This is Madeleine Adams, back again with the second Youth Column! To get started, do you know about EDCO’s San Diego Organic Recycling program?

I have personally been witness to so much food waste. At school, students often throw out the majority of their lunches just to have one food item, like the prized carrots. Weddings, birthday parties, friends’ houses…Over a third of food doesn’t get eaten in the United States! Yes, it will take institutional change to get to the root of this problem, especially considering how so much food waste comes from transporting the goods, storing them, grocery store and restaurant leftovers, etc. but homes do make up a large portion of food waste contributors. That’s what makes EDCO’s Organic Recycling program so important.

For years, my family has wanted to start composting. The potent greenhouse gas emissions that come from decaying food waste in landfills in the form of methane gas has been our main motivator. Methane can have a Global Warming Potential (GWP) that is over thirty times higher than carbon dioxide! When we found out that our waste management service–EDCO–actually has an Organic Recycling program that does the composting for you for free, we immediately took the opportunity. Now, we (mostly) don’t have to worry about the hassle, smells, rodents, and all our other composting concerns. Interested? If so, follow these simple steps:

1. Visit EDCO San Diego’s website. Go to their Residential Services section and select the subtab: Organic Recycling.

2. Read what you can and cannot put in the green organics cart, watch the video too!

3. Request a Kitchen Caddie (for free!), which “conveniently transfers food scraps from the kitchen to the organics cart or compost pile.”

4. When you receive your Caddie, go over what to do with any family members. To avoid any decaying food odors, deposit the Caddie’s contents daily and rinse it out each time. Do a more thorough scrub when necessary.

5. You’re done! The green waste contents will be transported to EDCO’s anaerobic digestion facility to be converted into renewable natural gas for fuel and fertilizer for soil restoration.

But say, what does any of this have to do with young people like me? This is a “Youth” column after all. Well, to start, participating in EDCO’s Organic Recycling program is an easy way to help children lessen their carbon footprint and learn the importance of reducing food waste! Not only can they assist in taking care of the food scraps, but through these actions they will see just how much food is wasted by residential households and understand to not waste their own food (eat your leftovers!). These lessons are even more applicable to my slightly older age group as we begin to go off into the world and find which issues we want to help address through our careers or personal lives. In fact, noticing all the food waste in my own life was one of my main motivations to pursue environmental science.

See you next time!

My interest in the climate crisis started young and has evolved to become my life passion as I navigate the world of youth climate action.

My name is Madeleine Adams, and I am honored to be the writer of this new Youth Column. I am a senior at Mission Vista High School in North County San Diego, and I am the Youth Engagement Chair for the North County Group, Sierra Club San Diego Chapter.

I got involved with the Sierra Club through Joe Houde, who I met as a student representative at one of my school district’s Climate Action Committee meetings. I had heard of one of the nation’s oldest and most prominent environmental groups, but I had no idea about the Sierra Club’s proximity to me or that I could even get involved. The appeal doesn’t only draw from the organization’s relevance to my concerns about the environment, but also the vast network of people connected by shared passion for our environment. From all different backgrounds, the Sierra Club brings people together over the most important issue facing our world today: the climate crisis.

The generational gap that existed between me and the rest of the Executive Board of the North County Group was evident from my very first meeting. My generation will be the most affected by the consequences of anthropogenic climate change, and yet our voices remain unheard at the organizations that fight for our future. As the Youth Engagement Chair for my group, I have brought Sierra Club guest speakers to my school to raise awareness about the urgency of the climate crisis and encourage the pursuit of green careers. The members of the environmental club I founded and lead at my school have the opportunities to learn about and pursue climate action. However, other youth are stuck with minimal sub-par climate education, which makes my mission of bridging climate awareness to youth all the more important.

With my environmental club at my school, I have translated climate anxiety into tangible action. To list a few of our achievements, my club manages the paper recycling on campus and spoke this summer in support of an electrification resolution in front of our school district’s board, which passed unanimously. Through my club’s collaborative efforts, I have learned the importance of bringing youth together to propel change.

On behalf of the San Diego and Imperial County members of the Sierra Club, I spoke at a Make Polluters Pay press conference in June to represent youth support of the bill. This bill aims to make fossil fuel companies pay for their share of the expenses caused by climate change, and youth voices are vital to ensuring its success.

The Sierra Club, in our effort to expand youth climate involvement, is starting a youth committee that will entail embarking on a team-led climate project with the guidance of experienced professionals. I will personally be joining this team, and I hope that other passionate youth will join me.

Executive Committee (ExCom) has voted to support the Immigrant Relief Fund, a project of Alliance San Diego providing relief for victims of the humanitarian crisis unfolding along the U.S./Mexico border. The committee agreed to donate $500 to the fund…