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PLEASE JOIN ME on a fundraising adventure to support program expansion and long-term sustainability of the community composting program that I started growing in Southwest Florida!
We are working together as neighbors and community members to keep food scraps out of local landfills by turning them into compost. In the process we are also creating new neighborhood and organizational partnerships, increasing awareness and action to solve a wide range of avoidable, undesirable, local and planetary problems (opportunities) related to food waste while returning some of the incredible abundance we experience back to the generous Earth.
(Teaching tool about landfills for outdoor classrooms.) (Note - above group photo by Bill Goebner)
Working together to collect and compost food scraps instead of sending them to the landfill reduces the mounting landfill contributions, reduces methane pollution, builds healthy, local soil fertility , brings awareness to the millions of creatures that create vibrant life in the soil, reduces reliance on chemical fertilizers that create imbalances in the eco-system and human health, saves us money and connect us more deeply to the cycles of human and natural resources that are involved in food production and food waste .
Currently, Florida is sending nearly 1,900,000 tons of food waste to the landfill - only 4% of this is being recycled.
With a statewide goal of reducing 75% of solid waste from landfills by 2020, it is a perfect time to expand our small but growing food scrap recovery solutions!
(Teaching about soil microbes in FL elementary school)
I am passionate about creating opportunities that bring people together in action for people care and Earth care - whether it is implementing garden-based education for youth, helping create greater access to solar energy for ALL people, enabling local backyard food production for families, sharing herbal wellness or stress management strategies, teaching about resource balance, or implementing zero waste initiatives.
Community composting has been an inspiring and impactful way to create local action.
(Some of our enthusiastic program participants - YAY!)
In these very early stages of development, we have 12 households and an engaged college campus chapter of This Spaceship Earth.org from Ringling College of Art and Design who are all currently collecting food scraps.
Participants are connected to local compost bin host sites that are food scrap recovery locations. This model is especially helpful for those who don't have yards or who are not ready to compost on their own.
(Compost Queens at U.S.C.C. Operator's Training)
Launching this project in my home state of Florida after returning here just under a year ago, has brought about unique collaborations between people and organizations here who want to learn and take action on waste-free & resource-full lifestyle solutions.
Our locally produced compost will be used by participants, local community gardens and at the garden we are starting with the Boys and Girls Club youth.
(Sharing joys of compost with elementary school in CA)
We are 2 months into the project, which is an extension of the original 4 week pilot project. Based on community feedback and our successes, we intend to operate far beyond our current goal of January with your interim help
To date, our small group of first adopters of this program has collected and is compostingjust over 1000 pounds of food scraps. This small group is already on track to divert 2.5 tons of solid waste from the landfill annually.
IMAGINE WHAT WE WILL ACCOMPLISH AS WE GROW!
Supporting this project will:
1. Sustain current operations which are on track to divert 2.5 tons of annual food scrap waste from the landfill
2. Expand the program in the short-term by adding at least 1 new hub region by January, and inviting new participants to join from our 3 existing hubs
3. Fund the materials cost of additional compost host-site bins, collection buckets, transport and operational related expenses
4. Offer more community education trainings
5. Extend the program to at least one school or child-based education/recreation program
6. Establish at least 1 hub as a bicycle-based transfer
hub vs. car-based transfer hub
7. Enable development of a website for sharing program information and associated resources and partners
8. Help with printing bucket signage, program flyers and kitchen signs
9. Help ramp-up the depth of the
educational training materials and outreach efforts
10. Provide program support while a strategic path for long-term program sustainability is being developped and implemented
I am inviting your support and asking for your help from far and wide to help me sustain and grow this program while the long-term sustainability plan is shaping up. I have funded all components of this project while discovering if there was enough public interest and need here in S.W. Florida - AND THERE IS!
Your contributions will help a greater good that we are all connected to, particularly as we continue to increase transparency about what it really means to throw something away , to "produce waste", and the finite resource bank that is our generous Earth that is becoming overdrawn.
Food scrap recovery and composting is creating alliances among engaged citizens and local organizations, and many more who are waiting for the program to expand.
(Teaching hands-on composting in FL school)
PLEASE DONATE TODAY :) and help nourish the germinating seeds of this program!
**THANK YOU SO MUCH** to everyone who has supported the success of the pilot project and has enabled clear vision to expand the program!
I am also **extremely grateful** to a number of inspiring teachers, farmers, gardeners, permaculture designers, spiritual mentors, herbalists, the entire and amazing King's Mountain Art Fair community - especially the zero waste team, San Mateo County Recycleworks Master Composter Program, San Francisco Department of the Environment , the U.S. Composting Council 's Compost Operator's Training, the Pacifica Beach Coalition 's Eco-fest zero waste efforts, Ringling College of Art and Design students, This Spaceship Earth.org , to my parents who have composted over 1000 pounds of food in the last few years in a 3 ' x 3 ' bin in their backyard in Florida, and to the additional un-named, unseen supporters who have all contributed in some way to the foundation of this project. I AM ABUNDANTLY GRATEFUL. ox :)
We are working together as neighbors and community members to keep food scraps out of local landfills by turning them into compost. In the process we are also creating new neighborhood and organizational partnerships, increasing awareness and action to solve a wide range of avoidable, undesirable, local and planetary problems (opportunities) related to food waste while returning some of the incredible abundance we experience back to the generous Earth.
(Teaching tool about landfills for outdoor classrooms.) (Note - above group photo by Bill Goebner)Working together to collect and compost food scraps instead of sending them to the landfill reduces the mounting landfill contributions, reduces methane pollution, builds healthy, local soil fertility , brings awareness to the millions of creatures that create vibrant life in the soil, reduces reliance on chemical fertilizers that create imbalances in the eco-system and human health, saves us money and connect us more deeply to the cycles of human and natural resources that are involved in food production and food waste .
Currently, Florida is sending nearly 1,900,000 tons of food waste to the landfill - only 4% of this is being recycled.
With a statewide goal of reducing 75% of solid waste from landfills by 2020, it is a perfect time to expand our small but growing food scrap recovery solutions!
(Teaching about soil microbes in FL elementary school)I am passionate about creating opportunities that bring people together in action for people care and Earth care - whether it is implementing garden-based education for youth, helping create greater access to solar energy for ALL people, enabling local backyard food production for families, sharing herbal wellness or stress management strategies, teaching about resource balance, or implementing zero waste initiatives.
Community composting has been an inspiring and impactful way to create local action.
(Some of our enthusiastic program participants - YAY!)In these very early stages of development, we have 12 households and an engaged college campus chapter of This Spaceship Earth.org from Ringling College of Art and Design who are all currently collecting food scraps.
Participants are connected to local compost bin host sites that are food scrap recovery locations. This model is especially helpful for those who don't have yards or who are not ready to compost on their own.
(Compost Queens at U.S.C.C. Operator's Training)Launching this project in my home state of Florida after returning here just under a year ago, has brought about unique collaborations between people and organizations here who want to learn and take action on waste-free & resource-full lifestyle solutions.
Our locally produced compost will be used by participants, local community gardens and at the garden we are starting with the Boys and Girls Club youth.
(Sharing joys of compost with elementary school in CA)We are 2 months into the project, which is an extension of the original 4 week pilot project. Based on community feedback and our successes, we intend to operate far beyond our current goal of January with your interim help
To date, our small group of first adopters of this program has collected and is compostingjust over 1000 pounds of food scraps. This small group is already on track to divert 2.5 tons of solid waste from the landfill annually.
IMAGINE WHAT WE WILL ACCOMPLISH AS WE GROW!
Supporting this project will:
1. Sustain current operations which are on track to divert 2.5 tons of annual food scrap waste from the landfill
2. Expand the program in the short-term by adding at least 1 new hub region by January, and inviting new participants to join from our 3 existing hubs
3. Fund the materials cost of additional compost host-site bins, collection buckets, transport and operational related expenses
4. Offer more community education trainings
5. Extend the program to at least one school or child-based education/recreation program
6. Establish at least 1 hub as a bicycle-based transfer
hub vs. car-based transfer hub
7. Enable development of a website for sharing program information and associated resources and partners
8. Help with printing bucket signage, program flyers and kitchen signs
9. Help ramp-up the depth of the
educational training materials and outreach efforts
10. Provide program support while a strategic path for long-term program sustainability is being developped and implemented
I am inviting your support and asking for your help from far and wide to help me sustain and grow this program while the long-term sustainability plan is shaping up. I have funded all components of this project while discovering if there was enough public interest and need here in S.W. Florida - AND THERE IS!
Your contributions will help a greater good that we are all connected to, particularly as we continue to increase transparency about what it really means to throw something away , to "produce waste", and the finite resource bank that is our generous Earth that is becoming overdrawn.
Food scrap recovery and composting is creating alliances among engaged citizens and local organizations, and many more who are waiting for the program to expand.
(Teaching hands-on composting in FL school)PLEASE DONATE TODAY :) and help nourish the germinating seeds of this program!
**THANK YOU SO MUCH** to everyone who has supported the success of the pilot project and has enabled clear vision to expand the program!
I am also **extremely grateful** to a number of inspiring teachers, farmers, gardeners, permaculture designers, spiritual mentors, herbalists, the entire and amazing King's Mountain Art Fair community - especially the zero waste team, San Mateo County Recycleworks Master Composter Program, San Francisco Department of the Environment , the U.S. Composting Council 's Compost Operator's Training, the Pacifica Beach Coalition 's Eco-fest zero waste efforts, Ringling College of Art and Design students, This Spaceship Earth.org , to my parents who have composted over 1000 pounds of food in the last few years in a 3 ' x 3 ' bin in their backyard in Florida, and to the additional un-named, unseen supporters who have all contributed in some way to the foundation of this project. I AM ABUNDANTLY GRATEFUL. ox :)