Climate-friendly gardening

Climate-friendly gardening is gardening in ways which reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from gardens and encourage the absorption of carbon dioxide by soils and plants in order to aid the reduction of global warming. To be a climate-friendly gardener means considering both what happens in a garden and the materials brought into it and the impact they have on land use and climate. It can also include garden features or activities in the garden that help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions elsewhere.

Most of the excess greenhouse gases causing climate change have come from burning fossil fuel. But a special report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimated that in the last 150 years fossil fuels and cement production were responsible for only about two-thirds of climate change: the other third has been caused by human land use.

The three main greenhouse gases produced by unsustainable land use are carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.Black carbon or soot can also be caused by unsustainable land use, and, although not a gas, can behave like greenhouse gases and contribute to climate change.

Carbon dioxide, CO₂, is a natural part of the carbon cycle, but human land uses often add more, especially from habitat destruction and the cultivation of soil. When woodlands, wetlands, and other natural habitats are turned into pasture, arable fields, buildings and roads, the carbon held in the soil and vegetation becomes extra carbon dioxide and methane to trap more heat in the atmosphere.

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