how your ‘green spaces’ can help tackle climate change green is your garden… · filters,...
TRANSCRIPT
For many of us, our gardens are a place of retreat - somewhere we use to escape the hassles of everyday life. Trees, shrubs,
flowers and grasses provide us with more than just a pretty landscape, they offer habitat for a biodiversity of wildlife, act as air
filters, combing pollutants from the air we breath, and muffle urban noise pollution.
How your ‘green spaces’ can help tackle climate change
HOW GREEN IS YOUR GARDEN?
‘Science for Sustainability’ project contact details
Dr Zoe Robinson [email protected] (01782) 734303
Prof. Mark Ormerod [email protected] (01782) 733475
Nicola Ruston [email protected] (01782) 733161
But even our green spaces can be more climate-friendly… Follow these simple tips for a
‘green space’ that’s really green!
Eating and drinking outside is hugely popular in the UK.
Outdoor heaters, which are powered by gas or electricity, are very energy-
hungry, producing high levels of carbon emissions which contribute to
climate change.
In 4 hours the average patio
heater emits the same amount
of carbon dioxide as the
average car emits in a day!
Pull on an extra layer when it gets cold outside rather than
using an outdoor heater!
Patio heaters
10 kg CO2
Saving water in the garden
A garden hose sprinkler can use as much water in 1 hour
as an average family of four uses in 1 day!
Use a watering can to water your garden; hosepipes and sprinklers waste tremendous
amounts of water!
With summers predicted to get drier and drier in the
UK, our gardens will need more and more watering.
You may not think about energy when you turn on the tap, but all the
water we get out of our taps has used up energy through being purified.
Keep your lawn healthy !!!
Let the grass grow longer in dry spells to help keep moisture in the soil
Lawns are usually the thirstiest part of a garden!
Soils and fertilisers
Skip the chemicals - make your own compost
Nitrogen-based fertilizers produce nitrous oxide. Nitrous oxide is over
300 times more effective than CO2 in trapping heat reflected from the
Earth.
Having a compost bin or starting a compost heap means you can
use your kitchen and garden waste to improve your soil and reduce
your household waste at the same time!
Instead of throwing away all your garden waste, vegetable peelings, paper and cardboard, compost them!
Using compost and manure will build up the
organic content of your soil – this will
increase it’s ability to retain moisture!.
Minimize turf areas…
Do you really need a lawn the size of a football field?
Just think…more grass = more mowing!
Try attractive, no-mow groundcovers and other creative landscaping alternatives to cut down on
your grass-cutting emissions.
…but maximise GREENERY!
Using an electric lawn mower for one hour releases the pollution
equivalent of driving 563 km in a car!
Lawn is preferable to concrete, brick, paving stones or asphalt.
These reflect heat and contribute to the urban heat island effect..
Every bit of greenery helps clean the air, sequesters carbon
dioxide, and prevents soil erosion!
Grow your own food and you’ll know exactly how far it’s travelled!.
Install water butts to collect the rainwater from your roof and make use of grey water (old bath and
shower water) for watering your garden!
The average household throws away 14 kilograms of food packaging
per week. The food you grow yourself won’t have any packaging!
Growing just a little bit of your own produce can help reduce the
environmental costs of packaging and transporting food. Even locally
sourced food can travel hundreds of miles between supplier,
distribution warehouse and store.
Grow your own food – Reduce food miles
Fertilisers are very energy intensive! The equivalent of 9 million tonnes
of CO2 is produced every year through fertiliser manufacture and
transport!
Visit our website: www.esci.keele.ac.uk/sfs