Landscaping to help global warming
One of the major contributors to global warming has been found to be water vapor. As the greenhouse gases and pollutants filter into the atmosphere, they are absorbed by clouds. These clouds are actually moisture caused by evaporation of surface water and trap the earth’s radiant heat, reflecting it down to the surface. This is a major cause of the global warming we are noticing today.
It stands to reason that the less water there is evaporating, the less cloud cover there will be to ensnare the heat rising off the earth. It can escape into the upper reaches of our atmosphere and be discharged into space as it was meant to be if heavy cloud cover doesn’t impede its natural path. There are many ways the people can help bring the natural evaporation cycle back to normal and eventually cool the earth’s temperature to where it should be.
One of the easiest ways to help reverse global warming is to rethink the way you landscape your yard. Most people love to look at grassy, well-kept lawns and they truly are beautiful. Those same people, however, rarely look forward to the weekly maintenance. They can escape those chores and help reverse our climate changes by switching to xeriscape plants and ground cover.
Xeriscape is the conservation of water through creative use of drought-resistant plants native to your area and reducing the areas of turf. In most of North America, fifty percent of residential water goes toward maintaining landscape. The use of Xeriscaping reduces this amount to half or more. The less water on the ground to evaporate, the more chances our natural water cycle has to recover. Using native plants cuts down drastically on lawn chores, too. Occasional weeding and pruning is all that’s needed in most cases and if you keep your turf areas small, you can manage it with a reel mower. This not only saves water, it cuts your usage of gas or electricity to maintain a grass lawn. By limiting your use of grass, you’ll be using it to accentuate the beauty of your garden, not the other way around. A water-saving variety of grass will be even more manageable.
There are other advantages to Xeriscaping, too. By using native plants, you’ll be providing natural habitat to animals in your area and attract the insects and butterflies that all plants need to flourish and propagate. There will be little or no need for fertilizer or pesticides and the native plants will allow the soil to drain quickly while storing only the water it needs to stay vital.
Drought resistant plants usually have leaves that are thick, glossy or fuzzy. Mulch around the beds with leaves, pine needles, compost, bark or wood chips to save even more water.
By Xeriscaping, you will have a yard that you can enjoy with very little work while helping to heal the damage we’ve done to our planet. You’ll be doing your part to stop global warming while creating a beautiful, hassle-free yard.
