Woods Pate
Thesis Outline #1 (Botany/Sustainable Horticulture)
1) Although it is difficult to pin down the origin of composting, it is known that many ancient civilizations throughout history have used it to enhance crop output. The earliest records and archeological evidence involve people using animal or human manure to fertilize the land. The first written account of composting was carved in the Akkadian Empire around 2320 BC, when they realized that crops grew better where manure was deposited. (CarryOnComposting) In first century China, Fan Sheng-Chih Su wrote that they used bones, manure, and silkworm debris to enrich their farming soil. (Composting for the Homeowner) The Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans all took straw form animal stalls and buried it in crop fields. Both the Bible and the Talmud contain references to using manure,
…show more content…
Even Native Americans had a form of composting; they used fish and other animal parts as a nutrient source when planting crops. However, despite our extensive history of using compost as organic fertilizers, in the 19th century the discovery that plants were able to obtain nourishment from chemicals in solution by the German scientist called Justus von Liebig led to a decrease in the use of compost and an increase in the use of chemical fertilizers. Before this, it was believed that all plants absorbed nutrients directly from humus. This discovery led people to think that all was necessary to aid plant growth were the addition of chemical solutions. Despite this, in recent years the composting movement has regained its momentum due a vast array of factors such as the growing environmental awareness of the population and simply the
Food waste is an issue that is present at Cornell College. By going into Bon Appetit, the issue becomes clear. Students are given more food than they can eat. To go boxes are not available for students who dine in, and most students do not bring reusable containers with them. Most do not think about how much food they waste. By going over to where we put out plates when we are finished, it is easy to see many students leave a good portion of their meals on the plate. Whether they did not like what they were eating or they were in a hurry and had to leave, big amounts of food are wasted during each meal of the day. Steps can be taken to decrease the overall amount of food that is wasted on campus. Ideas such as smaller plates, vermiculture, competitions, and others can be utilized in the efforts to decrease food waste on campus.
The first written record of using a soil less environment was in 1627 by Francis Bacon in the book Sylva sylvarum. By the 1700’s there were many researchers using the “water culture” method. At this point this method was used only for research because they were not exactly sure which minerals and nutrients a plant needed to survive. Various techniques were used with a variety of different nutrient solutions to try and understand how and what plants needed to grow
Research suggests that organic farming is a sustainable system of agriculture because it builds a toxin free biologically diverse ecosystem, controls soil erosion, and enhances the quality of air and water by reducing the hazardous chemicals.
Abundance, a factor that leads to people not appreciating what they have so they throw it out. Even though, food is a scarcity of some countries, there is a plethora of food in America. Yet, food is a prevalent waste item in the United States. When people become comfortable and learn that they will have everything to live comfortably they don’t fully appreciate the little things. An example is when people do not appreciate the taste of a certain food in America they throw it away or ask for it to be redone, where it is later thrown out. Few people stop to think how this will affect both the world and the government’s economy. Food waste, a specific highly critical issue in America resulting from the abundance of food. Waste is created when
I believe that there should be composting because it will help out the environment and will save lots of money. Uneaten foods should not just go to waste and go in the trash, it should be recycled and used as soil and fertilizer. Schools with space on their campus can consider onsite composting in addition to—or instead of— sending food scraps off-site. Most schools send a lot of food offsite or just put it to waste which they really dont want to do. There are benefits and drawbacks to on site composting. The benefits are clear: Students see what is happening to their food scraps; they learn to tend the pile; and they can do research on the pile by conducting experiments. Students also reap what they sow. At the end of the year there is a
The Plasma gasification plant will produces electricity for cars, busses, and trucks, the gasification plant makes electricity by trash. It works by a trash truck or by trash being dumped into it. typically uses an inert gas such as argon. It will give electricity for usually for things with gas but now uses electricity so our city stays unpolluted for people's safety and ours. We also have wind turbines and no pollution sites or factories the only factories we have are the healthy ones. Hopefully they will call their friends and will come to visit and hopefully they will stay and buy a house and no people will get sick diseases or die and although we have lots of cars that look like polluting ones we don't we have them there just any electric car.
If you add up the food wasted by Australia each year, you can fill up 450,000 garbage trucks
Like many things, we just don’t bother or we don’t feel that we have the time. We aren’t realizing how much it affects each of us. Have you ever taken the time to stop and think about it?
The sustainable agriculture project I am writing about is bokashi composting. This way of composting is similar to regular composting. The method that everyone knows about composting is aerobic decomposition that needs to have an organized process to it. This method needs attention but not constantly because if done wrong the process will turn anaerobic. The outcome of the compost will result in a stench and it is still usable but not as effective as well done compost. As for bokashi composting it is a anaerobic process and really does not require much care at all, there is still work to do but in the end it requires very little or no effort. Bokashi composting
These days, our earth has been filled by a lot of waste. There is a lot of garbage, plastic waste, and electronic waste. We always produce it and dump it when we need the new one. Our waste are piling up and continuously accumulating. Plastic waste is one of the biggest problems for us now. And our solution in this problem is recycling. In my opinion, recycling is a way to manage used items into new products. We can reduce, reuse, and recycling (3R) waste management (Peter, 2013). We can reduce our waste clothes with reuse it. There are some reasons why peoples recycle used or unwanted items, which are, prevent wasting unusable materials that still have usage after recycled, reduce the application of raw materials, reduce energy
The everyday American on average wastes an astonishing twenty pounds of food each month (Gunders). Food waste is defined, as food that was intended for human consumption but was never eaten. Food waste in America is a massive problem; perfectly edible food is spoiled and discarded at every section of the food supply chain, which causes severe consequences for the environment and the economy. If Americans wasted 5% less food, the country as a whole would save fifty million dollars yearly (Hall). Not only would reducing food waste help save money but also it would immensely help climate change, as decomposing food in landfills creates methane gas. CO2 is known as the main culprit of climate change however; although methane gas is less talked
The editors of Plant Natural have given a few tips and tricks on the best ways to use compost. For example, in the article it states, “do not compost fats, pet droppings, or animal products.” By following these directions we learn that we keep away pests and the spreading of diseases. Another example would be when they tell us that grass clippings add necessary nitrogen to compost. This is important
Composting, it’s gross, it’s stinky, and it can be downright atrocious, right? Wrong! Well, partly. Composting can be gross sometimes with food and other weird things decaying, but the advantages outweigh the risks don’t they? Good soils that can help gardens, trees, and plants are worth having a little stink. Many people think composting is hard, though it can be easier with the right equipment, the right c:n ratio, and the right boosts that will help kick-start your pile.
The preservation of ecosystems resources is essential to sustain and provide for life forms. Both soil and water are rich, complex ecosystems, which support living and non-living matter. Soil plays a great role in supporting large concentrations of people on the planet (Montgomery). It has played a part in helping society to progress through infrastructure development and agricultural growth however can determine the faith of modern civilization. The existence of soil is essential if human activity is to continue. Human activity adds a wide variety of substances to the environmental, which soils can decompose. Soil plays a central role in the management, processing and detoxification of natural and human created waste. In soil countering the actions of humans, it is continuously under appreciated. To sustain life forms including human populations water is heavily relied on. Water appears to be an abundance source however; little conservation is had for the commodity. There are no alternatives to the source yet saving the resource is not an action deeply practiced
We don't have to be a genius to be aware of global environmental mess we created over the