Only 4-7% of soil's make-up is organic matter, (the rest being minerals, air and water) but without that small amount of organic matter(used to be alive -now it's dead) life on this planet would not exist. It's the nutrient cycle and we can all pitch in...literally! Compost! Another advantage...if we all compost our food and yard waste we can reduce the amount of material going to those nasty landfills by 25% -and end up with a nutrient rich, soil-like material called compost. great for gardening or just tossing on the lawn or under a bush. Put it back!

Use cloth diapers! They are fun, easy to use, cute, and good for the environment! Did you know that one disposable diaper can take over 500 years to decompose? Take that and the fact that the average baby in disposables will send about 1 ton of stinky garbage to the landfill! Go cloth:) don't be afraid!

During the summer count how many bags of grass clipping you see lined up at the curb on trash day. In most communities that goes straight to the landfill. Use a mulching mower and let the clippings fall; your grass will be healthier for it and so will the planet. (Better yet, get rid of the grass and plant a garden, Americans use tons of chemicals to get that perfect green grass.)

Instead of throwing away uneaten food and newspaper, resuse it. By purchasing a few dozen red worms and keeping them in a container in your garage you greatly reduce your trash output. You place your leftover food in the container full of worms to be turned into compost. Along with saving newspaper and food, you are also creating a valuable fertilizer that can be used for gardening.