Sustainable Community Development, LLC. (SCD), started as a local grassroots organization in 1998 in Columbia, Missouri to educate about and promote the use of EM (Effective Microorganisms) as a vital part of enhancing quality of life through environmental protection and beautification.
SCD consultants and volunteers are currently involved in research studies, publications, and model farm projects in the agriculture, composting, livestock management, and waste water treatment fields, as well as community recycling, gardening, and landscaping projects as an expansion of the EM Bokashi Network U.S.A. in cooperation with EM Technologies, Inc. of Tucson, Arizona.
The EM Bokashi Network is a worldwide movement promoting community recycling and gardening through the use of Effective Microorganisms Bokashi Kitchen Compost, a fermented compost starter made of wheat bran and the mixed culture of naturally occurring, beneficial microorganisms known as EM. With EM BOKASHI, food waste can be EFFICIENTLY composted into a nutrient rich garden soil, and WITHOUT unpleasant odors. EM contains food grade, non-pathogenic microbials such as those used in making cheese, bread, yogurt, miso, and other familiar foods.
Inspired by Dr. Teruo Higa, Professor of Agriculture at the University of Ryukus in Okinawa, Japan (and discoverer of the technology behind EM), the network has its roots in Japan where over a million people are involved in community efforts to divert waste from landfills and to beautify their communities, while the number of people involved in the U.S. continues to climb toward the one million mark. Work continues to transfer the cost-effective EM technology to communities throughout the USA and Latin America.
The EM Bokashi Network U.S.A. was established by EM Technologies, Inc. in 1996 in Tucson, Arizona as a model project dedicated to
- achieving significant reduction in organic wastes going to landfills,
- faciliate school and community cooperation in closing the recycling loop by using the finished compost in school garden and landscape projects, and
- help set up student enterprises to sell the finished compost and compost/soil mixes to the surrounding community.
To date, twelve schools in Arizona, a number of schools in California, and the Columbia (Missouri) Montessori School are all involved in successful pilot projects.
The EM Bokashi Network and its local affiliate, Sustainable Community Development, offer varied opportunities to make a difference in our community and ultimately on our planet. In addition to teaching skills of organic gardening and green landscaping, the network fosters appreciation for nature and community beautification. What makes this program unique among others is its ability to provide all individuals, regardless of their age, ability, or disability, a chance to contribute to their community by creating a productive outlet for their talents and desire to serve and to create aware and active environmental advocates.
To bring the concept of sustainability into the classroom, providing children an opportunity to establish a connection between the soil, the food we eat, the ecosystem, and their role in improving the quality of our environment, SCD seeks not only to provide encouragement and technology to develop sustainable community, but to support the educational process of introducing it through schools to make a lasting reality.
Schools with outdoor classrooms can teach not only organic gardening and green landscaping – but patience, critical thinking, and responsibility. Vocational programs teaching the production of EM Bokashi and the application of EM technology to composting and gardening would result in community service, beautification, and nature appreciation.
Two schools, Miles Exploratory Learning Center and the Arizona School for the Deaf, have become national models for innovation in school-based environmental education with the assistance of the EM Bokashi Network.
Miles Elementary School rec
