MAKING HOME COMPOST

 By Megan Rivera

Now, more than ever, we have been spending time at home perfecting our cooking skills. Some of us may have even started or maintained a garden of our own, pouring ingredients of our own into our new meals. This, however, results in excess food waste and scraps. We could continue to throw these excess materials away, or we can turn them into some earth-loving compost. Composting is essentially combining organic waste to speed up their natural breakdown.(1) While composting may seem like a complicated, rather smelly process, it is something that can easily be done at any home and is extremely beneficial for our own use. 

So you want to make compost, great! Setting up compost stations at school, work, or home can be easy enough for anyone to set up, and leads to long term benefit. The first step is picking out a compost unit. These units can either be built, or bought; making them to your preference or selecting what works best for your set up. There are several different types of units, each made for different living styles and providing different timelines for compost being finished. One of them being an on ground unit. As it sounds, these units sit directly on the ground, allowing them to be filled in at the top, and for natural organisms such as worms to assist in their breakdown. While these decomposers help break down the material, the compost still needs to be aerated through turning or mixing. Now, these units are not the same as worm compost units. Worm compost units are normally deep beds that are also filled at the top, but have worms purposefully placed throughout the beds, so that they can work through the matter. For those of you that are limited to space, the worm units are the best fit. Then, there are rotating drum compost bins. These are usually made with barrels, sit off of the ground by a base or stand, and are rotated for the aeration process. These bins do have openings, allowing them to be filled with materials. Lastly, there are continuous compost units. If one is looking to have continual access to finished compost, this would be the unit for you. These are specifically designed to have matter put in one end and compost come out the other in a quicker fashion.(2) 

After selecting the unit that best fits you, then it is time to figure out what you are going to compost. Compost is made with carbon and nitrogen sources. Luckily, these sources are easy to obtain for us. The food waste and materials that are added, for example, serve as the source of nitrogen. When adding this material, it is important to remember not to add everything at once. Therefore, you should have different bins or cans set aside to be the holding place for your materials before being added to your compost unit. Secondly, you cannot compost all food waste, there are dos and don’ts. Foods or waste that are good for your compost are fruits, vegetables, eggshells, coffee grounds, tea bags, grains, flowers, and food cooked without oil, meat, or dairy. Adding these materials to your compost will make it healthy and will be best broken down. Foods or waste that you should not add to your compost are fish, meat, bones, dairy, oils, pest or disease infected plant material, and food made with oil, dairy, or meat. These materials do not break down or work well with your compost.(3) This food waste is what is known as the greens of compost. Then, we get into the browns of compost. The browns are what serve as the source of carbon. These browns can be many different things such as cardboard egg cartons, newspaper, shredded paper, dry leaves, aged hay, dry grass, chipped wood, or sawdust. When building all of this material together, the carbon to nitrogen ratio needs to ideally be at 2 parts carbon to one part nitrogen(1); therefore having more browns than greens. If this ratio is not proper, then it will either take longer for materials to break down, or they will not properly break down, leaving large pieces in your compost. 

Once you have all of the material, there are important things to keep in mind when managing your compost. One of the biggest ones being moisture. Water needs to be added to your compost pile regularly, enough so that it maintains a damp state. This water can be added manually or can be obtained through natural water sources like rain. This moisture, however, needs to be evenly spaced throughout your compost, not just put directly on the bottom or top. This would make the moisture level of the entire unit too inconsistent. There also needs to be consistent aeration throughout. This is done by either turning, rotating, or stirring your compost, based on the type of unit that you have. This aeration is beneficial for the natural decomposers in our compost, as they thrive in an oxygen rich environment. Stirring or mixing your compost regularly will help the natural breakdown occur even quicker. The last factor that is essential in compost making is temperature. The ideal temperature for compost, so that microbes can work at their best, is between 130oF-160oF.(1) To check the temperature of your compost you can either use a thermometer or stick your hand into it, and if it is uncomfortably hot, your compost is at the right temperature. A well maintained compost pile that has the right amount of moisture and is turned regularly should manage the temperature on its own. 

Exciting! You now know everything that you would need to build, create, and manage your own compost unit. Once all of the proper steps have been taken and you have successfully started composting, you should see the finished result in about 8 weeks or less. Then with that finished product, you can enhance your own gardens by adding this natural, nutrient rich supplement! Now rather than those scraps from your garden or plate being thrown in the trash, they have the opportunity to turn into something great. Live life, eat great, and make compost!

Works Cited:

1. “Composting: Water University: Texas A&M AgriLife Dallas Center.” Water University, https://wateruniversity.tamu.edu/soil/composting/

2. “Composting at Home - The Green and Brown Alternative.” Cornell Waste Management Institute, https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/handle/1813/29111/compostingathome.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y

3. Simon, Julia. “How To Compost At Home” NPR, NPR, 9 Apr. 2020, https://www.npr.org/2020/04/07/828918397/how-to-compost-at-home

 TEENAGE MENTAL HEALTH :

A COMMON YET OVERLOOKED ISSUE

NEURO NASH

By Abrar Hasanant

In our society, mental health is not often taken seriously and when it comes to teenagers – the situation is way worse. The idea that a teenager goes through several stressful and mentally challenging times is still struggling to find its roots in our society. Most of the parents think what could possibly stress their offspring after all they do for them or just deny it fully saying, “it’s just a phase”. They consider the emotional experiences of teenagers as being unworthy of attention, failing to realize the dangerous impact this can have on their adult lives. 

Let’s see how frequently  teenagers actually face mental health problems. A survey, amongst 700 parents, guardians and health care professionals, named “Preparing for College: The Mental Health Gap” shows that(1): 

• 86% said the teens have had more anxiety and stress than pre-teenagers.

• 81% saw more anxiety disorders.

• 70% reported seeing more mood disorders such as depression and bipolar disorder.

• 39% of the teens suffered from suicidal tendencies at least once.

Mental health issues (predominantly self harm, depression, stress) are the third most common reason for deaths amongst adolescent boys while being second most amongst the girls.(2) An estimated 10–20% of adolescents globally experience mental health conditions, yet these remain underdiagnosed and undertreated.(3) Now this doesn’t mean that the parents or guardians are bad at parenting. It happens simply because they don’t know it exists, and those who do know ignore it because there is a culture of shame regarding mental health. In fact, mental health is such an untapped and stigmatized issue that parents would rather remain in the dark than discover a myriad of dreadful possibilities. As a result, this social stigma makes it harder for a child to reach out for help. They consider themselves as a sickness – lowering further deep down into the voids of low self esteem and depression. 

So, what are the main reasons behind these mental health issues? According to WHO, several risk factors determine such outcomes.(3) These include a desire for greater autonomy, pressure to conform with peers, exploration of sexual identity, and increased access to and use of technology. Media influence and gender norms can “exacerbate the disparity between an adolescent’s lived reality and their perceptions or aspirations for the future”.(3) Moreover, harsh parenting or bullying, living conditions, lack of quality opportunities and socioeconomic disparity plays a major role in creating mental illness amongst the teens. 

Now, most of the parents, guardians or custodians don’t know which symptoms to look for to see whether or not their child is suffering from these. Even though the adults want to help them – they just don’t understand when to do so. So the following are some of the most common symptoms which a child might show while suffering from mental difficulties:

Prolonged self-isolation and withdrawal from family and friends. Follow the link below to see more symptoms.

• Irritability, secretiveness and/or excessive tiredness

• Disinterest in activities previously enjoyed.

• Changes in sleep patterns and appetite.

• Declining grades or involvement in school.

• Mood instability that can range from sadness and apathy to aggression.

  
  

There are several other symptoms which might show that a child is going through something. Everyone has different coping mechanisms so they might not even show any of these symptoms. So surely, the best way to know about these is having an open minded conversation with them. 

Now that the parents know their child is going through some sort of mental health issues – what do they do next? Most of the parents ignore it thinking that it’ll go away (yes, there’s a problem/ignorance in each and every step, hence the surprisingly large number of mental health cases). This ignoring of the problems leads the teens to carry their teenage depression well into their adult lives. A couple of simple yet effective steps can be taken in this regard :

• Make time to talk and listen to the affected person. Ask how he or she is feeling. Express your love and support.

• Encourage them to get regular exercise, spend time with supportive friends, eat healthy foods, and get enough sleep.

• Counseling can be done for advanced cases of depression.

• Play therapy for younger kids while behavioral therapies for the older ones should be taken.

• Almost every school and college has a counselor solely dedicated for this purpose – making appointments with them or taking their suggestions might prove to be of help.

• Simply tell them that everything’s going to be alright and you’re there for them no matter what happens (believe me, it does wonders for most people)

Pretty basic things, right? Everyone already knew it, right? These simple and basic steps can actually help them a lot. Yet, most of the parents or guardians even fail to acknowledge their child’s mental issues for social norms. Due to the lack of resources regarding mental health and a negative approach towards it from the parents and society, this issue has turned out to be a particularly challenging one. However it is high time these sorts of actions and misconceptions are rectified. Mental illness, depression, anxiety disorders and  stress during the teenage years isn't a myth or a way for teenagers to get attention – these are actually real conditions and are way more common than most people think. 

So, instead of ignoring it – we should acknowledge it to make the future of the child brighter. From educating the parents or guardians and creating social awareness programs to normalizing the fact that almost everyone at some point of their lives face such situations – everything will play a role. Everyone should keep these in mind for a collective better and brighter future. 

Works Cited:

1. Watson, Stephanie. “Mental Health Issues Overlooked in College Transition.” WebMD. WebMD, January 25, 2018. https://www.webmd.com/special-reports/prep-teens-college/20180125/parents-teens-survey.

2. “Adolescent Mental Health Statistics.” UNICEF DATA, July 27, 2020. https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-health/mental-health/.

3. “Adolescent Mental Health.” World Health Organization. World Health Organization. Accessed August 31, 2020. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-mental-health.

Other Sources:

1. “Why Parents Are Silent About Mental Illness.” Child Mind Institute, March 5, 2019. https://childmind.org/article/why-parents-are-silent-about-mental-illness/.

2. Claire McCarthy, MD. “Parents Don't Always Realize That Their Teen Is Suicidal.” Harvard Health Blog, February 13, 2019. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/parents-dont-always-realize-that-their-teen-is-suicidal-2019021315901.

3. Nelson, Randi. “Teen Mental Health Issues Being Ignored Globally.” Teen Mental Health Hospital, May 16, 2020. https://www.viewpointcenter.com/blog/teen-mental-health-issues-ignored-globally/.