Rethink your Landscaping to Reverse Climate Change

It’s impossible not to pay attention to the weather when it has been completely unpredictable. How is it possible that a couple of weeks ago it was below 6F and today is hitting 50F mid January? When we see things like that happening it is important to reflect on the climate and how inconsistent our seasons are now, and what will come from it.

In Nature changes occur constantly, either in cycles or permanently. However, such changes are usually gradual, because it takes millions of years for animals and plants to adapt and survive to the new conditions. Like everything else our presence on this planet has consequences and we’ve chosen to come up to this point in Earth’s timeline without thinking on how these consequences would affect us, which is selfish in and out of itself. Our way of life struggling to make ends meet made us this way; we forgot that whatever we add to the soil and the water, will feed the tree, that makes the flower, that feeds the bees, that makes our apple. We forgot we are all connected to this beautiful chain. The impact of our walking on this earth can be positive or negative, it’s up to us to choose which one it will be. Each decision counts and each dollar is a choice.

The good thing is there is hope! We are bright; we have know-how and the technology to do better and save ourselves from extinction. The necessity of an urgent change is what’s been propelling companies like More Than Gardens to rise and reverse the scary picture we’ve been looking at for the past decade. It’s possible with green infrastructures , with environment restoration, with carbon sinking strategies and other initiatives that companies like ours have been preaching for years.

We are excited to share the new projects we’ve been working on and hopefully inspire you to change your landscaping habits and make a big difference in your local environment.

For example, there are several ways that you can use your landscape to capture carbon and lower the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. We know that planting trees and shrubs is the most straightforward way, but the most permanent and efficient way to lower your carbon emissions is planning your landscape for energy efficiency.

Energy efficient landscapes use trees, shrubs, ground covers and vines to provide cooling shade in the summer as well as wind protection during the winter. It can also slash your energy bills; according to the EPA an energy-conserving landscape can reduce your energy bills in 40%. That’s huge!

There are several strategies that can be used to achieve that, strategic placing of trees; strategic placing of windbreaks; green roofs; use of biochar and proper rainwater management are a few examples.

These are simple immediate actions that property owners can take today to help reverse climate change. It’s empowering to know that we are not as hopeless as we thought we were. It’s true that private corporations should be held responsible for their emissions, 1000%; but we all contribute to the problem to some degree, according to the EPA, households are responsible for 16% of CO2 emissions and if we can do our part to mitigate that, I believe that we should.

More Than That, the change in climate will affect all of us, and yes there are a lot of things that we have to deal with that seem more immediate, more important; but if you take a deep breath and look around you will remember that you can’t be disconnected for long. We all need clean air, clean water and clean food and if we all work together to clean the mess that was left to us, if we all fix this for the future generations, we might have a chance. Humans are beautiful when we want to be. We can do better and I believe we will. We are here, and we’ve found you!

Agatha Martello & The More Than Gardens Team