PLEASE NOTE Global Compost Film Contest filmmakers: You have artistic freedom to inspire the world however you do best. All that we ask is that you use:
– 2 facts minimum for Go Viral (2 minutes or less)
– 5 facts minimum for Inspire in 5 (2-5 minutes)
– No information that directly contradicts any of the facts below (all size entries)
General facts:
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Compost
· Compost is natural and can also be manmade.
· Anything that was ever alive can be composted.
· All organic matter can be composted (yard waste, brown waste sewage, cotton, wood, food scraps, dead animals).
· Fertilizers feed plants nitrogen (and other nutrients).
· Compost feeds soils available carbon.
· Organic waste is naturally crawling with life (fungi, bugs, worms, microbes, bacteria…).
· Microbes break down organic waste matter into a rich carbon source called humus, essentially the end of the composting process.
· Piles turn into compost quicker when microbes are “aerated” (given air to breath) by stirring dirt with shovels or pumping through air pipes using solar fans).
· After the compostable organic materials have been composted, the microbes die off or look for another job.
· Compostable cornstarch or paper bags are best for collecting organic waste.
· Plastic bags, and other plastics (bottle caps, straws, containers, cutlery…), are main contaminants that ruin compost piles.
· Medium to large-scale operations are usually best for pest management and sanitation.
· Yard waste can be composted at small scales in residential areas.
· A compost pile must be a minimum of 1 cubic yard (or meter) of organic material.
· Municipalities and communities benefit from organized compositing programs.
Carbon
· Carbon is the C in CO2. CO2 is important to climate change.
· The carbon cycle is one key systems that supports life on earth.
· CO2 in Earth’s atmosphere is vital to Earth’s temperature regulation because of how it absorbs and emits infrared radiation.
· In the most basic explanation, plants take in CO2 and release oxygen in a process known as photosynthesis.
· Plants make food (in some cases, vegetables, fruits, and grains, also known as “produce”) by converting light (sun) into energy and storing energy as carbohydrates.
· Grasses have long vertical root systems that pull carbon deep into the soil.
· Tilling disturbs the vital root systems of the grasses.
· Rangelands that are treated with finished compost produce more forage, hold more moisture, and have more available carbon to enhance plant growth.
· Managing grasslands and forested lands by encouraging healthy plants and plant root systems might be the best strategy for removing CO2 from the air.
· Plant root systems put carbon back into the soil as part of the ongoing carbon cycle.
· Carbon deep in the soil will be stored as mineralized carbon and no longer be part of atmospheric concentrations of CO2.
· Applying compost on a large-scale has great potential to manage atmospheric CO2 concentrations.
More Detailed Facts
· Finished compost has been managed to create a pathogen free (human disease risks are eradicated by the heat of the pile) product that is useful for agricultural purposes and enhances soil health.
· Compost has the ability to hold nutrients by adding to the an-ion and cat-ion exchange capacity of the soil.
· Composting is a natural process that occurs gradually at different rates in different locations in the presence of soil, water, and biodegradable materials.
· Compost is a controllable process using green waste materials first and then adding feedstocks and/or other organic amendments.
· Green waste and other feedstocks are aerated (turned or pumped with air by solar fans and pipes) to control the thermophilic heating process for a minimum of 21 days.
· When an organic waste pile gets aerated (and oxygen is introduced into the pile), the ambient microbes thrive, breaking down the matter efficiently.
· Compostable organics can also get saturated with water and breakdown anaerobically.
· The activity from microbes in a compost pile produces heat (steam) through chemical reactions: the endothermic process.
· Compost that is kept at a minimum of 131*F (53*C) for a minimum of 21 days kills human pathogens found in the feedstocks and green waste.
· Feedstocks for composting can include treated sewage, known as biosolids.
Results from compost application:
· A one-time application of finished compost every 10 years at the rate of 1 cm. of compost per hectare of grazed rangelands will annually pull in a minimum of 1 metric ton more CO2 through the photosynthetic process than a non-composted hectare.
· It is through enhanced plant growth that widespread compost application can change a given ecosystem.
· By applying compost in small but widespread amounts, the amount of acreage or hectares that can be positively affected for plant and grass growth is the most effective use of compost for the purpose of carbon sequestration.
· It is important for the feedstocks for the manmade composting process to be free of contaminants (metal, plastic, hazardous and toxic materials).
· The removal of plastics at the point of generation is the biggest challenge for large-scale compost creation and widespread application.
· Plastics are inorganic materials and are particularly persistent within the composting process.
· The collection and aggregation of green wastes and other compostable organic materials can create green jobs and provide agriculture products.
Relationship between carbon and atmospheric carbon dioxide:
· The carbon cycle is one of the key systems that supports life and biological processes on the earth.
· In one form, carbon is a key component of the CO2 as a gas in our atmosphere.
· CO2 is a very small but critical fraction of the atmosphere and helps to regulate the thermal capacity of the atmosphere.
· Changes to the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere have happened in the past and CO2 levels will always be changing.
· The large-scale and widespread application of composted materials has great potential to manage atmospheric CO2 concentrations.
· CO2 in Earth’s atmosphere is vital to Earth’s temperature regulation because of how it absorbs and emits infrared radiation.
· Humanity and most life currently on Earth thrives with an atmospheric CO2 level from .028% (280 parts per million), as it before the industrial revolution, to .03% (300 parts per million).
· 2014 levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are currently measured above .04% (400 parts per million) and climbing steadily.
· .04% (400 parts per million) is the highest level of CO2 in 800,000 years.
· Mining, drilling, deforestation, overgrazing, and ocean acidification are some of the ways that humans are releasing carbon into Earth’s atmosphere.
Plants and grasses:
· Plants make food (in some cases, vegetables, fruits, and grains, also known as “produce”) by converting light (sun) into energy and storing energy as carbohydrates.
· Grasses have long vertical root systems that pull carbon deep into the soil through osmotic and physiochemical processes.
· Perennial grasses are generally more resilient than annual grasses and can withstand decades of drought.
· Managing grasslands and forested lands by encouraging healthy plants and plant root systems might be the best strategy for removing CO2 from the air and putting that fraction of carbon back into the soil as part of the ongoing carbon cycle. There it will be stored as mineralized carbon and no longer be part of atmospheric concentrations of CO2.
· Trees are vital to atmospheric gas exchange. They have horizontal fanning roots, are long lived, grow near water sources, and are resilient sources of photosynthetic capacity.
· Grasses grow much faster than trees, and widespread grassland management has the potential to more quickly manage the carbon cycle through photosynthesis.