Posted at 5:34 PM, Apr 22, 2021

and last updated 5:34 PM, Apr 22, 2021

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Just like the Earth's complex ecosystem depends on many forces working together, so does the fight to build a cleaner, more sustainable future for our planet.

A Kansas City nonprofit is working to combine those forces to address the many layers of climate change.

The mission of KC Can Compost is two-fold: redirecting organic waste from landfills to composting sites, and helping those most impacted by climate change by giving them the tools to build a cleaner future.

According to KC Can board member Lydia Gibson, more than a million pounds of food is thrown out each year in the Kansas City area.

"Food waste presents a huge challenge for us in our fight against climate change," she said.

Here's why: when you throw food away, it gets taken to a landfill, where it decomposes in a large pile with very little oxygen. That creates methane, a type of greenhouse gas that rises into the atmosphere, contributing to the rising temperature of the planet.

If you compost that food instead — a process that introduces oxygen to the organic material as it decomposes — it's transformed into a nutrient-rich soil that can then be used to grow more food, creating a healthy, natural food cycle.

KC Can offers composting services to both businesses and residents.

But the mission doesn't stop there.

The nonprofit also runs a training program to teach people with barriers to employment, such as homelessness, about green industry jobs.

The Green Core Training program covers 125 different environmental jobs and connects students with companies looking to hire people in those fields.

The director of the program, Adison Banks, said the goal is to give people who are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change the tools and knowledge they need to change it.

"This program is designed to give them that knowledge, give them leadership skills, give them community organizing skills, give them just the confidence to to to be assertive, and advocate for change," he said.

Everett Smith is a current student in the program. He has worked as a mechanic in the past but is hoping to break into the solar panel industry after he finishes the training.

"This brought up my awareness on just how much destruction we're doing to the Earth," he said.

Whether you're working in a green job or just learning about composting, Banks said every little bit counts toward saving the planet.

"All these little things that we do add up to something big," he said. "Particularly when you talk to other people about what you're doing, and tell them and then they do it too. And it grows from there. So on the aggregate, little things that we do can make a big difference."

If you would like to sign up for KC Can's composting services, click here.

If you would like to learn more about KC Can's Green Core Training program, click here.