Imagine how difficult it would be to shut down 20 percent of our coal-fired power plants. Now imagine how much less difficult it would be to divert all biodegradable materials from our landfills and send the materials to compost facilities instead. According to new research by Eco-Cycle, the short-term climate impact is the same! When biodegradable materials such as paper products, food scraps and yard trimming are tossed in the garbage and sent to the landfill, those lettuce heads, grass clippings and paper boxes don’t just break down as they would in nature or in a compost pile. They decompose anaerobically, without oxygen, and in the process become the number one source of human-caused methane and a major player in climate change. In fact, methane is now understood to be 72 times more potent than CO2 over a 20-year period. This means our landfills emit the greenhouse gas equivalent of 20 percent of U.S. coal-fired power plants every year! Current accounting protocols for greenhouse gas emissions fail to address the short-term risks and opportunities of methane (CH4) emissions. Correcting the time horizon—a policy, not scientific decision—launches methane abatement from a climate afterthought to an essential first step forward in the fight against global climate change, and recognizes landfill methane emissions as a source equivalent to 20% of U.S. coal-fired power plants. Based on the data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), we believe keeping organic materials out of the landfill and avoiding potent methane emissions to be the quickest, easiest and cheapest first step for a community to immediately reduce its GHG emissions while working toward longer-term reduction strategies. Please help us foster a successful zero waste effort or as close as we can possibly get to zero waste. Recycle and compost at Valley EarthFest 2012. Recycling and compost bins will be conveniently located and user friendly to help ensure the success of our Zero Waste Initiative. Thanks for playing along!