You finally hunkered down and started composting, you’re officially well versed on carbon-to-nitrogen ratios and you’ve even gotten your neighbors to seriously consider installing their own worm bins. But to fully become a composting master, you’ve got one final step to take: peeing outdoors.

Wait, what?

Outdoor peeing is no longer reserved for the backcountry; it might just be the next step in the composting revolution. Your compost bin might not come off as a Honey Bucket, but in England, the National Trust is actually promoting peeing outdoors in order to make the country greener.

At the National Trust’s Wimpole Hall, gardeners installed a three meter long pee bale, where male visitors are highly encouraged to relieve themselves. The action actually helps activate the composting process, producing a free supply of compost and reducing water supply. Less trips to the toilet means more water saves.

You might not be ready to add plein air peeing to your morning chore list, but for this National Trust estate, the male gardeners and workers taking part in the activity is having a positive effect.

“The pee bale is excellent matter to add to our compost heap to stimulate the composting process; and with over 400 acres of gardens and parkland to utilise compost, we need all the help we can get,” says Head Gardener Philip Whaites.

The only question is: what happens in the colder, winter months?

Image: mjmonty

The post Could Your Compost Bin Be Your Honey Bucket? appeared first on EcoSalon.

Tight schedule with no time for an outdoor dose of fresh air? Not too worry. Bottled Air brings that breath of fresh air to you, leaving you the time to get your to-do list done.

Yes, bottling fresh air is an actual thing.

In the UK, a study found that 74% of workers feel stressed on a daily basis. (Shocking, we know.) But instead of considering promoting 20 minute breaks for a set of sun salutations or a brisk walk outside, The National Trust has a better solution: offering bottled fresh air to stressed out Londonites.

“With most of us living in an urban environment and having little time to escape to the great outdoors, we thought it was about time the National Trust shared just a fraction of our copious amounts of fresh air with the nation,” says Andrew McLaughlin, Head of Communications at the National Trust.

The fresh air, which comes from three different rural and coastal locations, is bottled in recycled glass jars and is said to “relieve stress for up to ten minutes with each 454 gram jar containing 0.42 grams of fresh air.” And when you’re done enjoying your breath of fresh air, you can reuse that bottle for many things, including “capturing your own locally-sourced fresh air.”

I’m all for providing the tools to allow for a stress-free work environment, but I’m not entirely convinced that it comes bottled in a jar. Yes, fresh air in the countryside is unbeatable, but that shouldn’t stop you from getting out and exploring your urban environment.

Need help? Check out our guide to urban hiking. Or go plan an urban bike ride. Whatever you do, make sure you’re allowing yourself to spend time outside of the cubicle doing something active. That’s much better than sniffing a glass bottle.

Photo Credit: National Trust

The post Stressed? Try a Breath of Canned Air appeared first on EcoSalon.