I've got a lot to update y'all on. To start, here's a composting tip from a friend in New York:

Carbon to Nitrogen Ratio- Carbon=Browns, Nitrogen=Greens. You always want more browns than greens.

Here's a link to a sight with some excellent examples of each and the ratio to maintain.

http://www.composting101.com/c-n-ratio.html

I got some more worms from The Armstrong Garden Center back in my parents hometown. Mixed with the ones I got from the Urban-worms lady, there should be enough for my worms to mate and reproduce, woohoo! One pound of worms can devour about a half a pound of food waste in 24 hours, keep in mind.

Now for the upsetting news- Greenwashing! Greenwashing can be defined by Greenpeace as "Used to describe the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service."

Here's a prime example:

An excerpt from a 60 Minutes interview with Duke Energy CEO, Jim Rogers, taught me in twelve minutes that our Earth is doomed. One of the world's largest coal companies, Duke Energy has been fooling everyone with their greenwashed "Clean Coal" ads.

Rogers stated that Duke's clean coal plans should be in full effect by 2050. Too bad for us, we don't have that long. NASA researcher's and engineers have estimated that optimistically we might have 20 years left.

According to Rogers, we have no choice. In order to keep glutenously overindulgent American consumer-driven lives afloat, we can't cut coal out, ever.

Check out the video and other Greenwashing Giants at:

http://members.greenpeace.org/blog/greenwashing?cat=34335

Almost Half-Way!

So I'm about thirteen days in, and although I'm not as far as I wished to have been by now, I still feel excellent about what I have accomplished.

Trying to reduce you're own waste isn't really that hard. Sometimes it can be more work to be wasteful. I've saved money, time, and electric energy, woohoo!

Today I found biodegradable dryer sheets (with no nasty chemicals!) at Whole Foods. I was originally looking for the Trader Joe's brand of lavender dryer sheets, but the store by my place doesn't sell them anymore, interestingly enough.

Want to make some eco-friendly money? If you collect the plastic bottles you want to recycle, you can take them to certain recycling stations and they'll pay you. Granted, its a few cents per bottle, but that should only encourage you to recycle more; the more bottles, the more money!

Lately, one of the hardest parts of composting has been actually finding the worms. Everyone is sold out. Even the Urban-Worms.com lady! Apparently, vermi-composting is all the rage now-a-days. You can always order them online from a bunch of companies, but I'd prefer to pick mine up in person, and name all 1,000 of them.

Quick tip for composting: Carbon to Nitrogen ratio! Brown stuff is Carbon (shredded newspaper, soil, etc.) and Green stuff is Nitrogen (food waste). You always want more Carbon (brown) than Nitrogen (green).

If you're compost is too wet you're worms will try to escape or it can get to moldy and attract too many insects. Put more browns, in there and make sure its the consistency of a damp sponge.

Don't forget that foods like meat, dairy, fats, and oils should be avoided because they can create maggots and attract unwanted predators, yikes!

Hopefully you checked out last week's Composting Article of mine in the corsair. If not, go on over to TheCorsairOnline.com and check it out!

Trash-Free Difficulty

Living trash free really brings to light how much our world supports wasteful habits. Sometimes I feel like everywhere I turn is another trash can full to the brim with waste. The worst part is seeing ones that have easily recyclable material in them.

When you buy food, is the handful of napkins you grab really necessary?

How about all those plastic bags at the grocery store? Or even the paper ones? Trader Joe's uses two paper bags as one when they pack groceries, but I always tell them one is enough. I recycle all my paper bags, and plastic bags can't be curbside recycled, but most grocery stores have plastic bag recycle bins.

I am proud to say that I have significantly reduced my waste daily! Any food I can't finish when I'm out, I have to bring home for the compost. At school, the cafeteria doesn't have much of a recyclable selection. Today I bought a tuna croissant with salad. It comes prepacked in a plastic container which is completely recyclable. The utensils they use are eco-products too. I can take the utensils home and compost them or recycle them, depending on my mood.

Collecting compost is easy, its finding products that are 100% recyclable or at least reusable that's the issue. Yes water bottles are recyclable (except for the caps), but buying them in general is wasteful when you can buy a reusable, dishwasher safe bottle. I just always forget to bring mine to school, so I find myself running to the drinking fountain a lot more often.

A very sweet person reminded me that I can ride my bike anywhere I don't feel like walking. I would have thought of that if I had a bike, but I don't. Lucky for me, my roommates do and they're more than willing to share. Google is coming out with a bicycle Map application, so you can find the best routes to ride.

On the other hand, taking the bus isn't bad at all. The only problem with taking the bus is the timing. It usually runs late, but the more popular buses show up every 10-15 minutes at their stops. On the plus side, I love not having to drive. No looking for parking, no need to get gas, no possibility of an accident and therefore raise of my insurance payment; this shit is awesome!

I hope you checked out my Eco-Intro in last week's Corsair, if not you can always check it out online: The CorsairOnline.com

Look for this weeks composting article in the paper, and let me know what you think. For now, Stay Green Ponyboy!

Consumer Composting!

As humans its only natural for us to eat, and therefore waste. The average American creates about 4lbs of trash per day, and almost 56 tons of trash per year. How much of that is waste that could be recycled? Or how about food waste that could be composted? A lot.

Recycling your paper, plastic, glass and what-not isn't always enough. We create so much trash that even when we recycle, the recycling facilities can't recycle these products fast enough, but we'll save that topic for next time.

Composting food is one of the best ways to give back to the Earth, and its simple.

There are many ways to compost, from buying the $100-$200 compost bin sets at your local Home Depot, Lowe's, Armstrong Garden Center, etc. to a DIY method I ventured upon.

Originally, I bought a circular 2 foot plastic trash bin from Smart&Final, in hopes of making that my compost bin, but after finding smaller square bins at my parents house, I was able to convert those into my worm compost project and made the taller trash can my recycle bin!

After I found out the basics, and the science of the composting process, I went shopping at a few local stores. Here's what you need to start: two plastic bins, a drill, metal mesh or an old window screen, two bricks, some old newspaper, a little bit of soil, red worms (optional) to quicken the process and prevent any nasty odors, and of course, your food scraps.

Drill holes along the sides and bottom of only one bin. This will keep circulation in your compost bin, bringing oxygen to the worms. Cut the mesh or screen into squares a little bit bigger than the holes you drilled and glue them on the inside of the bin to cover the holes. This will keep your compost from spilling out if it gets too full.

Next, put the two bricks inside the bin without any holes, and place them on either side. Put the bin you just drilled into the other bin, onto of the two bricks. Now you're ready to create your compost! Shred up the newspaper into strips of about an inch thick and place them at the bottom of the top bin. Add water the the newspaper to get it moist, but not too wet. You want it to feel like a damp sponge, not dripping with water. As a rule of thumb, add one pound of worms for every half pound of waste. You can add some store-bought composting fertilizer, but regular soil is suitable as well. Finally, add your food scraps and seal it off with the lid.

I got my worms from Lara Laskay with Urban-worms.com. She was extremely helpful, and she hosts booths at farmer's markets in Pasadena and Studio City, but her office is located in North Hollywood. Check out her website to learn all about vermicomposting, it's very informative and extremely helpful.

You want to layer the bin with dry ingredients first, like shredded newspaper or shredded cardboard, then some moist soil with your worms for a wet layer, then another dry layer, and then your food scraps! The consistency of the misture should be that of a damp sponge, any wetter and the worms will try to escape.

Some foods to avoid include meats, oils, grease, dairy, and citrus rinds. These attract creatures and animals and make it hard for the compost and the worms.

I also found out that the Cities of Santa Monica and Los Angeles have a worm-bin distribution program, where you can get worm bins and maybe even worms for discounted prices if you are a SM or LA resident. Just go to Smartgardening.com!

That's all for now. Keep you're selves updated and the world clean!