The Best Gifts

Thanksgiving, like any major holiday, brings into focus how quickly a year passes by. It’s especially obvious when young children are present in our lives. My, how they grow up in one year! I think we all enjoyed the record-breaking warmth of the day, except for that nagging problem of climate change, that turkey in the room we can no longer afford to ignore. My, how quickly our climate is warming!

I wanted to share this brief video, “The Soil Story“, that connects our work at NRC with the potential we have in Nebraska to contribute to a big part of the climate change solution. It has to do with how compost can greatly enhance soil’s ability to sequester carbon. Communities with strong recycling programs will inevitably want to divert their organics, too. “Re-soiling”, just as with re-cycling, utilizes the embodied value of food and other organic materials instead of wasting it through unceremonious burial in the landfill. And our lives may very well depend on it.

As we travel around the state in 2018 in support of recycling programs, we will also be gathering ideas about how we can help Nebraska communities remove barriers to organics collection and processing. Looking forward to our future discussions!

There is still one last beloved holiday of the year, highly commercialized, that produces mountains of waste, most of which ends up you-know-where. Try as we might, it has a tendency to divert our focus from the things we treasure most of all – fun experiences with the people we love. If you feel this way too, here are some ideas you’ll appreciate: 15 Tips for Commercial-Free, Fun-Filled Family Holidays.

From our staff to yours, our families to yours, all our best wishes!

Julie