SGU Episode 506: Difference between revisions
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== Questions and Emails == | == Questions and Emails == | ||
=== Question #1. Garbage Disposals vs Composting <small>(48:13)</small> === | === Question #1. Garbage Disposals vs Composting <small>(48:13)</small> === | ||
S: Alright, let's go on. There's going to be no Who's That Noisy this week because Jay's not here and nobody had an opportunity to replace it so Jay will be back next week with the follow-up of Who's That Noisy. I do want to do one quick email we haven't done email in a while because all of our other segments were kind of crowding it out. This one comes from Steve from Canadia. | |||
E: (laughs) | |||
S: Steve writes: | |||
<blockquote>Hi all Yeah, I'll make it brief. I am a lazy sod, but with a good, environmentally friendly heart, metaphorically speaking. I have been considering installing a garbage disposal in my sink as part of our kitchen renos. My wife thinks composting all our waste is better for the environment but it is messy (a bit), smelly (a bit) and inconvenient, especially with meat and fish waste which gets a bit funky in the summer. I find conflicting information on the things when I do a bit of research. What's the friggin' deal? Thanks guys Thanks Steve from Canadia</blockquote> | <blockquote>Hi all Yeah, I'll make it brief. I am a lazy sod, but with a good, environmentally friendly heart, metaphorically speaking. I have been considering installing a garbage disposal in my sink as part of our kitchen renos. My wife thinks composting all our waste is better for the environment but it is messy (a bit), smelly (a bit) and inconvenient, especially with meat and fish waste which gets a bit funky in the summer. I find conflicting information on the things when I do a bit of research. What's the friggin' deal? Thanks guys Thanks Steve from Canadia</blockquote> | ||
S: Well, Steve from Canadia. Yeah, you pretty much got it. I'm familiar with composting, I haven't taken the bullet myself, I haven't started, I've been thinking about composting for my garden, just haven't had the time, the activation energy to get it going. But I know people who compost, I've read a lot about it, and I did some more reserach to help answer this question. So the essence of composting is tha tyou take any organic waste, basically your food items, anything that's biodegradable, it could also be like egg shells and banana peels and leftover, any leftover food basically, and instaed of throwing that away, you put it in a big bin, but you have to put it there with other things, for example like bacterial cultures. | |||
E: Right, it has to be able to break down. | |||
S: Yeah, and could also put in grass clippings or other things too. And then it has to get warm, so it heats up the degradation of the organic material gets it warm and the bacteria chews it up and over time it breaks it down into a nice compost, into a nice fertilizer, just really thick organic material so it's great, the end result is great if you have a use for the fertilizer, and it does remove waste from landfills and from the garbage stream so it's a perfectly good thing to do. However, it's not easy. It's not something that you should take on lightly. It does require maintenance. It's not a do it and forget it kind of project. It's, you're going to have to dedicate a certain amount of time to mainting your compost. | |||
E: It's like owning a pet, maybe. | |||
S: Yeah that's probably not a, depending on the pet, that's probably not a bad analogy. | |||
E: Dog or cat, yeah. | |||
S: So it's also, you've got to have a place to put it. I can't imagine doing it unless you have an outdoor bin because it can get a bit smelly. | |||
E: The only people I know who compost are hard-core gardeners, of the individuals that I have ever met. I've never met someone who's gone, as you've described it, half way with it, Steve, or their heart not entirely in it. They've got some marvellous landscaping that they've done or have gardens that they maintain, those are the ones that go through and put the time and effort into making composting work for them, but that's the only time I've really ever seen it in action. | |||
S: yeah and if you live in a Northern environment or Southern, Richard in your Hemisphere, if you live in a cold enviroment where we have a winter where it gets sub-freezing, you have to maintain it during the winter as well. One of my big concerns is am I going to have to trudge out in the snow to my compost bin in the winter to get rid of my... | |||
E: That's why you have kids, you can send them to do it. Get your shovel and turn that compost pile! Shut the door on the way out! | |||
S: If there are composters out there who want to tell us their personal experience or want to add to this, go ahead. But I think the bottom line is yeah, it's overall a good thing but it's no small investment of time and effort. So if you're considering doing it, read up on it, see what it really involves, make sure it's right for you. | |||
== Dumbest Thing of the Week <small>(52:32)</small> == | == Dumbest Thing of the Week <small>(52:32)</small> == | ||
Revision as of 11:11, 23 March 2015
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This episode needs: transcription, time stamps, formatting, links, 'Today I Learned' list, categories, segment redirects. Please help out by contributing! |
How to Contribute |
| SGU Episode 506 |
|---|
| March 21st 2015 |
 |
| (brief caption for the episode icon) |
| Skeptical Rogues |
| S: Steven Novella |
B: Bob Novella |
J: Jay Novella |
E: Evan Bernstein |
| Guest |
R: Richard Saunders |
| Quote of the Week |
The man of science has learned to believe in justification, not by faith, but by verification. |
| Links |
| Download Podcast |
| Show Notes |
| Forum Discussion |
Introduction
You're listening to the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, your escape to reality.
Forgotten Superheroes of Science (6:41)
- Irène Joliot-Curie: Nobel prize winning chemist who discovered artificial radioactivity
News Items
Australia Pans Homeopathy (10:36)
- http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/media/releases/2015/nhmrc-releases-statement-and-advice-homeopathy http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/science-journalism-and-homeopathy-for-depression/
NYT and Wearable Tech (20:10)
LHC Computer Grid (31:52)
Naturopathy (40:50)
- http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/naturopathic-delusions/
- http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/nd-confession-part-1-clinical-training-inside-and-out/
Questions and Emails
Question #1. Garbage Disposals vs Composting (48:13)
S: Alright, let's go on. There's going to be no Who's That Noisy this week because Jay's not here and nobody had an opportunity to replace it so Jay will be back next week with the follow-up of Who's That Noisy. I do want to do one quick email we haven't done email in a while because all of our other segments were kind of crowding it out. This one comes from Steve from Canadia.
E: (laughs)
S: Steve writes:
Hi all Yeah, I'll make it brief. I am a lazy sod, but with a good, environmentally friendly heart, metaphorically speaking. I have been considering installing a garbage disposal in my sink as part of our kitchen renos. My wife thinks composting all our waste is better for the environment but it is messy (a bit), smelly (a bit) and inconvenient, especially with meat and fish waste which gets a bit funky in the summer. I find conflicting information on the things when I do a bit of research. What's the friggin' deal? Thanks guys Thanks Steve from Canadia
S: Well, Steve from Canadia. Yeah, you pretty much got it. I'm familiar with composting, I haven't taken the bullet myself, I haven't started, I've been thinking about composting for my garden, just haven't had the time, the activation energy to get it going. But I know people who compost, I've read a lot about it, and I did some more reserach to help answer this question. So the essence of composting is tha tyou take any organic waste, basically your food items, anything that's biodegradable, it could also be like egg shells and banana peels and leftover, any leftover food basically, and instaed of throwing that away, you put it in a big bin, but you have to put it there with other things, for example like bacterial cultures.
E: Right, it has to be able to break down.
S: Yeah, and could also put in grass clippings or other things too. And then it has to get warm, so it heats up the degradation of the organic material gets it warm and the bacteria chews it up and over time it breaks it down into a nice compost, into a nice fertilizer, just really thick organic material so it's great, the end result is great if you have a use for the fertilizer, and it does remove waste from landfills and from the garbage stream so it's a perfectly good thing to do. However, it's not easy. It's not something that you should take on lightly. It does require maintenance. It's not a do it and forget it kind of project. It's, you're going to have to dedicate a certain amount of time to mainting your compost.
E: It's like owning a pet, maybe.
S: Yeah that's probably not a, depending on the pet, that's probably not a bad analogy.
E: Dog or cat, yeah.
S: So it's also, you've got to have a place to put it. I can't imagine doing it unless you have an outdoor bin because it can get a bit smelly.
E: The only people I know who compost are hard-core gardeners, of the individuals that I have ever met. I've never met someone who's gone, as you've described it, half way with it, Steve, or their heart not entirely in it. They've got some marvellous landscaping that they've done or have gardens that they maintain, those are the ones that go through and put the time and effort into making composting work for them, but that's the only time I've really ever seen it in action.
S: yeah and if you live in a Northern environment or Southern, Richard in your Hemisphere, if you live in a cold enviroment where we have a winter where it gets sub-freezing, you have to maintain it during the winter as well. One of my big concerns is am I going to have to trudge out in the snow to my compost bin in the winter to get rid of my...
E: That's why you have kids, you can send them to do it. Get your shovel and turn that compost pile! Shut the door on the way out!
S: If there are composters out there who want to tell us their personal experience or want to add to this, go ahead. But I think the bottom line is yeah, it's overall a good thing but it's no small investment of time and effort. So if you're considering doing it, read up on it, see what it really involves, make sure it's right for you.
Dumbest Thing of the Week (52:32)
- http://metro.co.uk/2015/03/16/does-this-weeks-eclipse-prove-the-moon-is-a-giant-alien-spaceship-5106083/ In a recent YouTube video, Christopher Knight, author of Who Built the Moon says, ‘The same numbers keep popping up. As Isaac Asimov said, the eclipse is the most extraordinary coincidence. We started to look at the numbers – and they all worked perfectly.
Science or Fiction (58:18)
Item #1: A new analysis finds that beetles as a group have an extremely low extinction rate, which is partially responsible for their extensive diversity. Item #2: Flies have a stunted pair of hind wings that rapidly vibrate and act as gyroscopes, detecting pitch, yaw, and roll in flight. Item #3: A new study finds that people generally become more distrusting and suspicious as they become older.
Skeptical Quote of the Week (1:15:21)
"The man of science has learned to believe in justification, not by faith, but by verification." - Thomas Henry Huxley
Announcements (1:17:39)
- NECSS Early Bird Registration http://necss.org/
- Podcast Awards: http://www.podcastawards.com/
- TAM 13 Registration Opening Soon
- Skeptic Zone Podcast http://www.skepticzone.tv
S: The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe is produced by SGU Productions, dedicated to promoting science and critical thinking. For more information on this and other episodes, please visit our website at theskepticsguide.org, where you will find the show notes as well as links to our blogs, videos, online forum, and other content. You can send us feedback or questions to info@theskepticsguide.org. Also, please consider supporting the SGU by visiting the store page on our website, where you will find merchandise, premium content, and subscription information. Our listeners are what make SGU possible.
References
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