Rob: Hey everyone.
I am here with Michael Martinez
of L.A. Compost.
And do you want to tell us, to start,
where we are?
Michael: Yes. So we are located
in the Elysian Valley Community Garden
in the area of a Elysian Valley or Frog Town
here alongside the L.A. River.
This garden used to be a parking lot
and was converted into a community garden in 2014.
There are over 30 garden beds.
There are incredible program partners.
There is a food distribution event going on today,
This is one of over 40 locations
where we allow for community members
to drop off at our community cooperative hubs.
Rob: And so I just learned that this was
formerly a parking lot
and now it is this amazing garden.
And I I think, you know,
it is a perfect representation of
what I have learned about L.A. Compost
over the last couple of months,
which is, it is about transforming
communities and bringing back, you know,
sovereignty in the community.
Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Michael: Yeah. I just want to say,
my son, Diego is really excited to be here
and part of it.
L.A. Compost, our tagline, soil and people.
We are really focused on restoring
lost connections between community
members, the soil that feeds us,
and really seeing the parallels
within one another.
I think just like compost,
L.A. compost just adds a little bit of life
and a little bit of value to the already
goodness and powerful work
that communities are doing.
Here in Elysian Valley,
there is L.A. Moss,
there is Community Garden Council.
Incredible community organizers
just doing solid work,
and we just get to come alongside
and support them in really unique ways
through our program offerings.
So we are very much focusing
on that first word of community,
as much as that second word,
which is composting,
but the two go hand in hand.
I often say that the beauty
of these compost piles is
the diversity of imperfection
and collection of the ingredients.
And the beauty of L.A.,
as many people have experienced,
are the people who call it home.
So very much that human-centered,
focused work here in L.A.
Rob: It is very beautiful.
So, you know, most everybody out there
knows what composting is,
but for people who do not.
Can you tell us a little bit about
why composting is so important
as a central part of our communities
and regenerating our earth?
Michael: Absolutely.
So composting has been defined
in many different ways.
I like to use the analogy of,
it is like cooking.
You are gathering ingredients,
creating certain conditions
to allow for something to happen.
And what is happening is the decomposition
of organic matter through
microbial metabolism.
It is basically heat and air
and this beautiful soil food web
breaking down materials.
But why that is important is because
when food goes to landfill,
it creates a greenhouse gas called methane,
which is really contributing to this
climate emergency that we are in.
Landfills leach into our waterways,
affect our air, soil, water,
and the communities around it.
And with composting,
you are allowing food scraps
to not be seen as waste
or a product that needs to just go away,
because it does not disappear,
but it is seen as a resource
that can be transformed
and reinvested in our communities
through composting, through green jobs,
through green gathering spaces.
And I think it is really important
for us to realize
that things do not disappear
when we put them in a garbage can.
They affect communities.
They affect our habitats and our environment.
And there is a price that
we are all paying when we are sending them
to these certain communities,
to these certain zip codes.
We can rethink and reimagine
what that infrastructure looks like.
Rob: That is the big idea of this project
is to help people to see
how much our trash adds up.
And the truth behind our consumerism.
And one of the most powerful things
you can do to not look like this, is compost.
About 72 pounds.
This is 72 pounds of trash
and about 30 plus pounds of this
can be turned into soil
to regenerate our communities.
Michael: Absolutely.
In addition to the food scraps
that you are holding.
I have seen a lot of paper products,
unbleached cardboards, things that would
absolutely serve as a carbon source,
as that nitrogen source for our microbes
to really break down and return to our soils
here in the community garden
or park location.
Rob: So of course as you know
normally I compost, I love composting.
I think it is one of the greatest solutions.
Can you share a little bit.
You were starting to touch on it,
but, you know, the environmental injustice
that exists with our our waste systems
and how it disproportionately affects
different communities.
Michael: Absolutely.
Oftentimes it is communities of color,
those that are often in lower income zip codes
that have this large scale infrastructure
that they have to bear the weight of.
We live in L.A. County where there are
10 million of us,
and oftentimes the majority of that waste
is sent to certain communities that,
like I said, have to bear the impact of that.
So as I mentioned, landfills
and certain types of waste industry infrastructures
do impact our soil, air and water.
And inevitably, that is impacting our community.
So it is important
from an environmental justice lens
that we are not just sending this stuff away
out of place, out of mind
because it is not going away.
It is impacting kids,
it is impacting the schools,
the areas in which these facilities are located.
And to reimagine what we can do
with this material,
to really look at these communities
that have been impacted
and seeing the ways in which
they are taking an initiative,
the way in which they are organizing
and combating it,
and creating alternative futures
by composting, gardening,
redistributing food,
and looking at the full story of food
and relationship to this journey of life.
Rob: 100% on the same page.
And lastly, it sounds like you are pretty excited
about some of the progress
that is being made here in L.A.
Michael: and California as a state as a whole.
The Senate bill 1383,
which passed January 1, 2022,
is really mandating the entire state
of California to compost.
There are some 75% diversion goals
from landfill by 2023, 2024.
and from San Francisco down to San Diego,
Sacramento to L.A.
there are community groups
like L.A. Compost,
really this community compost group.
There is a California Alliance
for Community Composters.
We are really recognizing the impact
and the importance full scale.
It has been a long time coming
and the future is very bright
in regards to composting
at the home level,
community level, regional level
and municipal level.
And all efforts are needed.
So we are just part...
We are excited to just be
a small piece of a larger solution.
Rob: Wonderful.
So whether you are in L.A
or you have an organization
like L.A. Compost,
we can all start composting
in our communities.
We can start community compost programs
if we want to step it up a notch.
And we can help to, you know,
mandate this as part of our systems
where, you know, composting is
the norm rather than the exception.
Michael: Absolutely.
I always say that the beauty of composting
is it is creating these microbial networks
that are sharing and communicating
and supporting this larger whole.
We are mimicking that
above the ground at the community level.
We are establishing a human network here in L.A.
Others are doing it across the country.
The diversity of communities,
the contributions that everyone is making
is really creating this robust human network
of good, this beautiful life transfer
that is taking place across L.A. County.
So I appreciate your message.
Appreciate the space you create
for these conversations to be had.
And we are really excited to just
continue to work with everyone else
that is doing the solid work.
Rob: Alright well, thank you for your work.
Who knew that composting
is such a revolution?
I mean, it is.
I knew, but yeah, thanks for all you are doing.
I am excited to continue to see L.A. Compost
growing and spreading.
Michael: Thank you so much.
Appreciate your time.
Rob Greenfield Films
LA Compost Soil and People