@LilNaib
@slrpnk.netMany people believe that methane leaks are badly undercounted, and that a proper accounting would show that these methane leaks make so-called "natural gas" as damaging as coal, on the basis on grams of CO2 per kWh of electricity generated. (Coal is obscenely dirty which introduces other problems, but that's an issue deserving of its own conversation.) So this is an important first step.
You're not responsible for the whole world but you are responsible for your own actions.
Agreed 100%. We need to ignore these people (COP), stop letting them steal the oxygen from the room and deploy the alternatives that make them irrelevant.
We need fertilizer from Haber-Bosch
Chemical fertilizer is not only unnecessary, it's tied to poor agricultural approaches. In contrast, farmers who practice regenerative agriculture and/or permaculture don't use it and get excellent yields. A specific example is Gabe Brown, whose farm gets above-average yields compared to neighboring farms and is far more profitable, not needing to take government handouts to stay in business. Meanwhile, the soil at his 5,000 acre farm is far healthier and sequesters many tons of carbon per acre vs. neighboring farms.
For more info, read the book Dirt to Soil by Gabe Brown. You can also read a bit here:
I used to live in an area with many lakes, and each January there was a weekend-long event out on the ice with games, ice swimming challenges, food etc. When I was growing up you could drive pickup trucks on the ice and leave wooden ice fishing shacks on the ice for weeks at a time or longer. In the last decade or so the event has been increasingly cancelled as the ice is often not even safe enough to walk on (let alone turn into a parking lot for trucks). Hell, they even had a gigantic bonfire with dozens of Christmas trees. Next day, you couldn't even tell there had been a fire there on the ice. All of that is going away.
We have to race full speed ahead at decarbonizing our own personal lives and our shared electric grids.
This is a feedback loop, as snow reflects sunlight (heat) back into Space, so a lack of snow exacerbates climate change, thus increasing the areas getting less snow, thus warming the planet more, thus...
I LOVE Becky Chambers! Working my way through the Wayfarers books and will read A Psalm soon. Super excited about it.
The books that help me keep a positive outlook are generally non-fiction books that help readers to become part of the solution in some way. Quoting David Holmgren in his book Retrosuburbia, "Focusing on our own behaviour avoids being disempowered by a sense that society seems generally blind and/or mad in relation to the real issues of our time." So in addition to the fiction of Becky Chambers I'd add:
There's a lot of room for improvement and people with different amounts of time and money can all partake.
Don't buy gift wrapping paper; reuse old gift paper or use other things like paper grocery bags, old calendar paper or wall poster paper, etc. This takes WAY less time and money than going to the store, finding the stuff in the store, paying for it using money earned while doing work, coming back home, etc. And it makes presents stand out - those ones are extra special. You can also make your own holiday/birthday cards pretty easy.
Buy used instead of new
Don't buy goods at all - fix their broken favorite tool/possession and present it to them, or gift them an experience like a day of downhill skiing or hiking in the mountains. This may not even financially cost anything. If they really care about you then they'll probably value your company more than some material thing, and if they don't, you can get them a used coffee mug. :-)
I've been doing these things to the extent possible for years and have noticed improvements in the people I interact with as well. It's wonderful being on the receiving end of personally made cards and gifts.
Pathogen destruction is a function of time and temperature. Generally speaking, a compost bin at 140F/60C for an hour will kill most pathogens, or 130F/55C for a day, or 120F/49C for a week. And generally, compost bins will hold a peak temperature for between 24-72 hours before slowly dropping again, while adding fresh material will make the temperature rise again. Part of the reason time matters is because it isn't just heat that kills pathogens - it's also compost microorganisms that physically kill pathogens in the bin.
Getting compost very hot like 160F/71C like you say will kill pathogens quickly but it's not only unnecessary, it's also harmful, as a lower temperature will result in a more diverse culture of bacteria in the finished compost. Personally I aim for about 140F/60C.
And anyway, note that I said above 120F. It sounded like the GP was having issues with their compost that made me think that 120F would be a reasonable target to shoot for given their current situation.
Love the biking and zazen!
I did really well last winter then got out of the habit when it got warmer (I have a thing about smells).
Can you describe your setup? A properly maintained compost bin doesn't smell at all.
How to make one: take some fencing (you can get it for free from Craigslist) and make a bin a little over 1 meter tall and roughly 1 or 2m around, outside, on top of soil. Put dead dry plants or leaves inside on the bottom at least half a meter deep. That's your sponge material to keep certain things from leaking into the soil. Now it's ready to start taking inputs like toilet material, kitchen and yard scraps, dead animals, etc. Form a hole in the center with a pitchfork or other tool and put all inputs into that hole. Then put cover material on top of the freshly added material. Good cover materials are hay, straw or leaves, and they prevent smells. This cover material should also be present on the sides of the bin. Finally, get a compost thermometer and stick it in the middle of the material. The goal should be to get the temperature above 120F/49C. This will take a good amount of material and consistently adding it through the winter.