Stewardship of the Earth

What is stewardship? It is caring for the property and assets of another. To be a steward is to be a watchman over the owner's valuables while the owner is absent. We are all stewards of the Earth and all its life--not owners--but temporary keepers of God's creation.

Our role as stewards of the Earth is conveyed in the Bible passage Genesis 1:26, 3:

God spoke, "Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature so they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, and, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.” God looked over everything he had made; it was so good, so very good!

Starting a Compost Bin

400 L compost bin I set up in Paris 16e

 

During my last juice fast I was amazed by how much vegetable and fruit pulp I threw away. I noticed that after several days, my trash can would start sweating and giving off heat. Why, I realized, I am composting in my kitchen! I may as well do it properly outside and generate good soil! So I did a little research and dug up some interesting sites about composting in Paris. There are quite a few composting projects going on around the city (click the link), and from what I could gather from calls to the municipal property office (the Paris Proprete), there is no special license needed or requirements for starting a compost box. 

Municipal issues solved, I focused on figuring out how to generate a healthy compost box. There are a zillion entertaining and useful sites to read on this topic including US EPA site on composting, 163 Things You Can Compost, and 75 Things You Can Compost, But Thought You Couldn't. Overall it seemed pretty basic, though not completely foolproof. So off I went to my local gardening store Truffaut to purchase a composting bin, where I was also talked into buying an activator to speed up the composting, and then I went home to set it up. I am fortunate to live in an apartment building with a plot of land that the building gardien (like a caretaker) takes beautiful care of with a variety of trees and flowers. He was willing for me to experiment with the compost box on his turf in exchange for the promise of rich soil come springtime. 

I set the box up in early November, which, according to my research, is not an ideal time to start a compost box due to the upcoming cold winter months. But we were having a mild winter, so I hoped for the best and positioned the box in a sunny spot. Unfortunately, over Christmas holiday when I was in the States, the gardien moved the box to a very shady corner of the land. Plus we have had a very wet winter thus far. Nearly three months into the composting, I am not sure how actively the garbage is breaking down, it does not feel very hot, and I do see mold. I am not sure if the mold is bad or normal--I think I may try turning it to see what is going on underneath and if that helps. And hopefully we won't get too much more snow... I will keep you informed on its progress.

Setting up a Recycling Program at Church

When I started composting, I converted my large trash can into the compost pile (to carry outdoors), and my Christmas gift to myself was a very cool connected 3 trash bins, so I can separate paper/plastic/metal, glass, and everything else. (These are the 3 categories that Paris recycles). Batteries are also taken separately in a little container nailed to the apartment building.

Separating trash shows me how much of each type of trash (plastic, food, paper, glass, metal, other) I dispose of in a given week. This has given me a better understanding of the type of products I buy and how many disposable products I use. And armed with this knowledge, I can start to change certain habits. For example, I use towels instead of paper towels, and have replaced paper napkins with cloth.

Stack of paper recycling boxes for the offices

Also around Christmastime I started working with Chira, who makes everything run smoothly at the American Church in Paris, to set up a recycling program for the Church. The building houses 2 schools and 6 apartments in addition to 3 Sunday services, multiple offices, and 7 days a week of activities happening in the Church. Setting up the recycling program was alot of fun to do, and it was very interesting to see people's reactions to a new way of disposing trash, and to note what they needed (information, training, signs) to be able to make the change. Most people easily accepted the recycling bins as they were already familiar with recycling at home. Of course, remembering to begin separating trash takes a little bit of time.

Chira at work amid the recycling bins and pamphlets

It was also interesting to gauge how much of one type of trash would be thrown away in the various rooms. For example, the kitchen has different trash needs than the theater or library. In total, we distributed 28 bins, complete with labels, signage and pamphlets, over a 2-week period. Chira and I plan to take an assessment after one month to see if the right number of bins are distributed, if additional training is required, etc. We will also use the first month results to assess if there are areas where trash could be reduced.

• Would you like to start a composting or recycling program for your home, office, church, club, or anywhere? If so, do you have any questions on how to get started? 

• If you are composting, I would love to hear any advice or feedback you may have on my fledgling box. Please share in comments.