Taking care of Mama Earth

First, some basic facts about my home.  We have two large composters in the back yard where organic materials go.  I have two worm composting buckets in my mud room where kitchen scraps, paper shreds, coffee grounds and such go.  I recycle plastic, paper and aluminum even going so far as to pick up cans and bottles when I see them laying beside the road.  Instead of piling up branches, logs etc to be carted off by the trash peeples, I make compost piles.  So little actual trash goes into my trash can that I can easily avoid putting off taking it to the curb for weeks at a time and even then it is very rarely full.  Hell, about the only thing I don't recycle is glass and that is only because there is no place nearby that takes it.

Both sides are always screaming about global warming and climate change.  I won't go into my thoughts on that here, but here is a thought for both sides of the coin.  Suppose Global Warming is an absolute fraud.  Suppose it is really some grand plot by the Illuminati to make billions of renewable energy resources.  Suppose Al Gore is really as Goofy as he looks and sounds.  So what?  What's wrong with making a little effort to treat Mama Earth better.

For decades we have treated our oceans and rivers like giant garbage pits where we can dump all of our refuse and poisons.  We pumped toxic chemicals, mega tons of plastic and heavy metals into the ecosystem blindly thinking that we'd never have to worry about it again.  Now, we have massive patches of trash floating in our oceans, choking wild life.  We have at least two huge dead spots caused by toxic run off from factories and farms where no fish and no plants can live.  We have sea life with toxic levels of heavy metals, mercury and lead.  In short, we are turning our planet into one giant trash heap.

Environmentalists are always yelling that our industries need to clean up their acts and they are right.  It is high time our factories and such stopped pumping poisons into our air and water, but the factories and such aren't the only ones who need to change.  The average person on the street produces four fifths of a ton of garbage a year (Yeah maybe that doesn't sound like a lot but then multiply that by the millions of people doing it.  Billions if you take that number global.)  Of that, roughly 67% is recyclable in some way.  Paper, plastic and aluminum can be recycled (Paper can also be composted like I do).  Non-meat based kitchen waste (Veggies, fruit etc) can be composted in either compost bins (Outside) or worm composters (Inside and highly efficient).  Heck even cat litter can be composted if done safely and properly.

Now I am not saying that if everyone starts recycling and composting, we will safe the world, but if everyone makes an effort we can make it a better place.  Mama Earth shelters us, feeds us and keeps us alive.  Maybe it is time we started giving back.

End of Rant