On Fri, 16 Apr 2004 02:45:03 GMT, Alan Bell wrote:

We share a house with a large backyard.... One of us is concerned with plants,
gardening, conservation and recycling. That person ate an orange and
scattered nine pieces of the peel in a flower bed next to the patio. His
rationale was that the peels were biodegradable. The other of us is
concerned with rules, order and appearance. That person felt the orange
peels should have been placed in a trash can. His rationale is that the
peels are ugly.

We're cool and the best of friends. This didn't set off WWIII. But after
talking about it, we are curious as to what others think is proper. We tried
to put this into newsgroups that would tend to favor one and the other
position.

Both of you are right. Orange peels are both biodegradable and
ugly (when thrown on flower beds). However, you do not deal with
the one characteristic by throwing them onto the flower beds nor
with the other by throwing them in the trash.

The neat-freak should buy the eco-type a plastic compost box.
This will place the neat-freak on the moral high ground, from
which he may then sermonize (or declaim) on the theme that merely
throwing biodegradable wastes around the landscape hardly
constitutes responsible environmental awareness. If the eco-type
squawks, tell 'im that the Internet said so.


--
Uncle Mandrake
Victoria, BC, Canada
[change "atlantic" to "pacific" and
"invalid" to "net" to reply by email]

On Fri, 16 Apr 2004 02:45:03 GMT, "Alan Bell"
wrote:

ate an orange and
scattered nine pieces of the peel in a flower bed

The other is
concerned with rules, order and appearance.

Lots of stuff that is biodegradable is, nonetheless, garbage. Garbage
scattered in flowerbeds isn't compost. Orange peels can be put on a
compost pile or in the garbage. Imagine if the question had to do with
an unfiltered cigarette -- quite biodegradable and possibly good
compost material, but aesthetically noxious.

The question really is if one can be agreeable in avoiding things that
irritate those around one.

In article PMHfc.142120$gA5.1701704@attbi_s03, "Alan Bell"
wrote:

We see a situation differently and would like to describe it to get
feedback
from others.

We share a house with a large backyard. One corner of the backyard has a
concrete patio with two benches. One of us is concerned with plants,
gardening, conservation and recycling. That person ate an orange and
scattered nine pieces of the peel in a flower bed next to the patio. His
rationale was that the peels were biodegradable. The other of us is
concerned with rules, order and appearance. That person felt the orange
peels should have been placed in a trash can. His rationale is that the
peels are ugly.

We're cool and the best of friends. This didn't set off WWIII. But
after talking about it, we are curious as to what others think is
proper. We tried to put this into newsgroups that would tend to favor
one and the other position.

The peel-scatterer seems to have good intentions but should establish a
composting area or container for live waste materials rather than
distributing them willy nilly. The uncontained debris could attract
unwanted creatures to the area long before it degrades and becomes part
of the soil.
--
Cordially,
June

Wasn't there a thread about keeping cats out of a garden where someone
suggested using orange peels?
JAB

"June Bug" wrote in message
...
In article PMHfc.142120$gA5.1701704@attbi_s03, "Alan Bell"
wrote:

We see a situation differently and would like to describe it to get
feedback
from others.

We share a house with a large backyard. One corner of the backyard has a
concrete patio with two benches. One of us is concerned with plants,
gardening, conservation and recycling. That person ate an orange and
scattered nine pieces of the peel in a flower bed next to the patio. His
rationale was that the peels were biodegradable. The other of us is
concerned with rules, order and appearance. That person felt the orange
peels should have been placed in a trash can. His rationale is that the
peels are ugly.

We're cool and the best of friends. This didn't set off WWIII. But
after talking about it, we are curious as to what others think is
proper. We tried to put this into newsgroups that would tend to favor
one and the other position.

The peel-scatterer seems to have good intentions but should establish a
composting area or container for live waste materials rather than
distributing them willy nilly. The uncontained debris could attract
unwanted creatures to the area long before it degrades and becomes part
of the soil.
--
Cordially,
June