Compost is Purple

Looking at the current political landscape, I can remember a time where things felt even more divided in American politics. I was born as a baby boomer around the time when the conflict in Vietnam started, and by the time I reached high school age, the war was in the news daily. People lined up taking strong positions on whether escalating the war by sending in more troops will help us win. Conversely, the anti-war movement was reaching a fever pitch. As a young man of draft age, it was difficult to go against supporting your country and choosing to fight versus supporting the anti-war movement and choosing peace. Now, we are in a similar position where our political party system has become the singularly defining identity a person can have. From masks and vaccines to war and healthcare, it seems like these days you can only be in one of two camps. If you have an opinion about one matter, people lump you in with all the other opinions associated with that single stance. We are shoehorned into thinking we can only be for or against a position.
 
I take solace in knowing that I work to represent an industry that genuinely bridges the left and the right and blue to red. We have members who are community composters and local waste haulers who started picking up compost with a bicycle trailer to avoid carbon emissions, as well as large-scale compost and equipment manufacturers who oppose expanded unemployment benefits because they are having a hard time finding employees. It is no secret that the compost industry is purple. Composters can be the most down-to-earth, blue-collar types, composters can be hard core environmentalists willing to perform direct action to save the planet one bucket of compost at a time, and composters can stand for every step in between the extremes. We have one common goal: to promote the manufacturing and use of compost. This one position is supported by so many who cannot agree on much else. There are few industries whose work has the benefits that ours does. Combating climate change, saving water, preventing erosion, regenerating soils, saving landfill space, creating jobs, providing essential and ecosystem services, paying local, state and federal taxes and bringing communities together. 
 
As a trade organization, our mission is doing work that will positively impact the industry. Along with the Compost Research and Education Foundation (CREF), our main programs seek to educate producers, test compost and disclose results, unite our industry annually, and credential compost professionals. CREF has trained more than 1,000 composters, our Seal of Testing Assurance Program has over 225 participants disclosing over 350 unique products test results, and our certification commission now has over 100 Certified Compost Operations Managers (CCOM) or Certified Compost Professionals (CCP).
 
The USCC is excited to see the return of our annual conference to Austin, Texas for COMPOST2022 (see below for details). I encourage each and every one of our members to use compost to serve as a bridge that starts a dialogue with someone who is in an opposing imaginary political party. Compost is not only the the greatest way to reduce landfilling, lower CO2 in the atmosphere, and develop jobs that must be on our own soil, but it can potentially also serve as a common ground for the left and right to build trust.