Short Wave - Want To Be Greener This Holiday Season? Try Composting!

Episode Date: December 18, 2023

Does thinking about the trajectory of the climate make you have a panic spiral? If so, we have the perfect podcast for you: The Anti-Dread Climate Podcast from NPR member station KCRW. The whole conceit of the show is to move away from climate anxiety and into incremental ways you can better the planet. Today, Caleigh Wells, one of the hosts of the show, helps Regina do just that by talking through some quick tips for being greener this holiday season and then walking through how to compost year-round. If you want even more climate solutions goodness, check out The Anti-Dread Climate Podcast Newsletter at kcrw.com/climate.As always, you can reach us Short Wavers by emailing [e-mail]. We love hearing what's on your science-curious minds!See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. Hey, Shorewavers. Regina Barbara here with a very special guest, Kaylee Wells. Hey, Kaylee. Hey. So Kaylee, you host the anti-dread climate podcast from one of our NPR member stations in LA, KCRW, and you do that along with Candice Dickens Russell. Yeah, and the idea for the show came from this sort of growing problem that we're seeing,

which is that the climate crisis is getting scary every year. And we climate journalists are like, hey, look at how scary this is. And then the news consumers go, oh, God. And to preserve their sanity, they just bury their heads in the sand because their quota for consuming doom is just all used up. This is totally speaking to my soul. I mean, it can be totally paralyzing for me and other people to just like even think about climate change. I know, which is why we call it climate anxiety because the fear really does feel paralyzing. But, you know, frequently, what do you do with an anxious person?

Well, you give them something they can control. So with our listeners who are anxious about this existential threat, we're trying to answer their questions about. how they can help the planet. Like, what is in their control that actually makes a difference. That sounds amazing. I need that. You've even done a whole episode about how to be greener for the holidays without being a Grinch. I see what you did there with that title. Oh, hey, thanks. Thanks for noticing. I mean, you know, I don't know about you, but it feels like every year I plan like, okay, December's here. I'm going to be so good to the planet during this big holiday season. I mean, I wish I was as good as you. Well, I do not. Except I'm not better than you because then December actually does come around and I

fall right back into the consumer nature that we all do. So I figured maybe if I need help, other people do too. And, you know, whether that's in the form of fewer presence or gifting experiences instead of things or trying to use like more environmentally recyclable wrapping paper. Oh, that actually does make me feel guilty. I do love my pretty wrapping paper. But I know I probably should like swap it out for like plain brown paper or something. Oh, you make it sound like such a chore. Take out the word plain. How about simple or classy? Because think about, Are you not impressed by someone who ties a brown package with that real red ribbon and then spruces it up with a little pine clipping they found on the ground? I mean, I am impressed by that.

I'm easily impressed, though. Okay, well, good. I mean, hey, that's still a win-win. And there's also things like eating less meat during the holidays, or if you're not willing to do that, eat less red meat. Okay, I can definitely do that. I've been, like, not eating meat for the last, like, three days and veggies are my thing. I can do that. Wow, congrats to you.

Thank you. And that leaves me to an evergreen tip. Okay. that you can do all year round, which is composting your food, making it nutrient-rich soil instead of just more trash. Okay, I'm down. Let's do it. Today on the show, getting over yourself and into composting.

Kaylee and Candice show us how it's done. And how it can be customized to you. And they talk through the biology at play that makes it better for the planet. I'm Regina Barber, and you're listening to Shortwave from NPR. I'm Candice Dickensressel, CEO of the Friends of L.A. River and an environmental educator. I'm Kaylee Wells, the climate reporter at KCRW. K. K. K. K. K. What are people's reactions when they find out about your whole composting gymnastics that you've got going on over there? Gymnastics. Positive. I think it's cool, but they're a little bewildered because, like, it takes up

half my freezer. Yeah, you got to explain that. That it's in my freezer? Yeah. Well, because I can't just, like, put it all on my counter. It's going to start smelling and I'm going to get fruit flies and, like, my whole building had ants. So I stick it all in the freezer. Okay. Because it takes me like three weeks to have enough to like to take it over. To take it to my community garden. Yeah. Okay. And so then it's not like actively molding and getting all gross.

Okay. No, that's a commitment. So I literally will like, it's like sits in a freezer drawer. And when I'm, when the freezer door is full, I pull out the entire freezer drawer, stick that in my trunk, drive over to the community garden. So I admit that it sounds like a lot of effort, but it is worth it to me. One of our listeners, not so sure. Her name is Agnieszka Spieshna and she's a freelance editor living in Hancock. And it's not that she hasn't composted before.

She used to when she lived in Michigan and she had a big old backyard to do that. Can't exactly do that now that she's here in L.A. Every single week, I have to either drive over to the farmer's market to drop off the compost or sneak into my neighbor's bins because my apartment building doesn't have the green composting bins. Which is obviously kind of an ongoing issue here. Yes. Because, like, yeah, California's mandated these green bins, but there's still so many of us that don't have them yet. Oh, yeah. My city has not figured it out yet at all.

Yeah, right. So in the meantime, she's kind of been wondering. I'm curious whether composting is actually worth it. And if so, is there a difference between the different composting programs, like the green bins that are provided by the city versus volunteer programs like L.A. Compost. I mean, we know the answer is yes. Obviously, we think so. But I still called up another expert just so he could say. Yes, it's worth it. That's Elliot Coon. I know, because you introduced me to him.

I did. He owns Cottonwood Urban Farm in Panama City, and he does all sorts of food and composting and education work from his farm there. And he also seems to be one of the biggest compost cheerleaders I ever did me. Absolutely. Pompoms and everything. Oh, yeah. So when I first gave him Agnieszka's question, he got kind of philosophical on me. It's biomimicry. All right. This is what happens on forest floors. It's what happened in vacant lots here in L.A. Composting is decomposition, which fuels into new life, right? So is it worth it to be a part of that system? Yeah.

Yes, that totally resonates with me. The whole philosophical feeling, like, I love that. That's exactly, like, what I think of when I think about composting. But I think Agnishka is looking for something more scientific here. And that's kind of the answer I was looking for, too. And so I asked him to give me one. We're sequestering carbon and putting it back into the earth, all right? So that can be this elevated scientific approach to, hey, we're taking out of the atmosphere,

putting it back in the earth, and we're sequestering this carbon, which, helps benefit our fight against climate change. And I know carbon sequestration is sort of a big sciencey phrase, but it's super cool. It basically just means that all that like planet warming carbon up in the atmosphere, we're taking it out of the atmosphere and shoving it into the ground and keeping it there instead. And so when you compost on your soil, the soil is healthier so it can hold more of the Earth's carbon. It also retains moisture better, which is really great if you're in these like drought-e landscapes like we have Southern California. It's so cool. Yeah, we can also talk about methane, right? Like the fact that

as things are decomposing in the landfill, there are gas that's being released. And that's contributing to climate change. That's contributing to this gas that's being released into the atmosphere. And it's just more and more of the warming, more and more of the problem that we're trying to solve. Right. And as we know, methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases. Absolutely. Way worse than carbon. So much worse. So composting stores carbon and makes it so we're creating less methane. Yes. And that. means that the landfills are not filling up as quickly. So so much of what's going to the landfill

every day, every week is food, is like that food waste. People are just not either able to eat as much or things are going bad or whatever's going on. You've ordered a pizza instead, whatever is going on. The food is going to the waste. So when we can compost, we can actually store that food in a different way, rather than sending it to the landfill to just decompose and be disgusting. If we're going to geek out on how cool compost is, though, we probably need to talk about the right way to compost, the best way to do so. Sure. Okay. And Agnieszka wants to know which of those options is the best one. So I think we should probably start with the easiest because Kuhn suggested that the best option is just the one that

you're going to keep doing. So Agnieszka, you live in California, which means your city is required to provide the green bin to throw all your organic waste in. If you don't have one, you can tell your local government about it. Yeah. This is what I did. Because my apartment complex was not providing me a green bin. And so I called up L.A. and told on him. Okay. And they said, okay, where do you live? And I gave him an address.

And three weeks later, I had a green bin. I love it. And that's what you have to do. You know, kudos to you, like, making that happen. And I'm actually a little shocked that it worked. But even if she does do that, the wheels of government will only work so quickly. So I love what L.A. says about the best system is the one you're going to stick with. That is so true.

And that's like an environmental education like tagline, like T-shirt, right? That's the best system. So you have to think about how you can make this work for you in a way that's going to be long-term sustainable and keep you from sneaking over the fence into your neighbor's yard to dump your compost. Right, because that's not super legal. Oh, my gosh. So in the meantime, while you're waiting for the wheels of government to work, you might need another option, which is where the group L.A. Compost comes in that you were talking about earlier. They run compost systems at community gardens all over L.A. I found them just on the internet

when I was looking for a nearby garden to bring my scraps way before we had these green bins now. And then I just sort of signed up. I found the community garden near me. I put my name down and they're like, sure, come on by. Perfect. And by the way, if you're like, well, but I live in an urban apartment

and I couldn't possibly manage this, yes, you can. And I've been doing it for several years now. But Candace, and I said this earlier, I want to hear more about your backyard system because you're currently living my dream and I really want to hear

about how cool that is. Well, it's very, very simple and streamlined. It's got the countertop compost or thing. As I'm cutting vegetables for dinner or what have you, the carrot tops or

whatever onion skins go into this bin. We do tea bags and coffee grounds and stuff too. And it all goes into this little countertop thing and every day or so when the trash goes out

and then we'll take it out to the bin and dump it into this big box bin. And this is a very common, the most common kind of composter. It has a drawer at the bottom that when you lift it up, whatever's broken down has kind of trickled down, filtered down to the bottom, and you can pull this rich, beautiful, healthy compost out of the bottom and, like, put it on the garden, which is right there. It's

in the garden. So it's a really simple system, but you can make it as complicated as you want to. We're lazy composters. We don't even take the stickers off of the fruits before we throw them in, because we just, that we don't care. But it's our compost. We're going to use it. Sounds like magic. I've like... It's hard for me to believe that this really exists, but... It's a plastic box. You've been doing it for years. Yep.

That's really cool. Many, many years. Okay, so we should probably recap with some takeaways here. Let's do it. Agneska. Is composting worth it? Yeah. Less methane and carbon in the air.

Healthier soil. Water saved. There's so many reasons why it's worth it. And is there a best way to do it? Like, let's not get caught up in this right or wrong, perfect or imperfect. It's the method that's going to work for you. If you need a whole drawer of your freezer, or you want to, want to throw the stickers in the bin. Either way, we're good. And how do you start? You could look

for a local community garden. You could look for a farmer's market to bring your food scraps. You've got to be the squeaky wheel to get your local government to comply with the state organic waste laws. And if you're brave enough and blessed with owning property, then you can apparently pretty easily do it in your own backyard. So, Candace, what's the good news this week? The good news this week is really cool. And it's about composting. So way back in 1996, San Francisco became the first city in the to establish this large-scale food composting program. This is them taking like everyday household food waste and composting it. And no one had been doing that before.

And so it was really successful. The city achieved 50% landfill diversion by 2000. And now there are all these other cities that are doing it too, like Seattle, Austin, Portland, Denver. And of course, we have our new program here in Los Angeles. So California now, of course, has the state law that's requiring this organic waste going and being diverted from landfills by 75% by 2025, and they've diverted a lot over time. But so far, because of this program in San Francisco being the pilot, California's diverted 2.5 million tons of organic waste. Oh my gosh. That's really wild. That's really cool. Yeah.

If you want to hear more about how to help the planet, check out Kaylee and Candace every Wednesday on their new show, the Anti-Dread Climate Podcast. They've also got a cool weekly newsletter that you can check out by going to KCRW.com slash climate. The executive producer of KCRW's The Anti-Dread Climate Podcast is Sonia Geis. Their production assistant is Celine Mendiola. The technical director is John Meek. Music is by Carolyn Penny Packer Riggs. The Anti-Dread Climate Podcast is a KCRW production.

This episode of Shortwave was produced and edited by Rebecca Ramirez. I'm Regina Barber. Thank you, as always, for listening to Shortwave from NPR.