Below the Surface: Know Your Desert Composter - Susan St. Louis
The Kinetic Power of Inspiration
Every once in a great while a person crosses your path and it seems that if their life force could be channeled into green energy, a full and rapid transition away from fossil fuels might actually be possible. Anyone who has shared a community composting task with Susan St. Louis knows how aptly this description fits her. Susan became a committed volunteer at Desert Compost’s first site on the grounds of St. Margaret’s Church, now called the Good Earth Project, through the Neighbors 4 Neighbors group in 2021. Since then, that site has diverted into compost over 30,000 lbs of organic material destined for the landfill, and Susan’s pitchfork was in a significant amount of it. When she’s engaging in site work Susan is easy to identify, even while wearing a hat, sunglasses and a mask. Her petite and athletic frame is almost perpetually in motion, and seems to be gearing up for the next step even when she stops to take a sip from her water bottle.
Susan readily admits that the workout aspect of composting encouraged her dedicated volunteer status at Desert Compost’s projects over the past 2 years. While community composting offers participation opportunities for people at every level of physical ability, options abound for folks interested in “getting their sweat on.” Susan grew up with 6 brothers, and competitive sports were an integral part of their family life, with Susan playing on 3 teams during her college years. She may not wear a numbered jersey any longer, but claims that ending a day at the compost site “covered in dust, with tired muscles” as a major contribution to her satisfaction with a job well done.
The vitality and vigor she brings to turning over material isn’t limited to the job site. Our founder Haley refers to Susan’s work on our two major grants in 2022 and 2023 as “activism with a smile” and credits her clear-eyed critical thinking and writing skills with key aspects in the descriptions of DC’s purpose and programming in those successful applications. Susan herself marvels at how working with Desert Compost created a full circle narrative arc in her life; from her early desire to study agronomy as an undergrad, to today, connecting the dots between climate change mitigation, social justice and concrete actions accessible to all, particularly young adults. She’s fueled by the desire to educate her community about the vast network required for food production, and make it clear that our daily choices impact its availability or scarcity in the future.
Susan is well aware of the steep environmental challenges that face the generation emerging into independence right now, her own 3 daughters among them. However, she believes that everyone can contribute to the necessary changes in some way, and she’s determined to provide an example in as many arenas as possible - whether she’s pushing a wheelbarrow, typing at her keyboard or offering commentary at a City Council meeting. From our perspective at Desert Compost, observing Susan in action makes us believe in the kinetic power of inspiration.