Climate Change: What can I do 4

Hello Everyone,

I hope you’ve all been having a super day.

Day 4 is here and with it comes more ways to fight climate change and to help your local wildlife!

4. Plants

Today’s theme is plants. At current rates our climate is set to increase to an average temperature of 4.8^oC in the next 80 years. We need to get this down to a much cooler 1.5^oC otherwise we are going to be facing some huge consequences. Trees and plants can help us to reach these goals but at their current rate they can only help us with 30% of the work load with the rest up to us. That being said climate change is causing our plants to face negative consequences which could cause their 30% work load to fall making it even harder for us to fight. Here are a few ways to help plants and to help our planet!

     a)       Gardening. When we garden we quite often choose big extravagant plants from climates very different to our native environments, with most coming from more tropical places. To keep these plants alive, we must give them extra care and we must give them plenty of water to keep them alive. So, when gardening try not to choose the tropical plants but instead choose some of our more native species which require less attention and have the added benefit of feeding your local insects such as the bees and butterflies.

   

     b)      More Gardening. Choosing tropical plants means using more water which as we saw in the last post increases the rate of climate change. So, if you are going to plant more tropical species that need lots of water then I recommend doing it responsibly by getting a water butt. A water Butt only costs around £25 and collects rain water which can be used to water your plants instead of having to turn on the tap.

     c)       Even more gardening. The last gardening idea I recommend is to plant a native tree. Trees are fantastic, they live for years and they are brilliant when it comes to absorbing CO₂. Imagine if every person in the world planted a tree tomorrow, we would have an extra 7 billion trees growing across the planet! Along with their absorption capabilities they are also great for wildlife providing food and shelter for many birds, mammals and invertebrates; and as a bonus they also provide a shady retreat from the sun which is a great place for a picnic on a hot summers day!

     d)      Volunteering. Plants across the world are struggling with many problems, most of which come from us, that are being combated against by many organisations such as The Wildlife Trusts, WWF, RSPB, Woodland Trusts and National Trust. All the organisations rely on voluntary work from people just like you and I so why not consider lending a hand once a month (or more if you have the time) and helping our green friends on their way to help us.

I hope this gives you some good ideas and maybe helps you find some plants that you’ve never thought of planting

More to come each day so keep checking in ;) Be a force for change!

Thanks for reading,

Heyze