Monday 13 September 2021

Digging For Victory Over Climate Change?

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) have been advising gardeners for a number of years on coping with climate change (https://www.rhs.org.uk/science/gardening-in-a-changing-world/climate-change). The RHS have advocated people planting more trees, using climate-resistant species, planting a diversity of species to attract different pollinators, using rainwater rather than a hose-pipe, removing pathing slabs and artificial turf etc. All of these things can be environmentally beneficial. The RHS are now suggesting that gardeners can do their bit by 'digging for victory' against climate change. 'Digging for victory' was a UK Second World War campaign (we always seem to go back to that for inspiration). People were then encouraged to supplement their food, by growing fruit and vegetables in their gardens. This can still be done and might marginally cut down the emissions involved with transporting asparagus from Peru etc. One should note, however, that not all people have gardens, especially poorer folk in some inner city areas. The RHS also has some urgent environmental issues of its own to address. For example, an enormous amount of waste was reportedly generated by its recent Chelsea Flower Show. It is also self-evident that you can't eat most flowers or any water feature. The RHS also encourages people to make paying visits (generally by car) to its various gardens. It encourages folk to use exotic plants, imported from overseas. Gardens can certainly be used better but 'digging for victory' seems to be pushing the potential environmental benefits too far. Will the owners of re-modelled gardens change their house heating, replace their gas-guzzling cars, cut down on flights, reduce their meat consumption, buy fewer items with large carbon footprints etc. These would all have much bigger effects on climate change. There is a danger that some people would think that minor changes to their gardening habits solved the problem.

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What's In a Critter's Name? 11. Comma butterfly

The Comma butterfly ( Polygonia c-album) gets its name from the punctuation-like mark, on the underside of its wings.