It sometimes seems as if the environmental problems in the world are huge, and the positive impact we can have as individuals tiny. Ozone depletion, climate change, water pollution, species extinction… The list is enough to make you want to go hide in the garden and forget about the cares of the world. Except the garden is in fact one place where you can make an immediate and positive contribution to the health of the planet.
Whether you have just a few potted plants on the balcony or acres of flowers, fruit trees, and water features in the country, the garden provides solace and is place to connect with nature and enjoy the beauty and bounty it has to offer. In many ways, the gardens are a window to the natural world around us.
Unfortunately, the view through that window is becoming increasingly clouded by global warming. Unless we take significant action to reduce this global warming pollution, we will face more frequent and severe weather extremes, including heat waves, droughts, and floods; the expansion of harmful invasive species, pests, and diseases; the disruption of ecosystems; and the extinction of thousands of species — all of which are disaster for nature.
Fortunately, solutions are readily at hand. Everyone can play an important role in combating global warming, restoring and protecting native species and habitats, and ensuring that the plants, animals, and other wonderful things our natural world provides us will endure for us and generations to come.
British Council Ukraine and TNK-BP Company initiate the new project: Eco-friendly gardening at the Age of Climate Change.
We believe that ecologically friendly gardening in both public and private spaces is a vital component of healthy sustainable communities and the creation of long-term environmental improvements.
The project is committed to interpreting gardening in a changing world, to bringing personal and social benefits of gardening in the climate change, to capturing the imagination of a diverse audience across the country, and to inspiring them to enhance, preserve, improve and regenerate their local environments.
The garden is the natural place to start doing your bit to save the planet.
Design an eco-friendly garden
and win a trip to the UK
The 'Eco-Friendly Gardening' exhibition took place in Verkhovna Rada on 15–16 April 2008.
E-mail green.gardening@britishcouncil.org.ua
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