It's amazing how a very small action can change the future of something huge. It's a reminder that every good idea and every forest fire begins with a simple spark.
One year ago, when my two buddies and I were developing the concept for zero waste golf, we built a demonstration worm bin in a small community garden down the street from my house. The worm bin was located just across the street from a market deli, so there was a daily supply of food wastes to feed the worms. Just a small worm bin in a public location...
When I suggested to our golf superintendent that he go by and look at the worm bin, in hopes that he'd consider installing one at the course to consume and divert the course's food wastes from the landfill, he agreed to go by. After seeing how compact, well designed and clean the worm bin was, he agreed to install one like it at the course.
I used to bug the shit out of our county waste management authority manager. I was always asking "hard to answer if you're a politician" questions. He would answer, but I could tell that he didn't take me seriously. When I'd propose some zero waste solution scheme, he's always grin a superior grin ask "and how's that going to be sustainable...?" Well, when he saw the community worm bin, his whole demeanor changed. Within a week or two, he had agreed to give $20,000 worth of composting equipment to the zero waste golf project that I had been pitching to the golf superintendent.
Once our golf superintendent got word about the $20,000 gift from waste management authority, he was sold on the project to develop our course into the "first zero waste golf course in the world. And so, we did it. And now when you google zero waste golf, you're going to read all about Dairy Creek Golf Course, the first zero waste golf course in the world and Josh Heptig, who will probably be named GCSAA superintendent of the year (at least he should be).
It won't be long before zero waste will be the norm for golf courses all over the world. Composting the food and green wastes saves the atmosphere from dangerous methane gas that is released if the food and organic wastes are landfilled. The compost created is used on the course dry or as compost tea, which reduces or eliminates the money spent on chemical fertilizers, pesticides and fungicides. Early evidence indicates that the microbiology that lives in compost and tea help the soil and plant roots utilize water much better (up to 30% savings the first year) which saves valuable water resourses and the electricity to run irrigation pumps. Anybody can see that golf courses will switch to zero waste to save money, not just to save the world from global warming.
So there it is...The beginning of a major shift in the global golf course maintenance mentality. And it all started with ten or twenty pounds of little red wigglers.
Don't underestimate how small demonstrations can influence how other people finally "get it" when it comes to simple ideas. Together we can change the world to be a better place, and it can begin with our golf courses taking the lead by demonstrating how zero waste can work, not just on the course, but in the homes and communities that they serve.
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