How many of these things can you do? Make a plan and make a difference!
1) Plant a tree to draw carbon out of the air: Grown to maturity, a small tree stores up to 376kg of carbon; a medium tree 511kg; and a large tree 3,350kg. Also shade trees can cool your house in the summer and reduce the need for AC (which has a carbon cost).
- If you haven’t got a tree in front of your house, ask the the city to plant one (it’s free)
- If you’ve got space in your back yard you can get subsidized trees for your backyard through the LEAF programme <https://www.yourleaf.org/homeowners>.
2) Become a tree guardian and protect the trees we’ve already got: Our urban trees are very stressed, if we want them to live we need to protect them.
- Pick a tree and make sure it gets enough water, especially in times of drought. If you can redirect your downspouts to guide rainwater to its route zone, do!
- Plan your garden to respect the root zones of existing trees. Avoid digging into them.
- Speak out for the trees. Construction is hard on trees, but the damage can be mitigated by properly installed protection zones. Unfortunately there are many unscrupulous contractors who avoid installing them or do not respect them. If you see construction near a tree without a tree protection zone, or one that is being abused, phone 311 and report it.
3) Go peat free: Protecting precious peatland habitats which are the largest land carbon store and havens for biodiversity will also help reduce flood risks.
4) Make your own compost: Every 1kg of home-made compost saves 0.1kg fossil carbon. It also reduces the amount of gas that the garbage trucks must expend picking up compostable materials.
5) Pull up a paving slab (1m²) and grow perennial plants to maturity: Herbaceous perennials (lawn grasses and non-woody plants) draw 3.21kg carbon/m² out of the air; shrubs 19.54kg and trees 40.38kg.
6) Plants for pollinators: Help slow and reverse declines in bees, butterflies, moths, hoverflies and other pollinators by growing a wide variety of plants including a mixture of native, near-native and exotic plants to support pollinator biodiversity.
Adapted from the Royal Horticultural Society’s guidelines: https://www.rhs.org.uk/press/releases/YOUR-Climate-needs-YOU!%E2%80%9D