Compost City

Good News Good Planet

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* COMPOST CITY Often real change takes place only when we take matters into our own hands. That’s exactly what New Yorker Kate Zidar decided on instead of waiting for her local government to step up for her city neighborhood. In the early 2000’s Kate had been volunteering at a community garden in Brooklyn. She discovered that the garden they had been tending was plagued with toxic soil. Kate’s focus then became replacing the top layer of soil so her group could safely grow food. Composting food scraps is the easy and natural way to create new nutrient rich soil which doesn’t need chemical fertilizers. Kate wrote to the Parks Commissioner and sent him a flower bulb in hopes that she’d garner his attention and approval for a community composting pile. When, after many weeks, she received no response, Kate commenced with her plan anyway. When people would ask her what the commissioner thought of the project, she’d just respond, “He knows about it”. At first it was just Kate bringing her scraps to the 55-gallon barrels in the garden, and then local passersby started bringing their scraps, and before you knew it of families were bringing their scraps—and instead of it being Kate’s Project, it became a collective. The idea had spread like wildfire, and compost piles started sprouting up all over Brooklyn. By 2013 Mayor Bloomberg’s government finally took notice and announced it would move towards a city wide, curbside compost program. Nourishing the earth’s soils while keeping food waste out of landfills is a win-win for all, it just has to start somewhere with someone. It was author Margaret Mead who correctly said “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.