Reversing climate change seems to be becoming an impossible dream, with the state of world peace between the nations. In Africa they have a saying eat a buffalo one bite at a time. Whereas in the West an old adage confirms many hands make light work. BBC Future recently asked should our gardens become carbon sinks?
Could Gardens Become Carbon Sinks For Victory?
During World War II the British government encouraged citizens to plant vegetables to feed the nation. But now their Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) wants to harness home gardens to fight climate change. And the three weapons in their green arsenal are planting trees, making compost, and relying on rainwater.
However, turning UK gardens into carbon sinks is not as daft as it sounds. That’s because the RHS formula says:
1… If every one of the 30 million UK home gardeners planted a medium-size tree, and allowed it to grow to maturity …
2… Then they would capture the amount of carbon a car would produce while driving 11 million times around planet earth.
3… If gardeners produced 198 pounds of compost each, this would also offset the carbon cost of heating half a million homes.
Should Home Gardens Become Environment Shop Windows
UK gardens are already showing signs of drier, hotter summers, and greater infestations of pests. Moreover, UK winter rainfall is increasing. The means the traditional English garden is becoming a thing of the past.
Future gardens will therefore have to become minor wildernesses, packed with plants and teeming with life. The new generation of greener gardeners will also avoid chemicals, and recycle every grass clipping, fallen leaf and broken twig.
Pristine, short-clipped lawns will become scruffier ones to avoid their moisture evaporating. Come to think of it this was the way many baby boomers lived, until the advent of electric garden tools. Dare we dream the impossible dream that wild life could return to the garden?
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