The Disaster: In April 2010, the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. Unlike the Exxon Valdez, which was a single, finite surface spill from a ship, this was a continuous, high-pressure blowout erupting from the seafloor, 5,000 feet underwater. Over 87 days, an estimated 210 million gallons of crude oil gushed into the Gulf.

The Disaster: In March 1989, the Exxon Valdez supertanker struck a reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska. It spilled an estimated 11 million gallons of heavy crude oil into one of the most pristine and rugged marine environments on Earth, coating roughly 1,300 miles of coastline.

The Mission: Your kitchen produces a constant stream of high-value organic waste—coffee grounds, apple cores, and vegetable peels. Throwing them in the trash creates methane in a landfill. Trekking out to a frozen compost pile in the middle of a Montana winter isn't always appealing. Your mission is to process this waste directly inside your home, odor-free, to create the most microbially dense fertilizer on the planet.