global warming and composting?
September 19, 2009 by Composting
Filed under Composting Q&A's
bobyjdizle asked:
why is composting fruit and vegetable scraps good to do if it releases carbon which adds to global warming?
why is composting fruit and vegetable scraps good to do if it releases carbon which adds to global warming?
homesteader on Sat, 19th Sep 2009 7:58 pm
The contribution of composting to global warming is negligible. But the benefits of composting to restoring the soil are huge. Composting is simply a way of speeding up a natural process. Usually it is practiced on such a small scale that the heat it generates is comparatively minor. Certainly composting is one of the best carbon producing activities we can perform.
emerson_blake on Sat, 19th Sep 2009 9:12 pm
Composting is a natural phenomenon that occurs in forests. If natural processes are causing any warming of the atmosphere due to composting it must be so negliglible that only God could detect it.
Its funny that you brought this up because there has been some discussion that cow manure may cause global warming. Sometimes, we just need to think rationally. Increasing carbon into the atmosphere beyond what is normal is one thing through artificial pollution, but adding it through processes that would have taken place anyway should prove harmless.
florayg on Mon, 21st Sep 2009 2:04 am
All plants take up carbon dioxide when they are alive, and store it. When you destroy them, they release that carbon dioxide again, so the total amount taken up and released is the same, with no net increase in the atmosphere. Burning wood as fuel is also ‘carbon neutral’.
If you put your veg in the rubbish it goes to landfill, which is a waste, and as other posts say, compost is good for your garden.
Burning coal and oil does increase the net carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because the CO2 they contain was not taken out of the atmosphere we have now, it was taken out millions of years ago.
juncogirl3 on Mon, 21st Sep 2009 10:12 pm
Global warming is occuring because it is cyclical. It has happened before and will happen again. However, people and their polluting ways have sped up the process. Composting is nothing compared to launching spacecraft. Composting is nothing compared to starting a car each day. Composting isn’t even as potent as animal gas. Composting returns our food garbage back to us so that we can grow more plants or nurture more life rather than slapping our refuse in a black plastic bag and sending it to a dumpsite that is not monitored or has minimal monitoring.