Being a part of a community also entails doing your part to preserve and protect Mother Earth. Sadly, we aren't living in a time where environmental advocacy and awareness is ingrained in our everyday lives. At times it seems like certain environmentally friendly initiatives are not accessible in that they require a financial or time investment we may not have. 

Luckily for me (and y’all by extension), I know a nice lady that is doing the work in making community oriented environmentally friendly initiatives accessible to everyone. Giszell Weather co-founded HerbanUNC, a collective that co-creates edible ecosystems through education and garden design in 2015. The first iteration of Herban was dedicated to nurturing and inspiring youth through food cultivation. They incubated this project under Hope Gardens, a student-run non-profit organization that bridges gaps in food access between UNC-Chapel Hill and the broader community. She has been able to implement these initiatives without needing much space or money and incorporates everyone in a given community. 

Enter the art of composting. I think we underestimate how much food waste we produce and subsequently how much we throw away when no longer needed. Composting allows you to recycle these materials into one big heap that decomposes over time into what some call "black gold." The broken down organic matter serves as a great fertilizer to soil. The EPA (let's celebrate them while they still exist)  says food scraps and yard waste currently compose  20 to 30 percent of what we throw away and should be composted instead. Making compost keeps these materials out of landfills where they take up space and release methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

Giszell told me starting your own compost is easy. All you need is a plastic bin, a drill, carbon (or certain types of paper), and waste! Carbon includes shredded paper, toilet paper rolls, used napkins, cardboard, and coffee chaff. For acceptable waste, I think fruits and veggies but the list is not exhaustive. Check out 100 things you can compost. 

We started composting on August 4,2018 and documented the process. And by that I mean, I watched my husband do things and took the photos.

Fast-forwarding to last weekend, our compost bin was stolen! I guess it was that good. We will start another.