Going green at home

By Liz Bloomhardt

Published July 1, 2010

Since this is the send home edition of The Chronicle, it seems appropriate for the ‘green devil’ column to go home, too.

Most of the year I use this space to explore ways in which Duke is making progress toward its climate neutrality goal. Using the University’s Climate Action Plan as a road map, I’ve covered issues relating to energy, transportation and carbon offsets.

Why does it make sense to focus on what happens off campus? Of the four end-use consumption sectors measured by the Annual Energy Review 2008: Energy Consumption, a report published by the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, transportation and residential energy use make up the second and third largest sectors in the U.S. respectively. So what Duke thinks about and does on campus, you can think about and do at home too.

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Constructing the Death Star... er, I mean... Ecomposter

Constructing the Ecomposter was not a lot like death, despite the warnings.

It came in a box.

The box came from China.

There were lots of pieces in the box, and they went together one by one. First there was one half...

Then there were two.

Two World Cup games after it started, the Death Star... er... Ecomposter, was ready to fill.

What's going in? From left to right, wood ashes (a "brown"), directions (not going in, but useful), a weekend's worth of vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, and eggshells (the "greens"), and fallen leaves (another "brown").

The idea here is to mix greens and browns in a 1:1 ratio to start, then to keep a happy moisture level thereafter. Load, then spin, daily. And, keep adding until full. Then let finish.

I will admit that it does not look delicious or nutritious right now. It looks like a mold pile waiting to happen, and it's likely to get gross before it's finished. But, provided this whole natural process works as advertised, once it's done, my plants are going to love this stuff!