Who is this? Belle
EcoPower intern with Brooklyn Level Up · and this is the project that grew into a reason.
Why I call it
Sweet Rot
Candy and compost are the same trick: nothing is wasted, it just changes form.
I kept reaching for the next thing
For a while I felt numb, always reaching for whatever came next and forgetting that my life is happening right now. Sweet Rot started as something I was building because the program asked for it.
Somewhere along the way it turned into a hub where I found my reason.
The environment is real, and it's tired
The world around us is under distress every single day. Finding joy in something small and helpful · like composting · can nourish you while giving back to everything around you.
We're privileged to live in a time of convenience. That privilege shouldn't make us careless; it should make us care more.
Nobody could explain composting to me
In a fast-paced city it's easy to skip past things that don't hit your day directly. Composting is one of them · not hard, just niche enough that people never run into it.
Most people around me couldn't explain it, when the whole idea can be as simple as putting food scraps in the right place.
So I made it a game
Sweet Rot is a digital trivia deck · a little Jeopardy-shaped · where the level of the question decides how much candy you win. You can customize the treats for you and your friends and play it at a picnic, a stoop, or a kitchen table.
Why I call it Sweet Rot
Candy and compost are the same trick. Sugar cane gets boiled down into a tamarind ball. A mango skin gets broken down into black soil that grows the next mango. Nothing is wasted · it just changes form, and the ending is sweeter than the start.
That's why every right answer pays you in a treat and every scrap pays the block in dirt. Composting is a sweet way for things to rot, and I want that in our daily living.
Made here, meant to travel
Sweet Rot is designed with the people of Flatbush, East Flatbush and Flatlands in mind: the blocks I know, the treats from the corner bakery, the questions people actually ask. That will always be home base.
But composting doesn't stop at the neighborhood line, and neither should the game. Send it to your friends. It plays the same anywhere there's a table and a phone.
Keep it sweet
You don't have to force yourself to be eco-friendly. Have fun with your people and stay aware at the same time.
It's a small space to stay present · and doing something good for the block is one of the easiest ways I know to get there.
Say hi, or bring the deck to your block
Questions, ideas, or a spot in the Flats that could use a round of Sweet Rot? I'd genuinely love to hear from you.
belle@bklvlup.orgNext up: getting the deck onto more tables · schools, gardens, block associations, farmers markets. Help with that →