00:00So you put chemical fertilizers, I know, there's a June book, just like, oh, here, we'll just keep moving, we'll
00:08just keep walking.
00:08Oh, he left, he's scared now.
00:10I'm Nicole Dwaran, and I'm here with Refinery29, and I'm trying out living sustainably for one week.
00:16I've always been very aware of the environment and how we need to change our habits.
00:20Growing up, my mom was very much into listening to Al Gore and making my friends and I, as 12
00:28-year-olds, watch The Inconvenient Truth.
00:30But doing further research as an adult, I found out that there's so many other ways I can reduce my
00:35carbon footprint.
00:36Day one, I went to the beach and picked up trash there, and then I properly recycled it.
00:43During my research, I found some easy recycling rules to follow provided by waste management.
00:47Make sure you are only recycling clean bottles, cans, paper, and cardboard.
00:53Don't include loose plastic bags and take your recycling out of plastic garbage bags.
01:01I'm curious about composting since I heard that it's beneficial for the environment, but now I'm going to meet with
01:06experts to find out how it works and why it's so great.
01:10Hi, nice to meet you both.
01:12Nice to meet you.
01:13I'm Monique.
01:14I'm Jamie.
01:15So we're at Cottonwood Urban Farm.
01:17This is where we process all our compost.
01:20LA Compost, we have a close partnership with us, and they're the ones that do all the physical turning and
01:25everything.
01:26And then Cottonwood Urban Farm hosts the space, which is awesome.
01:29So I'm going to give you a little tour.
01:31Let's do it.
01:33Here we have our sifting station.
01:36People tend to forget to take stuff off like produce stickers, rubber bands, that kind of stuff.
01:41And so we sift to get out contaminants.
01:44After sifting, we'll take that and put it in here.
01:47Oh!
01:49And there, it's just, you can see, it's teeming with worms.
01:52They're so cute.
01:53And that is going to give you a whole ton of nutrients for your soil.
01:56You have two other types of composting systems here that we get to show you.
02:00This next system is called a windrow system.
02:02And what you do is you turn it.
02:05And every time you turn it, it aerates that bacteria.
02:08It gives them water, moisture, air, and then they can, you know, eat it all up.
02:14And then we're going to take you down to this three-bin system right over here.
02:18The three-bin system is great for community sites, like a community garden.
02:23You have the solar power, so there's no electricity needed.
02:27And what this does, it's very similar to your windrow in that it's going to blow air through the piles.
02:32That's turning the piles without you having to do anything once an hour.
02:37And then that's going to break it down over time.
02:39And then the rest of the farm is this beautiful orchard.
02:43So Cottonwood Urban Farm is built on a vacant lot in the valley.
02:47Elliot, the farm owner, kind of took it over.
02:50And really what he's hoping to create here is an education center.
02:53So kids can come here.
02:55They can connect with nature.
02:57They can learn about gardening.
02:58They can learn about composting.
03:00And so he has all these partnerships with elementary schools in the area to teach them about this.
03:06How can someone get started with Compostable LA?
03:08Let's go to our website and sign up for a subscription.
03:11So we're a subscription-based service, which is really easy.
03:14Really, it all depends on how much waste are you producing, what is your income.
03:18Maybe you can't afford weekly service, and that's okay.
03:21One of the best quotes I've actually heard about sustainability is that sustainability is not a hippie thing.
03:27It is a survival thing.
03:29After visiting with Jamie and Monique, I developed a stronger relationship with my waste, which sounds kind of funny.
03:37Now I'm more mindful about the food that I'm using and the food that I'm wasting.
03:41And now all of my food waste is going to be put to good use.
03:45Day three, I planted some basil in my garden.
03:47I used the soil from Compostable LA for my basil.
03:53I'm expanding my herb garden to reduce my carbon footprint by using less gas to travel to and from the
03:59store and not having to ship my food for miles away.
04:06Day four, once my bin was empty from the soil that they gave me, I started using it as my
04:12compost bin.
04:13It's really rewarding to know that my scraps are going to provide fertilizer for the next plants that are growing
04:20in the garden.
04:21On the last day, I went to a farmer's market to pick up my veggies and produce for the week.
04:26Cottonwood Urban Farm actually sells their produce at the farmer's market.
04:30So I think something that I'm going to do more looking forward is going to farmer's markets and creating a
04:36relationship with my produce.
04:38Not only are you supporting local businesses and people around you in your community, but you're also reducing your carbon
04:46waste because you're not getting products from far away.
04:49You're getting products that are right next door.
04:51Living sustainably was a lot easier than I expected.
04:54By making slight changes to my week, I was able to be way more mindful of the things that I
05:00was doing and how I was impacting the community around me.
05:04I love what Monique quoted the other day, which is that sustainability isn't a hippie thing.
05:09It's a survival thing.
05:10Sustainability can mean a lot of things, so I hope that this inspired you to take some action.
