Climate Connection: Let’s all Compost!
By Taan Moll, age 11
One of my least favorite chores that I have to do every week is taking care of the compost. Even though I don’t like doing it, I know that managing food waste is important for many reasons.
Have you ever wondered where your trash goes after the garbage truck picks it up? Sitka ships its trash via barge out of town to a landfill in Eastern Washington. In 2017 Sitka shipped 8,000 tons of trash in one year. In the U.S. an average of 22% of trash is food waste. This means that in 2017 Sitka shipped 1,760 tons of food waste down south. At $400 per ton this equals a cost of $704,000 a year just to ship compostable food waste. We could all save money if we all composted.
Saving money is not the only reason it is a good idea to compost. Project Drawdown lists reducing food waste as one of the most impactful actions in drawing down climate-changing gases in the atmosphere. When food waste decomposes in landfills, it produces methane. Food waste is responsible for 8% of global emissions and 30 to 40 percent of all food produced worldwide is wasted. That sounds like a real problem to me that needs to be addressed.
There are a lot of solutions that people in Sitka could be a part of in managing food waste. One big solution would be a citywide composting program where either the food waste is picked up from your home in a separate food waste can, or people can take their food waste to a centrally-located Compost Facility similar to the recycling center. Since good soil in Sitka is rare, compost produced by such a facility could be valuable to local gardeners. In the meantime, I would like to encourage people to compost their own food waste. Even though taking the food scraps out to the compost is not your favorite job, I would like to encourage you to do it because not only would you save money, you would also reduce climate-changing gas emissions.
Tsunamis Topic
Of Presentation
Dr. Elena Suleimani, Alaska Earthquake Center, and James Benzschawel, lead planner in the Community Resilience Program at the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, will be here May 3-4 to discuss the tsunami evacuation line with city officials.
The line, approved by the city, will appear in the Sitka tsunami brochure, which is in the designing phase.
A public lecture, ‘‘Tsunamis in Alaska and Around the World,’’ will be presented 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 3, at Centennial Hall.
‘‘The two shocking tsunami disasters of the 21st century have forever changed the definition of the word ‘tsunami,”’ Suleimani said. ‘‘Its meaning was elevated from just an infrequent though potentially dangerous natural phenomenon to one capable of inflicting hundreds of thousands of fatalities and reaching every coastline on Earth.’’
Alaska is the largest tsunami “producer” in the United States, she said.
‘‘Historic tsunamis that were generated in Alaska have resulted in widespread damage and loss of life around the Pacific Ocean,’’ Suleimani said. ‘‘However, the future tsunamis ‘made in Alaska’ can reach Alaska coastal communities within minutes of the earthquake. In preparation for the next disaster, the coastal population in Alaska will benefit from tsunami hazard mitigation and preparedness programs in those unknown number of years/months that we have until the next tsunami strikes the Alaska coast.’’
Also planned are visits to the schools.
State Legislature
Plans Meetings
During the week of May 2 the Alaska Legislature will several meetings including the following.
Senate Finance: 9 a.m. May 2, HB291 Extending Council on Domestic Violence, public testimony taken; and 9 a.m. May 3, SB85, Forest Land Use Plans and Timber Sales, invited testimony.
House Finance: 9 a.m. May 3, HB413 Facilities Consituting a School; HB358 Renewable Energy Grant Fund, public testimony; and SB201, Use of Internet for Charitable Gaming, public testimony.
House Finance: 1:30 p.m. May 3, HB226, Pay Increases for State Attorneys; and HB416 Bonuses for Non-Union Public Employees, public testimony.
For a full list of topics, visit akleg.gov and click on “Daily Schedule.” Call the Sitka Legislative Office at 747-6276 or visit akleg.gov for more information.
Mariner’s First Aid,
CPR Class in Sitka
The Alaska Marine Safety Education Association will offer a Mariner’s First Aid and CPR/AED class 8 a.m.-3 p.m. May 19 at NSRAA, 1308 Sawmill Creek Road.
The cost for the class is $125, including sales tax. Mariners may register online at www.amsea.org or call (907) 747-3287.
Drug Take Back
Day is Saturday
Free disposal of unused and expired prescription drugs will be offered Saturday, April 30, in observance of National Drug Take Back Day.
Drugs can be dropped off 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Sitka Public Library. It is sponsored by Sitka Counseling.
Approved medication disposal bags, opioid overdose response kits, and other free resources will be available at the event.
Disposal bags also are available at the Public Health Center foyer. Organizations can contact the center for disposal bags by calling 747-3255.
Tulong Aral
Scholarships
To be Given
The Tulong Aral Scholarship Committee announces the first recipients of Sitka’s newest scholarship.
Recipients include Justine Agullana, Sergio Carlos, Joshua Antolin, Elijah Dylan Dumag, Beatrice Perez-Peterson, Marlene Sarmiento, Elaiza Faye Sibayan, and Jenivive Sibayan.
The purpose of the Tulong Aral Scholarship is to support and encourage Filipino students in seeking higher education.
The scholarship is open to students of Filipino heritage pursuing post-secondary education, training, or certifications.
The committee is working to endow the scholarship and award two $1,000 scholarships each year. This year, eight $500 scholarships are being given.
Scholarships will be presented on Awards Night, 6:30 p.m. Monday, May 2, at the Performing Arts Center.
Presenters will include Donna Chong of Wells Fargo and Mike Duckworth of Silver Bay Seafoods.
Silver Bay Seafoods is a major contributor to the scholarship endowment. Others are Sitka Rotary Club, Hames Corporation, and the Sitka Education Association.
Those wanting to support the scholarship can visit sitkakids.com/filipino-scholarship.
Donation Match
Set for Museum
April 30 is the deadline for donations to the Friends of Sheldon Jackson Museum to be matched – up to $25,000 – by two Texas donors.
The match challenge is made possible through the generosity of Carvel Glenn and Randall Lamb of Texas.
‘‘All gifts are welcome, including corporate gifts and gifts from afar, but this is specifically a call to the people of Alaska to support this wonderful Alaskan resource and all gifts shall be matched dollar-for-dollar,’’ the friends said in a news release.
So far, $13,000 has been raised.
To join in the effort to make the match, donate to the Friends of SJM until April 30 online at FriendsofSJM.com/Match, by mail to Friends of SJM, 104 College Drive, Sitka, AK 99835, or in-person at the Sheldon Jackson Museum.
The Friends of Sheldon Jackson Museum is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to supporting the Sheldon Jackson Museum and its unique Alaska Native ethnographic collection through advocacy, acquisition and educational programming. For more information contact friendsofsjm@gmail.com or (907) 747-6233.
