For the past six months, I have been working with five schools in the Kansas City, Missouri area to start cafeteria composting programs.  My colleague, Gary Kannenberg with The Tellus Group, and I have been impressed with the speed at which students, teachers, cafeteria staff, and custodians have adjusted to the new process of sorting food and paper waste into a compost container, plastic into a recycling container, and everything else into a landfill container.  Since the schools started composting in February, they have sent nearly 21 tons of food and paper waste to the compost facility Missouri Organic Recycling, to be made into “flower food” over a 10-week period.

The students, ranging in age from 3 years old to middle school, have embraced the new program because they understand that throwing food and paper into the trash is a waste of resources.  Making compost is a better way to reuse those materials.  Of course, the best option would be to have less food waste, and we are working on that side of it, too. 

The schools involved in this pilot program are Smithville Primary Elementary, Fox Hill Elementary and New Mark Middle School (North Kansas City schools), and James Elementary and Border Star Montessori (Kansas City Public Schools).  It is funded through a grant from Mid-America Regional Council Solid Waste Management District and Missouri Department of Natural Resources.  Our hope is to scale up the program next year and get more schools involved!

The Kansas City metro area recently experienced a very strong storm that caused power outages to as many as 55,000 households and businesses.  Some are still without power.  The storm had 80 mile per hour winds and uprooted numerous large trees weakened by heavier-than-normal rains in May and June.  The storm also dumped two to four inches of rain across the city, causing flash flooding of streets and basements.Storms like this are extreme and may overpower even the best infrastructure.  But there are measures you can take in your own yard to help prevent and manage stormwater runoff from more common storms.  Actions like capturing rainwater from your roof to use on your yard or garden, reducing impervious surfaces wherever possible, and making sure soil is properly graded away from your house and garage are just a few ideas.

Join the Spring Valley Neighborhood Association for a tour of local yards whose owners have taken steps to prevent and manage their stormwater runoff.  You can also learn how to keep pollutants out of our water, and StoneLion Puppet Theatre will be onsite with lots of fun entertainment and a scavenger hunt for the kids!  Water and refreshments provided.  The tour will be held on Sunday, 12 July, from 2-4 p.m.  Meet at the Village Square Coworking Studio, 4436 State Line Road, Kansas City, KS  66103 to pick up a map and get started!  

Sponsored by the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas; Mid-America Regional Council; Spring Valley Neighborhood Association; Rosedale Development Association; StoneLion Puppet Theatre; and Project Central.

Happy New Year! As I've been exchanging good wishes with friends and family, I've found myself wondering if I should be saying “Happy Cheap Gas Year!” Everyone is talking about how they were able to fill up their tank for barely half what they were paying just a year ago. Yes, it’s wonderful to have all of that extra cash taking up space in our pockets. It certainly helped retailers have a better holiday shopping season and is letting households stretch their budgets just a bit further.

So why are gas prices so cheap? The pundits on television and writing newspaper columns will say it’s because OPEC refused to lower production quotas in order to force the super-productive fracking industry to its knees. It is true that some companies using fracking technology will likely suffer under the low prices currently seen for oil. But some of these companies say they can still operate at well under $50 a barrel, about where the price closed at the end of 2014. No, there is another story going on here, one that you have to dig to find.

I am writing this in an office where the temperature is 67 degrees Fahrenheit. Thankfully the sun is out so it’s a little warmer than usual. My hands are pretty cold, so I’m really going to have to do some serious proofreading.  But I will be so happy when I get my gas bill!  (By the way, natural gas prices are down, too.)  This is the story you don’t hear about:  energy efficiency and how it has helped lower our energy costs. 

In an article published in Solutions Journal, Rocky Mountain Institute’s Amory Lovins points out that the rise in US domestic oil output between 2004-13 displaced 10 percent of our oil imports, but less driving and more energy-efficient vehicles saved 18 percent during the same time period.  Why don’t we know this?  How often do we think about things we cannot see?  If we aren’t using energy, whether it’s gasoline for our cars or natural gas or coal to heat our buildings, we don’t think of that “lack of use” as having value.  Yet the cheapest energy we have is what we don’t use.

Read more about “Energy Efficiency: The Secret Revolution” here.  It’s fascinating, and we’ve just barely scratched the surface of what we can accomplish by investing in better energy technology and habit.