuckyeahdomesticity
-
turpentinechai liked this
-
sabelmouse reblogged this from fuckyeahdomesticity
-
-stina liked this
-
ceeveey liked this
-
citylightscomebackinjune liked this
-
notjamesdean reblogged this from fuckyeahdomesticity
-
bluthsbananastand reblogged this from fuckyeahdomesticity
-
shesamightyship liked this
-
bethoughtful liked this
-
featherandarrow liked this
-
graphicmuse reblogged this from raincloverleaf
-
raincloverleaf liked this
-
raincloverleaf reblogged this from fuckyeahdomesticity
-
koemy liked this
-
chaoffthewall liked this
-
ashleelisbeth liked this
-
miss-doom liked this
-
lehellequin liked this
-
renamok liked this
-
fuckyeahdomesticity reblogged this from edibleethics
-
seriiously liked this
-
whodreamedthedream liked this
-
danclark reblogged this from rawrlawra
-
rawrlawra reblogged this from the-maddest-scientist and added:
This is so cool.
-
the-maddest-scientist reblogged this from logicianmagician
-
streetfightingsun liked this
-
blackman56k liked this
-
achayanov reblogged this from edibleethics
-
valenzuelaki09 liked this
-
mermaidsshair liked this
-
experts123 reblogged this from edibleethics
-
earlgreybloke liked this
-
the-maddest-scientist liked this
-
logicianmagician liked this
-
logicianmagician reblogged this from edibleethics
-
chayangphotography liked this
-
edibleethics posted this
