Composting: How-to

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2008, Americans are estimated to throw away 1.35 billion pounds of garbage every day. To put it in perspective the U.S. produces the equivalent of 6,750 blue whales in garbage. The amount of waste we produce is becoming a serious problem, and many of the landfills in the country have become filled to capacity because of it. There are many solutions to this problem such as reducing, reusing, recycling and, lastly, composting.

Composting, the process in which organic material is decomposed and reused as fertilizer, is a simple solution that can help reduce the amount of garbage you throw into the landfill. This can reduce your overall carbon emissions.

“Composting saves .82 tons of C02 for every ton of compost,” says Patrick Pfiefer, compost coordinator at Northern Arizona University (NAU).

The first thing you’re going to need when composting is the bin. These can be made by hand — out of wood palettes and a screen — or they can be purchased from stores. The proper size for a composting bin is about a cubic meter. There is also the option to compost in a pile on the ground,  but a bin makes the process neater and better looking to your neighbors.

After you have your bin, the next step is to mix your bin with wood chips, straw, and pine needles, as well as food scraps or weeds to maintain a good nitrogen-to-carbon balance. The recommended ratio is one part “green stuff” (plants and food scraps for nitrogen) to two parts “brown stuff” (wood chips and dead leaves for carbon). These materials then need to be mixed well in order to achieve a good balance for the decomposition to take place.

The most crucial thing to keep in mind when composting is to make sure that your compost bin is turned regularly. This ensures the air flow throughout the organic material and keeps the compost from smelling or attracting flies by going anaerobic (meaning no oxygen is present).

Now that you have your compost set up, it is important to know what things can actually be composted. You can compost basically all plants and food scraps except for meat, oil, dairy or bones because of health reasons. Coffee grounds, peels, tea bags, paper bags and egg shells are a few that can be composted. Bread can also be composted in larger piles or bins, but it is not encouraged in smaller home composting because it is likely to attract critters.

Many unusual things can be composted as well.

“My roommate and I composted a straw hat once,” says Dean Buttacavoli, a senior environmental studies major.

For many reasons, composting is an avid solution to the waste problem the U.S. currently faces, one being that every pound of material composted is one less pound in a landfill. Again, composting can also reduce carbon emissions and it can give people the incentive to start a garden in their home, bringing them closer to the environment by working with it. Composting also creates fertile soil for soil building. This is especially important in the Flagstaff area because of the relatively low soil fertility in northern Arizona. If you do not have a place for a garden but still want to start composting, I would recommend donating your compost to a community garden in Flagstaff or to the SSLUG garden, which meets behind the Social and Behavioral Sciences building every Thursday at 3 p.m., on campus.

NAU began composting in May 2012 and has collected 85,000 pounds of compost since then. Most of it is made up of food scraps from campus dining, pine needles and woodchips from campus landscaping and manure from Ft. Tuthill. If you want to get involved with composting on campus, contact Velo Composting at pfp@nau.edu or go to Velo Composting’s meetings at 7 p.m. in the Health and Learning Center at the back of the third floor.

By Christian Booz

A Simple Solution: Cycling in Flagstaff.

“Flagstaff is 100 percent a cycling town” said Ellson Miles, the owner of Bici-Mundo in south side Flagstaff. With over 5 percent of Flagstaff residents citing the bicycle as their main mode of transportation, according to the Census Bureau, it’s easy to see where he is coming from. The question is, what makes Flagstaff a cycling town and why has cycling culture thrived here?

First off the town is relatively small, with the longest of rides taking about 20 minutes to complete. Being close to the mountains also encourages “alternative lifestyles” a la Boulder and Portland. Lastly the presence of the university promotes and fosters cycling as a form of transportation through clubs and other activities. Flagstaff has also made progressive moves towards cycling infrastructure to the point where Flagstaff has earned silver status as a bicycle friendly community by the League of American Cyclists.

Cycling and cycling culture is a catalyst in living a sustainable life. By riding a bike while being out in the environment “The bike can change people’s minds and get them thinking about environmental issues”, said CJ Constantopoulos, part owner of Flagstaff Bike Revolution. Many in the cycling community believe that the bike can be the mascot for a change towards green living. Shreya Dave, MIT, conducted a study on the carbon footprint of bikes. Dave found that an ordinary sedan’s carbon footprint is more than 10 times greater than a conventional bicycle on a mile-for-mile basis. It is easy to see where many cyclists get their opinions concerning sustainable living: “By shifting the paradigm from cars and fossil fuels toward bikes we can solve just about every problem facing our nation/world: pollution, noise, obesity, depression, fossil fuel dependence/wars for resources, and lack of community.” said Taylor Mahoney; NAU alumni, photographer, and bicycle enthusiast.

Many cyclists believe that biking can strengthen local economies and relationships which create a friendlier community. “Bike’s are the social machine”, said Josh Lipton, president of the Bike Shop Hub in Flagstaff. This building of community is a cornerstone of cycling culture; “Biking creates happiness, it causes you to just take it easy” said Taylor Thomas, an employee of Absolute Bikes. In the immortal words of Cosmic Ray, “Try to be mad while riding a bicycle, I bet you can’t do it for very long.” Cycling can not only create a happier community, but it can also get more people interested in local businesses. Riding a bike makes you to learn the town; it frees you from the stress of having to find a parking spot and allows you do things on a whim. “Cycling brings local business and Flagstaff love, by not being constrained to a car you can see what Flagstaff truly has to offer” said Moran Henn, Program Director at Friends of Flagstaff’s Future.

If you’re a new student who wants to ride around Flagstaff members of the cycling community have some advice for you. “Learn the FUTS trails and go on social rides” said Ellson Miles. “Learn the traffic laws, those of us involved in bicycle advocacy here wind up needing to spend extra time attending special public meetings and writing letters to the newspaper when freshmen don’t take cycling seriously and end up injured on the wrong end of a traffic accident!” said Anthony Quintle from Absolute bikes.

Cycling is a great way to learn the community, be fit, live a sustainable life, and be a happier person. “Whenever I see an adult on a bicycle, I have hope for the human race.” –H.G. Wells.

 

By Christian Booz

We All Do Better When We All Do Better

The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) will vote in the next few weeks whether or not to include social aspects in the new regional plan. Social issues are not required by the state to be implemented by the plan, but can be included. The latest regional plan meeting focused on potential ideas to be included the CAC allows social components to be a part of the plan.

Healthcare

There are a number of different levels of policies that shape healthcare in this country. Of course, there is the Affordable Care Act recently passed by President Barack Obama. This requires those uninsured to purchase health insurance or face a fee. This does differ from a local policy as seen in San Francisco where they use a single-payer system. Even though policies exist at these levels, there are many who still fall through the cracks in the system. We support a regional plan that includes a healthcare component. Whether it is a single-payer system or something similar, increased healthcare coverage in the Flagstaff area and surrounding region would improve the quality of life for many residents.  Betterment of Flagstaff’s healthcare system would also discourage residents from relying on Phoenix or other regions to provide their basic needs.

Social and Economic Equality

Following the Flagstaff City Council’s approval to draft a city ordinance to extend discrimination rights to include sexual orientation and gender identity, we find it important to include further protections for members of our community.  We also see it necessary to include provisions to ensure employees receive fair and competitive wages to sustain a high quality of life. Homelessness, especially since seasons vary so wildly in the region, is also critical to address. Providing housing options for all residents is essential in addressing this issue. We noticed the housing section in the current draft of the plan lacks in substance.

Education

We discussed at length the issues of education funding within the state. Where do funds come from? How are these funds allocated? The main, overarching goal that should be outlined in the regional plan should be to ensure that all children receive a quality education. More cooperation between school districts would encourage an improvement of the education our kids are receiving. Right now, it seems as if districts are competing with one another for sparse state funding. More cooperation, ideally, would lead to more evenly dispersed funds and funds allocated towards areas that need it most. Businesses state it over and over- higher quality of education directly correlates to better jobs.

Diversity & Culture

Though this topic infinitely broad, it is critical to the future of the region. Flagstaff has a unique charm to it already. We are a bustling small mountain town that oppose large-scale developments and promote saving the endless natural beauty that belongs to the area. We should strive for keeping this feel to our home. Also further developing our open-mindedness and accepting attitudes, the region can foster a welcoming environment to all its residents. This would encourage some residents to live in Flagstaff permanently rather than living in, say, Phoenix and only having a second home here.

The social aspects of the regional plan, if adopted, should foster the well-being of residents of the region. By promoting health, education, equality, and diversity through policies at the local level, we can create a community where every member thrives.  A close-knit community like Flagstaff will benefit as a whole when individuals are functioning at their best. We all do better when we all do better. This is a phrase we need to hold close when developing this plan. Say a member of the community was not given the opportunity to receive a strong education. The likeliness of homelessness would increase, good employment would be more difficult to find, and healthcare may be out-of-reach; the overall contribution to the community would be greatly diminished. The regional plan should be mapped around the people and needs of the community, not only seen as strictly non-human development.

By Kevin Kirchmeier 

 

Wanderlust: Fostering Respect for Nature

Lately I’ve been having this feeling which I didn’t know how to describe until now. While surfing the internet and thinking about what to write for this blog I came across a term which gave voice to the feeling I had inside.

Wanderlust, not some movie starring Jennifer Aniston, but a strong desire to travel the world, to be away from civilization, and to be one with nature and its beauty. Growing up right next to the ocean I always had somewhere I could go when I didn’t want to be around too many people. This proved to be a futile idea as there were tons of tourists, shops, and consumer culture hotspots. Move forward some years and I find myself a college student, 21 years old, one year away from graduating and going on to “normal life”. This is where many people find themselves and I believe this part of it is what shapes people’s respect for nature and sustainable practices. We go from the institution of school to the institution of corporate America and never learn a respect for nature that all humans need to have and many even lust for.

So, what’s the point? Why am I telling you this small story about how I feel? I believe that this crossroad in life for many college students can be the turning point to create a greener society. If people get out into nature and explore this “wanderlust” that many of us feel we can move forward with a better respect of ourselves, and most importantly a better respect of nature. A large portion of society never gets out into the beauty that is open space and therefore never learns a respect for the planet as a whole.

So I present a call to action. We as a society needs to stay away from the concrete jungle mentality that we currently posses and move towards a love for open spaces by satisfying our primal wanderlust. This should be done from an early age to adulthood: teaching children things about the space around them and then taking them out into it, fostering a respect for nature and open space, and lastly satisfying the wanderlust in every human being. This, in my humble opinion, represents one of the greatest ways we can change our society. From living off of the land to living with it.

So, get out there and explore the earth! I know I’m going to. Not only will you learn respect for Nature, you will gain a better respect for yourself.

–Christian Booz

Last Child in the Woods Book Review

I’m only 21. I do not consider myself old, but even in my short life I have witnessed many differences between the times of my childhood and how I see children growing up today. I grew up in Tucson, Arizona. Despite the triple digit temperatures, the wonder of the Sonoran desert never ceased to amaze me. When not in school, I would spend my days outside exploring the wash behind my house, building forts, and narrowly escaping (and many times not escaping) the points of relentless cactus thorns. Even if I wanted to read a book, I would climb my favorite mesquite tree and relax under the shade while watching quail forage below. Basically, I loved being outside and cannot imagine my childhood without it.

However, I’ve seen a lot of changes with how children are growing up now. With increased technology and the expansion of television, children are spending more time locked indoors than I ever was. They would rather be playing a video game or watching TV than looking for bugs outside. Children are becoming exposed to technology at an earlier age than ever before. Even as babies, toys are constantly becoming more electronic. Our society is rapidly evolving technology wise, so it only makes sense that children are incorporated into this phenomenon. Urbanization too is playing a role in children’s detachment from nature, as the natural space we once had is becoming increasingly sparse.

In the book, Last Child in the Woods, author Richard Louv has given a name to this detachment, calling it “nature deficit disorder”. This refers to the reality that children are becoming less aware of the natural world and the resulting disconnect that is forming. Not many people realize the importance of a human connection with natural and open spaces, especially in children. The outdoors is vital for children’s development. It helps them solve problems, cope better in social situations, releases stress, and creates resiliency.

Louv argues that “our society is teaching young people to avoid direct experience in nature”. This is true. We are becoming a society that focuses on indoor comfort rather than a connection with the world outside. As unintentional as it might be, nature often has a connotation of doom and danger. Parents are understandably trying to protect their children from kidnappers that lurk beyond the confines of their homes. Louv brings about another interesting point. He explains “a kid today can likely tell you about the Amazon rainforest- but not about the last time he or she explored the woods in solitude.” It seems we are alienating nature, teaching children about far away places rather that the natural treasures in their own backyard. Instead of nature being something easily explored and readily available, it is a mystified idea thousands of miles away.

Nature is so vital for the health of children. Louv says, “in nature, a child finds freedom, fantasy, and privacy: a place distant from the adult world”. This statement speaks true to my own childhood. Being outdoors fostered my imagination, gave me an open space I could call my own, gave me a sense of curiosity, and challenged me in exploring and finding uses for a multitude of desert objects I would come across. These skills have helped me tremendously as I grew from child to adult.

I will not lie, the way children are growing up today and their relationship with nature concerns me. I know this “nature deficit disorder” is not found in every child, but still, I fear the day when a child tunes out the song of a bird and has no concept of where their food or water comes from. At the same time, I know things are not hopeless. By becoming aware of advancing technology and its impact on kids, we can work towards incorporating the natural world into classrooms and family activities. Kids need nature for a healthy childhood and development that will last through their adult years, and we need to work hard to make this positive change. We must ensure that children have the same opportunities of outdoor exploration as their parents and grandparents did. As John Burroughs put it, “I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in tune once more.” We cannot forget this.

-Hannah Stitzer

Public Lands and Solar Energy

The Obama Administration has begun to work towards solar energy on public lands. Top experts have chosen 17 different locations in California, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.

These large scale solar plants would possibly create 5,900 megawatts of power over 258,000 acres of public lands: enough to power 1.8 million homes. The government also created means to expedite other well placed solar projects over 19 million acres while protecting another 78 million acres of land from being developed for solar power.

This is landmark legislation in the realm of large solar power projects. When President Obama was elected there were zero of these kinds of projects. With the publishing of the final EIS there will be 17 total sites.

“This blueprint for landscape-level planning is about facilitating faster, smarter utility-scale solar development on America’s public lands,” said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. “This is a key milestone in building a sustainable foundation for utility-scale solar energy development and conservation on public lands over the next two decades.”

Key elements of the Final Solar PEIS:

• Establishes an initial set of 17 Solar Energy Zones on 285,000 acres across 6 Western States;
• Outlines a process for industry, the public and other interested stakeholders to propose new or expanded zones; efforts already underway include California’s Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan and the West Chocolate Mountains Renewable Energy Evaluation, Arizona’s Restoration Energy Design Project, and other local planning efforts in Nevada and Colorado;
• Includes strong incentives for development within zones, including faster and easier permitting, improved mitigation strategies, and economic incentives;
• Sets a clear process that allows for development of well-sited projects on approximately19 million acres outside the zones;
• Protects natural and cultural resources by excluding 78 million acres from solar energy development;
• Identifies design features (best practices) for solar energy development to ensure the most environmentally responsible development and delivery of solar energy; and
• Establishes a framework for regional mitigation plans and a strategy for monitoring and adaptive management; the first mitigation pilot for the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone is already underway.

From: http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/Obama-Administration-Releases-Roadmap-for-Solar-Energy-Development-on-Public-Lands.cfm

For the Basics of Solar Power

 

Growing up, not out

              Growth of Flagstaff is ultimately inevitable. The region currently supports around 60,000 residents in just the city limits, with even more living in the county boundaries. According to predictions by The Arizona Rural Policy Institute, Flagstaff is expected to grow to approximately 106,000 residents by the year 2050. That’s an increase of more than 40,000 people over nearly 40 years. Logistically, there is nothing anyone can do to prevent this growth nor should we put in policies to completely stunt growth of the region. It is how the city grows that becomes critical. The regional plan that the city will vote on within the next 2-3 years will put in place the vision and policy for growth within the next decade or more. A regional plan that promotes sustainability measures while allowing managed growth is paramount in building a city that can thrive in the face of climate change, limited resources, pollution, and over population.  As is, the plan is incredibly dense and somewhat overwhelming. There are a number of components ranging from economic development to transportation. The regional plan team and I met earlier this month to discuss the energy use and policy aspect of the plan. Together we are going to promote and put together ideas that we think should be a part of the plan.

The overarching goal of energy use in the region is to reduce its consumption. We brainstormed a few ideas, one of which was improving efficiency of energy consumption as a whole. This makes sense in a lot of ways, but may result in the same if not more energy use in the long run. For example, if it takes less gas to drive a longer distance, why would residents choose to take public transportation? Better yet, if it costs less to use more electricity, what’s the incentive for cutting back on usage? We realized that a bolder step would be necessary to reduce the amount of energy we as Flagstaff residents use. One idea seems promising. If we encouraged future development to be denser and more community-center-like, residents would not have to drive as far for things like grocery shopping and entertainment while living in smaller spaces that require less energy to heat and cool. At the same time as promoting these types of new developments, the regional plan must also discourage urban sprawl and growth outwards. The further we build away from the city center, the further people have to travel on a daily basis. Also living away from the city center encourages the building of larger residences which take much more to maintain.

The university came up frequently as a model of growth the city should encourage in the future. NAU is built so that students can live, eat, study, etc. in a relatively small and walk-able space. Though a new 1,400 space parking structure is currently in construction on campus, the high price of a parking permit is discouraging most to bring cars to campus. Along with providing a bus system, the university also does not allow the parking in north and south lots, which also discourages driving between parts of campus. It’s a great system and works well with the community it serves, but will this work for the greater Flagstaff community? What we cannot do is restrict growth so much that residents move to other regions of the state with lesser growth requirements. We do not want to see cities like Prescott or Sedona grow in unsustainable ways like we were avoiding up here.

We ended the meeting with one final thought- all of us have to collectively change our habits in order to have a future for our kids and grandkids. Next time we meet we will be discussing economic development. Join us July 5^th at the F3 headquarters downtown.

by Kevin Kirchmeier

Test Your Water IQ

How much water do you use? You can see exactly how much you use compared to the United States Average Here.

Friends of Flagstaff’s future is deeply committed to the correct and sustainable use of water especially with our lack of precipitation recently in Arizona. If you want to get involved with creating a better water use plan for the city of Flagstaff as it relates to consumption and reclaimed water for recreation click here.

Check out this infographic about just how much water we use doing things many people don’t even think consume water.

Photo: Whole Living Magazine by Lemonly

Johan Rockstrom: Let the Environment Guide our Development.

The earth is under pressure, we all know this, but how much pressure is it really under? In this talk from TED Johan Rockstrom delves into what we can do to hopefully avoid the largest transformation period in human history.

The earth, according to Rockstrom, is currently under four pressures. The first of these pressures is population growth. The second squeeze is the Climate issue; our increased CO2 (up by 2.0 ppm/yr from 2000 – 2009 (NOAA)) has boosted the possible damage to ecosystem health. This leads us into the third pressure on the earth: the loss of ecosystem services. Increased anthropogenic emissions of various chemicals and greenhouse gases have reduced the ability for ecosystems to provide services (these include combating climate change, fighting ocean acidification, and providing the earth with oxygen) that we desperately need. In 1997 Robert Costanza and others theorized that all the services given to us by the earth would add up to about 33 trillion dollars per year (UFS). The last negative force on the earth, says Johan, is surprise. For the first time in the planet’s history humans are the major cause of any change, positive or negative, on the planet. This can be an exciting or terrifying concept depending on the populations personal beliefs. Will we move forward and change or continue on the path we currently find ourselves on? (comment below with your opinion).

So, how can we grow in a way that keeps us within the boundaries of the ecosystem tipping points that we need to become good stewards of in order to keep from going over the edge.

The earth is a complex, ever-chaging system that requires our care in order to sustain us and life as a whole. Many things have been done all over the world (Johan goes into these in the video) and all of them point toward creating a more resilient society in which we build from the local all the way to the global scale. We as a society need to push away from an uncertain future and let the environment be our guide to development by understanding the tipping points within our biosphere and understand where humanity needs to fit in.

We hope you enjoy the video and comment below with your opinion on this post as well as any discussion on the topic you would like to have.

This video may be seen at TED.com and was given by Johan Rockstrom (http://www.ted.com/speakers/johan_rockstrom.html) and is visible here:  http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/johan_rockstrom_let_the_environment_guide_our_development.html.

Friends of Flagstaff’s Future (friendsofflagstaff.org) is currently hard at work with the Regional Plan for Flagstaff where we plan to let the environment be our guide for smart growth. We also believe in building a resilient community through education and outreach.

You can view Flagstaff’s regional plan here: http://www.flagstaff.az.gov/index.aspx?NID=1343

Post by: Christian Booz

F3: Who We Are.

We are Friends of Flagstaff’s Future (F3). We are a local, non-profit, community service/volunteer oriented organization founded in 1995 by concerned citizens that wanted to keep flagstaff’s culture intact as well as enhance the quality of life for its residents.

With this blog we hope to keep the conversation of sustainability, water issues, smart growth, food issues, and any other environmental topics going and encourage community involvement and discussion.

We encourage all of the readers to submit work on any environmental issue, including tips or news stories, for possible posting on this blog.

Visit us at our website http://www.friendsofflagstaff.com