Nicodemus Wilderness Project -- Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists

I believe that majority of people do not realize the importance of their own environment. They live as if the lives and future of their children and grandchildren did not mean anything to them, cutting their lawns with gas-guzzling lawn-movers, letting their cars idle for inexcusable amount of time, turning up their air conditioning instead of opening their windows.
I have always encouraged others to recycle, use less gas, and conserve water. My indignation about the selfish, irresponsible attitude has alienated many of my co-workers and friends, but at the same time, I have met a lot of people who share my opinions. And I hope that those who have laughed at my â€œgranolaâ€ ways will start to think about the consequences of their behavior.
To use my anger and anxiety about the future of the planet in a productive way, I started a compost pile behind our garage in our backyard earlier this year. Since it has not been active for a whole year, there is no fertilizer produced yet, but there should be some waiting for us in the spring. The compost bin itself is made of four old wooden shipping palettes, that otherwise would have been thrown away.
Perhaps a good incentive to get more people to start compost would be an ecological tax credit. If buying an expensive hybrid car earns you a substantial tax credit, then why should not a compost?
I am amazed how much composting affects the amount of our household waste. Our family of four eats a lot of vegetables and fruit, and we throw away one to three pounds of organic waste a day. We do not have a paved path to the composter, and on rainy days I have to wiggle my way in between patches of mud, but that is only a small price to pay for my hopes of a better future.
The benefits of composting are numerous. Compost is a pesticide, fertilizer, and conditioner for soil. In addition, biogas is produced through anaerobic digestion in compost. If more families and businesses introduced composting rather than throwing away their food scraps that will end up in a landfill, the impact on the environment would be substantial. Also, since compost is so rich in nutrients, it makes excellent organic fertilizers, making food safer to eat than if the crops were fertilized with chemicals.