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People Erode Soil 100 Times Faster Than Nature (article)

[ copied from http://news.discovery.com/earth/people-erode-soil-100-times-faster-than-nature-150114.htm ] Jan 14, 2015 12:51 PM ET // by Patrick J. Kiger Play Video Soil is washed away by the Chattahoochee River in the early 1970s. Cutting down or burning native forests and starting intensive agriculture -- that is, industrial-scale farming, designed to produce high yields of crops and/or animals -- can accelerate erosion dramatically, reports a newly-published study from researchers at the University of Vermont. It causes so much damage, in fact, that in a few decades as much soil is lost as would naturally occur over thousands of years. NEWS: Are We At Risk For Another Dust Bowl? The researchers, who studied 10 large river basins in the southeastern United States, found that the damage started to occur hundreds of years ago, when large numbers of settlers arrived from Europe,…

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Easy Low Cost Composting with Free Coffee Grounds and Wood Chips

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eDKqhhr_iA Great video, but I have a few concerns: He mentions not adding meat to the compost pile... just add it. Meat and dairy products are absolutely compostable, and although he mentions needing a hot pile to do so, interesting enough those very items heavily contribute to creating heat within a compost pile! As long as you have at least double the amount of brown materials as you do food scraps/meat/dairy products, you'll be fine. This dude has plenty of energy and a large pile able to handle any meat he may have. Also- I've never seen someone add so much dirt to a compost pile... while there's nothing wrong with adding dirt, I don't see quite enough brown materials here. Instead of all the dirt, his pile would benefit…

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