VOA慢速英语2020--什么是堆肥？如何开始呢？

What Is Composting? And How to Start

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

Improvements to the world around us can sometimes result from actions taken by individuals. For example, take composting.

Compost is organic material that, when added to soil, can help plants grow. And there are many different kinds of organic material. Food waste, grass cuttings and other plant remains¹ make up more than 28 percent of what Americans throw away. That information comes from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The EPA website tells how composting helps the environment. It says:

Composting helps to keep soil healthy.

It reduces the need for chemical fertilizers.

Composting can help the production of good bacteria and fungi², which break down organic matter.

Composting also reduces methane³ gas emissions⁴ from landfills. Studies have linked methane to rising temperatures in Earth's atmosphere.

Yet many Americans do not compost their food and plant waste.

In 2014, a survey of 2,000 Americans found that 72 percent of those questioned did not compost. However, 67 percent said they would do so if it were easier. The National Waste & Recycling Association paid for that study.

There are only a few U.S. communities that have passed laws restricting some organic material from garbage collection. Two examples are New York City and San Francisco, California. And five months ago, the state of Vermont banned the collection of food waste.

While the numbers of Americans composting remains low, some people are trying to increase the number of composters. They often talk about landfills releasing methane into the atmosphere.

"Garbage piles contribute to global warming. And so there's a lot of methane that's released. And from everything that scientists know that that's contributing to the warming of the planet which is not a good thing."

That is Katie Ablard of Maryland. She has been composting for 15 years and enjoys teaching others.

"Instead of putting our food waste into the garbage, we're putting our food waste into the compost pile. And in the compost pile in our backyard, within a couple of months that breaks down and it breaks down and turns into really, really fertile soil."

Some countries are much better at making compost than the United States.

In a 2019 report, the World Economic Forum⁶ found that South Korea recycled 95 percent of its food waste. But this did not happen overnight. In 1995, South Koreans only recycled two percent of their food waste.

Back in 2013, the Yale School of the Environment published a paper on composting around the world. At that time, researchers found that Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, and Germany sent less than three percent of their food waste to landfills.

How to start outdoor composting

If you want to make compost, there are some things to know. The EPA website says all composting requires three basic ingredients:

Brown material -- such as dead leaves and tress branches

Green material -- such as grass cuttings and vegetable waste

Water

When composting outdoors the EPA offers these suggestions.

Choose a dry area for your compost pile. The area should receive very little sunshine. Make sure there is no standing⁷ water on the ground.

Next, add green and brown materials, in equal amounts, as they are collected. Try to break down larger pieces. And add water if the brown materials are too dry.

If your area gets a lot of rain, cover up the compost pile. And make sure you can easily get to the area, but animals cannot. When the waste material at the bottom is dark and rich in color, your compost is ready to use.

Here is another piece of advice. Mix or stir the compost often. This adds air to keep it light, or as Katie says, fluffy⁸. What you do not want, she warns, is for the material to get hard or compacted.

"I think of it as stirring and turning the compost. And getting it so it's kind of fluffy so that the soil is kind of light and airy and not compacted. You don't want it hard and compacted. (So, you need air flow?) You do need air flow, yeah."

Indoor composting

The EPA website says that if you do not have space for a compost pile outside your home, you can compost materials indoors. But you may need a special container for that.

The site says to be careful of what you throw in. A properly managed compost bin⁹ will not attract animals and will not smell bad. And your indoor compost should be ready in two to five weeks.

Katie Ablard says composting is great for the environment. But she says it gives her a smaller, but still very important prize.

"Twice a year I'm able to pull out the soil that the worms and the other bugs¹⁰ and insects have created by breaking down the food waste. And that soil or compost then I use in our garden. And so, the soil in our community garden is very rich and very healthy and has consistently been good soil for growing vegetables. So, it's instead of using chemical fertilizers and it's instead of using other products that might help things grow, but we can just use the compost!"

Words in This Story

fungi – n. any member of the kingdom of living things (as mushrooms, molds, and rusts) that have no chlorophyll, must live in or on plants, animals, or decaying material, and were formerly¹¹ considered plants

emission⁵ – n. the act of producing or sending out something (such as energy or gas) from a source

garbage – n. food waste : discarded or useless material

pile – n. a quantity of things heaped together

backyard – n. an area at the rear of a house

recycle – v. to make something new from (something that has been used before)

ingredient – n. one of the things that are used to make a food, product, etc.

garden – n. an area of ground where plants (such as flowers or vegetables) are grown

1 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

2 fungi   

n.真菌，霉菌

参考例句：

• Students practice to apply the study of genetics to multicellular plants and fungi.学生们练习把基因学应用到多细胞植物和真菌中。
• The lawn was covered with fungi.草地上到处都是蘑菇。

3 methane   

n.甲烷，沼气

参考例句：

• The blast was caused by pockets of methane gas that ignited.爆炸是由数袋甲烷气体着火引起的。
• Methane may have extraterrestrial significance.甲烷具有星际意义。

4 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

5 emission   

n.发出物，散发物；发出，散发

参考例句：

• Rigorous measures will be taken to reduce the total pollutant emission.采取严格有力措施，降低污染物排放总量。
• Finally,the way to effectively control particulate emission is pointed out.最后，指出有效降低颗粒排放的方向。

6 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

7 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

8 fluffy   

adj.有绒毛的，空洞的

参考例句：

• Newly hatched chicks are like fluffy balls.刚孵出的小鸡像绒毛球。
• The steamed bread is very fluffy.馒头很暄。

9 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

10 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。