Pay Dirt: Demand high for Compost Cats' product

By Shelley Littin, University Relations - Communications | May 15, 2014
 

U of A group prepares for new season of high demand for organic, high-nutrient compost

The undergraduate and graduate student members of Compost Cats provide a composting service to Tucson businesses and the greater Tucson community. (Photo: James Garlant)

Compost is made at the San Xavier Co-Op Farm, which allows Compost Cats to use some of its land in return for 20 percent of the compost produced. (Photo: Heath Emerson)

UA students, members of Compost Cats, make pay dirt: Compost returns nutrients and water to Arizona's arid soils, boosting the state's agriculture and gardens. (Photo: Heath Emerson)

Demand for the product made by Compost Cats, a University of Arizona student-run organization that turns food and yard waste into nutrient-rich soil, has outstripped supply.

What makes this recycled dirt so special?

Arizona, like the rest of the desert Southwest, has a much lower amount of water and nutrients in its soils than less arid parts of the country – which is where compost comes in handy.

"Compost acts as a soil amendment by adding some of those lacking nutrients and raising the water retention abilities of the soil," said Madeline Ryder, a Compost Cats member and a UA senior double majoring in natural resources and environmental studies.

"It's much better for the environment and safer to use than chemical fertilizers," Ryder said.

Composting is a process of turning organic waste such as food scraps, manure and landscape clippings into high-nutrient soil that can be reused for agriculture and gardening. Nutrients in food waste and garden clippings remain in the waste after it is broken down during the composting process, and can be reabsorbed by plants when compost is added to the soil.

And if compost is being used as a substitute for chemical fertilizers, there are even more benefits, she said, "including the reduced emissions from producing those fertilizers and adding less chemicals into the environment, which could eventually end up in our groundwater supply or washes."

In addition, "food waste that would normally go in the landfills would create methane, a greenhouse gas that is 20 or 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide, from the process used to break it down," Ryder said.

Food waste in landfills is not turned regularly to let oxygen into the waste heaps, allowing for methane-producing bacteria to take over landfill garbage dumps.

Since compost heaps are turned over regularly, oxygen is allowed to mix with the waste material and encourages oxygen-loving bacteria to colonize the compost and break down the food scraps without releasing the vast quantities of harmful methane gas that are produced in landfills.

"One of the main goals that is unique to Compost Cats is to reduce as much organic material going into landfills as possible," Ryder said. "This reduces the amount of methane produced by landfills and the need for chemical fertilizers at the same time."

While digesting and breaking down the scraps, the activity of the bacteria produces enormous amounts of heat, making compost piles as hot as 140 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit.

"In the wintertime, compost piles steam," Ryder noted.

"We make sure that it stays at that temperature for four weeks," she added. "The process ensures that there are no pathogens in the compost that could be transferred to the next crop."

The group turns its compost regularly and "we don't add anything to it except water," Ryder said.

Although the students are collecting food and yard waste not just from campus, but also from Tucson businesses, there isn't enough for the home gardeners who visit the group's website to place their orders.

That should change soon thanks to a new partnership between Compost Cats – a program under the Associated Students of the University of Arizona – and the city of Tucson, which will enable to group to extend its composting service to many more Tucson businesses. By fall, Compost Cats hopes to boost its operations and get caught up on orders.

"We are confident that this fall we will be able to supply more compost than we've ever been able to in the past," Ryder said.

Lots of people around Tucson will be happy to hear that.

"Most of the comments we receive are about how wonderful our program is from a sustainability and student leadership perspective," Ryder said. "I feel like older generations, who are our main customers, are glad to see younger generations interested in bettering the community."

Contacts

UANews Contact:
Shelley Littin
319-541-1482
littin@email.arizona.edu

Source Contact:
Madeline Ryder
Compost Cats member
mryder@email.arizona.edu

Cutting Carbon Creates Jobs!

Of course, big oil and Republicans are joining together to fight this plan

June 6, 2014

Thom Hartmann
Campaign for America's Future
ourfuture.org

This week, the President announced plans to cut carbon emissions by 30 percent by 2030. The plan is one of the strongest actions our nation has ever taken to fight climate change, and it puts us on track to meet environmental targets established in a 2009 United Nations accord. In addition to fighting global warming, this plan will protect millions of people from harmful pollution, and it could create a ton of new American jobs.

According to research from the Natural Resources Defense Council and ICF International, by 2020, higher carbon standards could spur the creation of 274,000 jobs, and save homes and business almost $40 billion dollars on their electric bills.

Investments in energy efficiency alone could save our nation $13 billion dollars a year, which works out to more than $100 dollars per household. According to this report, most of the new jobs would occur in the construction industry, thanks to demand for more roofers, carpenters, electricians, insulation workers, heavy equipment operators, and heating and air condition installers.

The founder of Tom Steyer, the founder of NextGen, said, “The Administration’s plan to end this carbon pollution loophole will establish a level playing field for advanced energy solutions that are cleaner, affordable, and more secure. Now, more than ever, the United States must be a global leader in addressing climate change.” The President’s plan is a great step toward being that global leader.

Our nation has the power to reduce pollution, fight global warming, and create a heck of a lot of jobs in the process. Big oil and the Republicans are going to fight this plan tooth and nail, but we must push forward in the fight to protect our planet. – See more at: http://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2014/06/cutting-carbon-creates-jobs#sthash.AhShEakS.dpuf

Hypocrite swap critics once wanted Bowe freed

Many who called for the release of Bowe are now critical of the deal. (photo: AP)

By Igor Volsky, ThinkProgress

04 June 14
readersupportednews.org

epublicans are almost uniformly criticizing President Obama’s decision to swap five Taliban fighters at Guantanamo Bay for the release of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the only American held hostage in Afghanistan. But many of the administration’s loudest critics have previously demanded that it do more to bring Bergdahl to safety. Since his release, these lawmakers are emphasizing their criticism of Obama’s handling of the prisoner exchange while downplaying the successful return of an American servicemember.

In the clearest contradiction, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in February that he “would be inclined to support” “an exchange of prisoners for our American fighting man,” like the one Taliban officials had offered in 2012. He has since labeled Obama’s deal “ill-founded” and a “mistake.”

Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) also thinks that “the administration’s decision to release these five terrorist detainees endangers U.S. national security interests” and “sets a precedent that could encourage our enemies to capture more Americans.” But since 2011, Ayotte has issued multiple press releases and public statements calling on the Obama administration to “redouble its efforts” to find Bergdahl. She touted a provision in the Senate’s Fiscal Year 2015 defense authorization bill “that presses Pakistan to fully cooperate in the search for SGT Bergdahl” and specifically mentioned Bergdahl in her Memorial Day address.

“We also must continue to keep Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who has been held prisoner by the Taliban for nearly five years, in our thoughts and prayers – and I renew my call on the Defense Department to redouble its efforts to find Sergeant Bergdahl and return him safely to his family,” she wrote just one week ago.

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) — the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee — has also said that the U.S. “must make every effort to bring this captured soldier home to his family.” But appearing on Fox News just days after Bergdahl’s release, Inhofe criticized the administration for agreeing to free “people who have killed Americans, people who are the brain power of Taliban.”

Still, not all conservatives oppose Obama’s decision. John Bellinger, who served as an adviser to President George W. Bush, has characterized the swap as fair, since the United States would be required to return prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay back to Afghanistan as the military conflict comes to an end.

“I’m not saying this is clearly an easy choice but frankly I think a Republican…confronted with this opportunity to get back Sgt. Bergdahl…would have taken this opportunity to do this,” Bellinger said, adding, “I think we would have made the same decision in the Bush administration.” It appears that many of the administration’s loudest critics would as well.

It's not guns; it's immature owners

By Phil Boas
Arizona Republic Editorial Page Editor

Firearm zealots who troop into department stores with assault weapons help crystallize what's wrong with guns in America.  It's not the guns.  It's the people who own them.  I don't worry about the responsible gun owner.  I worry about that guy in Target, that strutting cock-of-the-walk who lacks the emotional maturity and good judgment to possess anything so significant as a gun.

Gazette Blog Editor's Note: Did you know The Arizona Republic now includes USA Today - FREE!

That's right.  You get the Republic and USA Today delivered to your Rim Country doorstep seven days a week.  You get the big Sunday paper, state and national sports, the Friday movie section, the Wednesday food section, hundreds of dollars in coupons, the Bashas', Safeway and WalMart grocery inserts, and now USA Today.

If you've got more money than you know what to do with, you can keep reading the Payson Roundup for Mayor Kenny's latest empty promise.  But if how you spend your money matters, your best newspaper deal - far and away - is The Arizona Republic and USA Today.

For home delivery seven days a week call 1-800-332-6733.  Call now!

GOP strategy: Obstruct, blame Dems for damage

thecontributor.com 

Republicans are beginning to harvest the fruits of their obstruction.

The strategy is to set the stage for the election by obstructing everything that could help the economy get better, as well as anything that might make our lives better. They understand that they just will not be held accountable for their obstruction. Then they campaign against Democrats because things are not getting better.

The current example is the Veterans Administration “scandal.” Republicans obstructed every bill to improve the situation for veterans. Then they drummed up a “scandal” based on things not getting better for veterans. Republicans are already running an ad telling Alaskans to vote against Senator Mark Begich because of problems at the VA.

Strategy Phase 1: Obstruct Everything

In February Senate Republicans filibustered a bill that would have increased the VA budget by $21 billion, improved veterans’ health and dental care, authorized 27 new veterans’ clinics and medical facilities, added to veteran education programs and repealed a provision of the Murray-Ryan budget deal that slashed military pensions.

Filibustered. Obstructed. Killed off.

Reuters in February posted “U.S. Senate Republicans block veterans’ health bill on budget worry“:

U.S. Senate Republicans blocked legislation on Thursday that would have expanded federal healthcare and education programs for veterans, saying the $24 billion bill would bust the budget.

Even though the legislation cleared a procedural vote on Tuesday by a 99-0 vote, the measure quickly got bogged down in partisan fighting.

Supporters said the measure would have brought the most significant changes in decades to U.S. veterans’ programs. For example, it called for 27 new medical facilities to help a healthcare system that is strained by veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. [...]

Referring to recent budget deals that aim to bring down federal deficits, Republican Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama said: “This bill would spend more than we agreed to spend. The ink is hardly dry and here we have another bill to raise that spending again.”

Thom Hartmann, writing in his post “The Mitch McConnell VA Scandal,” said:

And it wasn’t like this anti-veteran Republican filibuster was some radical break from the past either. Time and time again during the Obama presidency Republicans have either blocked or opposed bills that would have helped out the veterans they’re now claiming to care so much about.

Back in 2012, for example, GOP senators blocked a $1 billion jobs bill would have helped millions of unemployed veterans find work. And in that same year, Republican opposition also blocked a bill – the so-called Veterans’ Compensation Cost of Living Adjustment Act – that would have kept veterans’ benefits on par with rising expenses.

The list goes on. Before that, GOP lawmakers killed the Wounded Veteran Job Security Act, the Veterans Retraining Act of 2009, the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program Reauthorization Act of 2009, the Disabled Veterans Home Improvement and Structural Alteration Grant Increase Act of 2009, the Veterans Business Center Act of 2009, and the Job Creation Through Entrepreneurship Act of 2009. Every single one of these bills would have helped veterans and every single one was killed exclusively by Republican opposition.

Here is an October, 2013 Daily Kos diary that lists several more instances of Republican obstruction of help for veterans, “GOP’s actual track record on supporting veterans.”

Killed With A Media Assist

If the public is told someone is obstructing the things they want, they can hold them accountable.

If the public is told things like “both sides do it” or “the Senate failed” they will decide not to bother to vote.

Republicans are certain they will not be held accountable for their obstruction, and they have good reason to be. Our news media and even many Democrats refuse to tell the public who did and who didn’t obstruct these bills.

Does the public get information that enables them to make informed decisions about who to hold accountable from headlines and news reports like these?

The Washington Post reported that “Senate rejects far-reaching Veterans Affairs bill“:
A broad Department of Veterans Affairs bill that would have expanded benefits for former service members and repealed a military pension cut for future troops was rejected in the Senate on Thursday.

CBS: Veterans’ benefits bill blocked in Senate
CNN: Vets bill fails in Senate, victim of election-year gridlock
AP: Senate blocks Dems’ bill boosting vets’ benefits,
A divided Senate on Thursday derailed Democratic legislation that would have provided $21 billion for medical, education and job-training benefits for the nation’s veterans.

USA Today: Senate rejects bill on veterans benefits
The largest piece of veterans legislation in decades — aimed at expanding health care, education and other benefits — was rejected Thursday by the Senate on a procedural issue after proponents failed to obtain 60 votes to keep the bill alive.

Military Times: Senate blocks huge vets benefits bill
Here is a personal favorite – outrage with no accountability from the American Legion:Legion: Senate vote on veterans bill ‘inexcusable’ ,
American Legion National Commander Daniel M. Dellinger expressed frustration and disappointment with Thursday’s Senate debate that effectively killed S. 1982, the Comprehensive Veterans Health and Benefits and Military Retirement Pay Restoration Act of 2014.

The Senate voted 56-41 to waive an extra budget point of order made against the bill – four votes short of what was needed to move the legislation onto a full Senate vote – ending floor consideration of the measure.

“Today, the Senate had a chance to put aside partisan politics and do what was right for the men and women who have sacrificed so much while wearing our nation’s uniform,” Dellinger said. “Instead, we saw the same political gamesmanship that led our federal government to a shutdown last fall. There was a right way to vote and a wrong way to vote today, and 41 senators chose the wrong way. That’s inexcusable.”

Scientists consider new names for Climate Change

May 30, 2014

Posted by Andy Borowitz

NEW HAVEN (The Borowitz Report)—After a report from the Yale Center on Climate Change Communication showed that the term “climate change” elicits relatively little concern from the American public, leading scientists are recommending replacing it with a new term: “You will be burnt to a crisp and die.”

 

Other terms under consideration by the scientists include “your cities will be ravaged by tsunamis and floods” and “earth will be a fiery hellhole incapable of supporting human life.”

 

Scientists were generally supportive of the suggestions, with many favoring the term “your future will involve rowing a boat down a river of rotting corpses.” 

 

“Any of these terms would do a better job conveying the urgency of the problem,” Tracy Klugian, a spokesperson for the newly renamed Yale Center for Oh My God Wake Up You Assholes, said.

Photograph by Mike Olbinski Photography/Corbis.

Wealth trickles up, not down

Elizabeth Warren, Thomas Piketty. (photo: Joshua Roberts/Charles Platiau/Reuters)

Elizabeth Warren and Thomas Piketty: "Wealth Does Not Trickle Down... It Trickles Up."

By Jon Queally, Common Dreams

04 June 14

readersupportednews.org

Both issues show clearly that 'we have a rigged system, where a handful are able to reap benefits at the cost of everyone else.'

haring a stage with French economist Thomas Piketty on Monday night in Boston, Sen. Elizabeth Warren discussed a range issues related to economic inequality during a joint interview with the Huffington Post, but said that people should be careful not to separate the far-reaching implications that outsized wealth and power in the U.S. can have on vital, planetary issues like climate change.

Piketty, the author of the groundbreaking and bestselling book Capitalism in the 21st Century, offered his perspective on the rise of global wealth disparity as Warren focused on her familiar rhetoric surrounding the politics of inequality by describing the numerous ways in which "the system is rigged" against working people in favor of the financial and political elite.

In a direct refutation of the infamous Reagan-era ethos of "trickle-down economics," Warren said that Piketty's invaluable research presented in his book shows that "wealth does not trickle down... it trickles up."

"It trickles from everyone else," she said, "to those who are rich."

In a striking moment of the discussion, Warren stopped to make a cogent point about the intersection between the inequality that Picketty has so well documented and the overwhelming issue of climate change which she argued should not be treated as something separate from the current political realities created by enormous wealth inequality.

"I think [these two issues] are the same debate," said Warren as she crossed her arms to represent intersection. And continued:

Think of it this way: We have tens of millions of people who live right near coasts, just to pick one example. And so what's happening right now in the debate in the United States? There are giant industries that pollute and the consequence is they make immediate profits and the effects of their pollution will be felt by lots and lots people around this country and ultimately around the globe. Now, it's in their interest to continue to be able to pollute, because they make short term profits and everyone else will bare the costs."

Think about it, they are able to amass the lobbyists to go to Washington, to influence the lawmakers,to influence the regulators, to do everything they can to maintain their opportunities to foul the air and poison the water in order to support short-term profits. Everyone else—who has to pay the price on that—doesn't have that same kind of organized ability to make their voices heard in the same way with lobbyists and lawyers in Washington.

And so for me, this is just one more example of how we have inequality, of how we have a rigged system, where a handful are able to reap benefits at the cost of everyone else. And I think climate change, like economic inequality, are both symptoms of the same problem. The same problem of this with enough power writing the rules too much in their favor, and leaving everyone else behind.