What are you doing to celebrate Earth Day 2015?
By being part of a Georgia community garden you are already doing quite a bit. Community gardens help the environment in several ways.
Pollinator Conservation
As a vegetable gardener you know how important those pollinators are to your food production. You may have a special pollinator garden area and you are very careful about the use of pesticides. This example teaches new gardeners and garden visitors to also protect pollinators. The result is not only a healthy pollinator population in your garden, but in the surrounding community as well.
Locally Grown Food
Growing food locally in your garden means that a bit less food is shipped across country saving gas, limiting air pollution, and lowering refrigeration energy.
Soil Health
Hopefully you have had a soil test. You know what nutrients to add to your soil so that you are not over-fertilizing. Overuse of fertilizers is a big pollution concern. Unused fertilizer can end up in streams and rivers. By meeting just your soil needs you are cutting down on pollution. Maybe you all have a compost system where you change garden waste into soil compost. Talk about recycling!
Environmental Awareness
Just by having a garden in your community you have raised environmental awareness. No doubt you have had people stopping by as you all are working to ask questions about the garden. And no doubt you told those people, with pride, about your sustainable growing practices. You probably gave them a tour telling them about the food crops you are growing. Those people may not become gardeners but they are now more aware of where food comes from and what it takes to grow it!
However you decide to celebrate Earth Day today take a moment and reflect on what you are already doing for our earth on a daily basis.
Happy Earth Day!
Becky is a Georgia Certified Beekeeper and works with community and school gardeners to increase beneficial insect habitat.She is the coordinator of the Great Georgia Pollinator Census, happening this year on August 19th and 20th, 2022.She is also part of UGA's Native Plants and Beneficial Insect Working Group.
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My lovely wife, a proud gardener, spent Earth Day engaging people, young and old, in a discourse about gardening and its impact on society! Oh, and eating tasty food!