The debate is over! We’re in the midst of a global climate crisis. Temperatures, sea levels, and carbon emissions all continue to rise at an alarming rate…Hold up, isn’t this a gardening and fountain blog. What gives? Well gardening has a greater reach than a relaxing pastime. Let’s start with some backstory.
What exactly is a “climate crisis”? According to Oxford Languages, climate crisis is “a situation characterized by the threat of highly dangerous, irreversible changes to the global climate.” The situation we are facing is carbon dioxide climbing to unprecedented levels within earth’s atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is commonly associated with the majority of greenhouse gases. Carbon is a heating element, hence the earth’s temperature rising, resulting in catastrophic changes that will soon be irreversible.
Plants are a natural aid in keeping carbon dioxide within homeostasis. During a process called photosynthesis, plants process carbon dioxide and water using light energy to covert the chemical compounds into the oxygen we breathe. That means, the more plants we have in our garden, the more we are directly aiding to our climate crisis.
As we work on cooling our planet, plants and trees will help us cool our houses. With temperatures on the rise and record breaking summer heat, everyone is reaching to turn up the AC unit. The New York Times reported that, “air-conditioning releases about 100 million tons of carbon dioxide each year.” To combat the urge to inorganically cool our homes, well placed trees or, even better, a roof top garden can drastically reduce heat within a building.
You may not have the luxury to plant a tree or have the convenience of a roof top garden, however most have room and the ability to create a food garden. Food bought at your local grocery store can travel hundreds, if not thousands, of miles before it arrives on your plate. Stated by the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture, CUESA, “it is estimated that the meals in the United States travel about 1,500 miles to get from farm to plate.” All that travel time guarantees high emission rates. Fruits and vegetables grown at home cut out the multiple middlemen that encourage these influxes of carbon dioxide.
As scary as the climate crisis is, little steps can make a huge difference in bringing down our carbon dioxide emissions. Whether it be from a few household plants to a huge home grown vegetable garden, your intentions never go unnoticed by our planet.