Webinar: Healthy Soils and Compost in Policy: Synergies and Opportunities

With a growing number of States considering and adopting healthy soils policies, there is an unprecedented opportunity to strengthen the connection to compost as a proven soil health builder, and to encourage and invest in the production and use of high-quality compost.

On World Soil Day, December 5th, 2023, we explored how policy can be leveraged to advance soil health practices, high-quality compost production, and compost use throughout the country, as featured in our Healthy Soils and Compost Policy Guide and beyond. This webinar featured presentations from Ayesha Ali (Kiss The Ground), Steven Keleti (Healthy Soils Advocate), and Sophia Jones (ILSR) and provided an overview of the current overlap between healthy soils and compost in policy at the state, local, and federal levels, as well as opportunities for coming legislative sessions.

The webinar took place on December 5th, 2023

Watch the Recording

Speakers:

Ayesha Ali

Advocacy Manager, Kiss The Ground

Ayesha Ali is the Advocacy Manager at Kiss the Ground, and co-coordinator of the Regenerate America™ coalition. She has a background in research, political ecology, and communications, having previously worked in the environmental comms shop at Prime Weber Shandwick. She holds an M.A. in Global Environmental History with a focus on agricultural production and global food supply chain policies; she specialized in California’s 20th-century water policy and the contemporary groundwater crisis.

Steven Keleti

Healthy Soils Advocate

Steven Keleti has been a persistent advocate for state Healthy Soils legislation across the country, writing initial draft legislation, helping bring together groups, and working with groups to draft and move legislation forward in numerous states over the past seven years. He has been providing state healthy soils status updates to [email protected], which led to a collaboration to create and support https://healthysoilspolicy.org/. He helps state groups with strategy and coordination, and with pursuing funding for the creation of healthy soils action plans and healthy soils programs that include gathering cost-benefit data to support increased funding for soil health. He has been doing this as a volunteer with occasional support, and does not work for or represent any organization or coalition. Born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, he has a Ph.D. In Chemical Engineering from the University of Missouri — Rolla, spending most of his professional career in imaging and remote sensing, while engaging in land conservation projects. He lives in Malden, Massachusetts.

Sophia Jones

Policy Lead, Composting for Community, Institute for Local Self Reliance (ILSR)

Sophia Jones is the Policy Lead with ILSR’s Composting for Community initiative, where she researches, analyzes and supports the building of US policy that advances local composting. She also works on the Development team, coordinating fundraising and outreach for ILSR. She received her B.A. in Environment and Development Studies from McGill University.

Moderator:

Linda Bilsens Brolis

Associate Director for Education and Advocacy, Composting for Community, Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR)

Linda Bilsens Brolis is the Associate Director for Education & Advocacy for the Composting for Community Initiative. Her work focuses on promoting composting as a tool for reducing waste, regenerating soils, supporting local food systems, and fighting climate chaos. She manages ILSR’s Neighborhood Soil Rebuilders Composter Training Program and leads ILSR’s work advancing on-farm composting.