Fighting Global Warming in Your Garden

I read recently that the average family of 3 that composts yard and garden waste is actually reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 125 kilograms/year. Given the amount of 'garden gone wild' trimmings we have hauled to the curb for municipal compost pickup (about 45 kg last week alone!), I figure that our family of 2 did about 200kg, which works out to a quarter-ton of GHG neutralized. Yay!

See this EPA report (PDF) on municipal composting for more facts and figures. Also consider looking up your area in the Grassroots Recycling Zero Waste Network and see what you can do!

Sunnyvale Community Garden now in Google Earth

The Google chopper did a special, scheduled flyover of the Sunnyvale Community Garden on Charles Street a few weeks ago, and the data has now been integrated into Google Earth.

The map-style satellite pic is available for those who don't use the tool itself. Looks darn nice from the air, especially considering it's been a weed-ridden vacant lot for so many years.

Hats off again to the dedicated folks at Sustainable Community Gardens who worked for over 2 years to make this garden happen at all, and then were ready for spring planting in 2006 in only 2 or 3 months!

If you're a Sunnyvale resident, you can apply for the waiting list for a garden plot. However, they also need folks to take care of the Food Forest and other public plots, and there is a special area for differently-abled gardeners and senior gardeners, which may not be full yet. Contact them at the link above to find out more.