permaculture

["Margaret Eisenhauer" <eisenhauerdesign@earthlink.net>]

Okay I am going to rant -

This culture of waste amounts to Trash Culture!  Trash culture causes us to
become trash makers as everything we touch is turned into trash. In trash
culture all our energy goes into making trash as all our outputs are termed
"Waste" with the intent that this energy will disappear once we have thrown
it out.  Obviously this culture is not based in reality because energy can
not be created or destroyed and our outputs are intended to be the manna for
some other creature's existence, yet Trash Culture marches on making endless
piles, heaps and streams of trash, even making trash out of people it
doesn't understand or like while considering itself the pinnacle of
desirability.  

WOW!  

Practically speaking if woody bio material is burned to char for energy to
heat water, homes and farmsteads with the resulting char used as a soil
amendment it would allow for the sequestering of carbon, the enrichment of
farmland and the utilization of needed energy while many of the offending
angels associated with Mr. & Mrs. Trash maker would be ameliorated by the
heat of gasification.  (This is speculation which would require testing) Yes
not all toxic material could be utilized - such as metals contamination -
requiring vigilance and this would not solve the cultural divide between
reality and illusion but perhaps a good direction for experimentation. 

Steven Eisenhauer
Eisenhauer Design Inc.

-----Original Message-----
From: permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Armed With A
Mind Armed With A Mind
Sent: Tuesday, December 22, 2009 11:22 PM
To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [permaculture] [Fwd: [SANET-MG] Convert landfills to compost!]


I feel your pain. My employer sent me to the dump to get rid of roof
shingles and I was appauled at the amount of organic matter and other useful
materials that was piled up. I went and asked one of the dump attendees if I
could come back and take leaves and such but she said no, that it was not
allowed. 

 

One factor to consider with municipal scale composting systems is the
contamination. In the city of Toronto they apparently used to have a
composting system, and residents were free to come pick up finished product
for free. The compost was tested and was found to be contaminated and unsafe
for use in food gardens. I'm not saying that this should stop such programs
but it is something that most do not think about and some extra step should
be put in place to remove the contaminants if testing shows it to be
present. 

 

Travis 
 
> Date: Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:30:17 -0500
> From: lflj@bellsouth.net
> To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: [permaculture] [Fwd: [SANET-MG] Convert landfills to compost!]
> 
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: [SANET-MG] Convert landfills to compost!
> Date: Tue, 22 Dec 2009 05:57:35 -0500
> From: mensplace <mensplace@BELLSOUTH.NET>
> To: SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU
> 
> Every time I drive by a landfill and see their blazing stacks with eternal
> flames burning methane, it makes me furious, especially when I know how
> landfills are constructed and about the tons of toxic waste in barrels
that
> get buried on the bottom during the early stages. It's bad enough that the
> runoff goes straight into the water table, and thence into lakes and
rivers.
> Our own local lake is so full of heavy metal that one is warned NOT to eat
> the fish...and that water goes straight into the rivers. Even the
> Chattahoochee south of Atlanta gets constantly pumped full of every kind
of
> industrial and municipal waste. I digress...again.
> 
> Meanwhile, groceries, and organic waste contributors, gins, mills, lumber
> processors, paper mills, and MANY other creators of perfectly good organic
> material continue to send material to landfills daily.
> 
> Went by several groceries today seeking green waste, i.e., trimmings, out
of
> date fruits and vegetables, etc.. NO...corporate policy forbids giving it
to
> anyone even for compost, so it goes into the dump. It would be interesting
> to list how many food processors, restaurants, and corporations of every
> size have the same policy. Ingles, Kroger, Publix, Wal-Mart...NO, it has
to
> go to the dump.
> 
> Cities and counties do well here because they receive tipping fees. Went
to
> the county and city for leaves, NO it goes to the dump. Imagine, across
our
> country how much green and brown material goes to the dump every single
> day...I mean mega millions of pounds... the mountains grow and the methane
> keeps getting burned.
> 
> Imagine how much compost we could make if some of them would rethink the
> stupidity and waste of such policies. With all the BS I read every day
about
> corporate commitments to sound environmental policies, WHY do we even have
> landfills today?
> 
> Time for me to start a program to flood those grocery and food chains,
maybe
> even those other contributors to the waste stream..those whose byproducts
> would be perfect for IMPROVING our soils and environment. I did write to
> Ingles and Anheuser Busch. Care to join me and maybe even spread the word.
> At least our local county ag agent thought it was a great idea. Funny
thing
> is, you go to the local dumpster site and they have composting systems on
> display, but ask the county or city for leaves...NO, it goes to the dump.
> This place is surrounded by poultry, pork, and chicken producers and
that's
> a LOT of perfect material. Then come the feed mills, cotton gins,
> flourmills, paper mills where they burn the compost. JUST IMAGINE what all
> of that, if composted, could do for our soils and gardens.
> 
> Actually, I am serious, WHY can't we reclaim some of this? Let's flood
those
> corporate Presidents and see if ways and means can't be developed to
> actually be allowed to use some of their waste!
> 
> Feedback:
> ---------
> 
> They do it so that they don't get sued down the road--or even down the
street. Just imagine what a field day some lawyer 
> would have if someone ate something that had been given away for compost
and got sick or died. Try reining in the lawyers.
> <>
> What a shame that litigious attitude has been exported to the rest of the
> world, where it hampers innovation and, ultimately, will cause our mutual
> demise. It is intensely frustrating to see quite clearly where this will
> all end up, but to also realise that commonsense has little chance of
> prevailing in the face of money and unethical laws.
> 
> Mankind's ability to place myth ahead of logic may have served society
well
> in the distant past when neighbourhood battles were the issue and jingoism
> was the answer. Are we capable, in the face of global catastrophe, of
> embracing logic and science ahead of self interest? At an individual level
> I believe we are. At a national level, considering the mindset that
compels
> a person to become a politician, I think not. All this makes old age and
> death both easier - and harder - to face!
> <>
> I've heard that kind of argument so many times, and I'm wondering if it
has ever happened. Also, if something had been 
> given away *as compost,* I imagine a good lawyer would argue that it was
not given away as *food* and was not meant to 
> be eaten. Also look at the hordes of corporate lawyers (and their endless
resources) vs. the resources of the people who 
> would be repurposing the compostables, and the way that corporate lawyers
often drag out cases to exhaust the resources 
> of their opponents.
> 
> In addition, release-of-liability waivers are common in school and
community programs, and any company that was 
> motivated to recycle food waste could donate to the appropriate place and
have the recipients sign waivers. I'd expect 
> independently owned groceries and restaurants to exercise more common
sense and either donate or allow foraging.
> 
> Some communities are collecting and composting food waste (including San
Francisco).
> 
> Remember when we were all told it was not practical to recycle? It was
less than 20 years ago that the first community 
> curbside recycling program (I know of) started that collected multiple
materials (I'm thinking of the one in a NJ town 
> -- perhaps some other place started before that?).
> <>
> We need to do more to encourage recycling and composting to help reduce
the waste stream. We need to get away from the 
> throw-away mentality. We need to look at waste as a resource to be reused
for human benefit. Landfills are a biological 
> time bomb. They reflect the wastefulness of society.
> <>
> In Ithaca, NY we have a local composting enterprise that composts local
food waste & compostable food service materials 
>
(www.ithaca.com/main.asp?SectionID=16&SubSectionID=84&ArticleID=8736&TM=7389
2.19).
> 
> I don't know all the details, but I have been told that the Tompkins
County Solid Waste Management Division through its 
> ReBusiness program (www.recycletompkins.org/editorstree/view/2) both
provides waste management assessments to local 
> waste generators and, once assessed, a business/organization gets reduced
fees on the pick-up of food waste by Cayuga 
> Compost.
> 
> Cornell University Dining also has its own composting program for dining
hall food waste 
>
(http://eponline.com/Articles/2009/06/16/Cornell-Manages-Half-its-Food-Waste
-into-Highquality-Compost.aspx).
> <>
> In VT, the Highfields Center for Composting (www.highfieldscomposting.org)
has created the "Close the Loop" program to 
> recycle local food waste, among other great compost projects.
> <>
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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