The RHS has launched its Planet-Friendly Gardening Campaign in Parliament as part of the organisation's brand-new Sustainability Strategy. Recognising the need to act now to respond to the climate and biodiversity crisis, the campaign aims to enlist as many as 30 million UK gardeners in a civil mobilisation campaign of a size not see since the WWII-era Dig for Britain.
From teaching people how to create an eco-friendly garden to changing consumer habits, the ambitious campaign has sweeping goals.
RHS scientific research shows that individual gardeners' actions can have far-reaching consequences. If every one of the UK’s 30 million gardeners planted a medium-sized tree and nurtured it to maturity, they would store the carbon equivalent of driving 11 million times around the planet. And if each person made an average of 190kg of compost a year, this would save the carbon equivalent to heating 506,000 average sized houses for a year.
Humble tasks like learning composting and garden water saving can make a significant contribution to the UK's climate goals.
Sue Biggs, RHS Director General, commented: 'The RHS is committed to using its own community outreach work to help Britain’s 30 million gardeners make a positive contribution towards the climate and biodiversity crisis. But we can’t harness this potential alone. If we are to mobilise the biggest gardening army across the nation since Dig for Victory we need government support for Planet-Friendly Gardens. This includes funding for research and development in horticultural science as well as financially supporting community gardens in schools, NHS Trusts and public spaces.'
The RHS also recognises that it's important to empower individuals to make better gardening choices to create more sustainable gardens. A Planet-Friendly sustainability calculator will be launched as part of the campaign in order to help gardeners make decisions that impact their carbon footprint. The online tool is the result of five years of research into the carbon and water dynamics of the domestic garden.
RHS Director of Science and Collections, Professor Alistair Griffiths, added: 'Collectively, the actions of each and every one of our nation’s 30 million gardeners can create positive change and help us adapt to and mitigate against the climate crisis and help to reverse the biodiversity crisis.'
