Juliana Ciano

Juliana Ciano – I am a mother, teacher, ADHD coach, artist and environmentalist. When I was in third grade, an impassioned public school teacher, Mrs. Marlene Rickheim, taught me about the danger our planet is in. My project idea for the science fair was this: create a tremendous vacuum that could be pointed at the sky and had a special filter to only suck in noxious pollutants. In the belly of the vacuum, using a simple formula, transform these pollutants into fertilizer. Next, flip the toggle switch and put the hose into the ground, pouring the air-pollution-become-fertilizer into the earth! The practicalities of designing this were a little bit beyond my ability at age 8, but since then, the notion of turning our trash into treasure has fascinated me. When my now-husband and I began dating, and he told me about his love of biodiesel and commitment to food and fuel security, I knew something good was to come. I love working with my family and community on sustainable living practices.

Reunity Resources is a Santa Fe based non-profit organization with a zero waste mission. It is our goal to reunite our waste streams with value for our community. Our first program was the BioFuel Collective, recycling used cooking oil from sixty local restaurants into biodiesel—an alternative fuel than can be run in diesel engines with no conversion required. We then distribute this fuel to Collective members in northern New Mexico.

After nearly a year of working with City government, Reunity Resources has just been approved by the City of Santa Fe to begin food scraps collection for compost from local restaurants, hotels and institutions. Our program is designed to divert 2,000,000 pounds of food scraps from the landfill in its inaugural year of operation. If municipal-scale change interests you, please enjoy our brief video at www.indiegogo.com/reunity-resources and consider contributing seed funds for Reunity to begin making this tremendous impact!

We are delighted to participate in the Solutions Laboratory and help change community dialogue around climate change: the way we each live our lives makes a difference.