Gardens with a 12,000-person waiting list
I used to think of gardening and allotments as a rather innocuous activity, something rather green that was good for all involved.  But in the last year I&#x27;ve come to realize that it isn&#x27;t environmentally sound.<p>(1) Plastics and pesticides.  They are over-used by gardeners as opposed to commercial farmers. Even without chemicals, the plastics pots, bags and other devices all end up in landfills.  Those innocuous black pots cannot be properly recycled due to their colour and gardeners seem unwilling to shift to more sustainable options, even more sustainable <i>colours</i> of pots that could be more easily recycled.<p>(2) Peat.  Until yesterday I was unaware of the carnage being done to peat bogs.  The BBC&#x27;s Tonight program just showed me footage of the open-pit peat mines that are literally strip-mining peat bogs to feed Britain&#x27;s gardening hobby.  The environmental and climate damage done by destroying peat bogs, giant CO2 sinks, is immense.<p>Footage of an Estonian peat mine:
<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=TXr0z3h1Cig" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=TXr0z3h1Cig</a><p>(3) Water.  Home gardens and allotments get their water from municipal sources.  Municipal water is far more expensive than the water used on farms, and municipal sources lack the capacity to provide the acer-feet necessary to grow substantial amounts of food.  That means allotments, urban farming, is an unsustainable food source.  The carrot bought at costco was grown using river&#x2F;lake water.  The carrot grown behind someone&#x27;s house used municipal water, and probably far more of it.  The costco carrot is the more sustainable option.<p>So I&#x27;ve changed my mind about gardening.  It is not an environmental net positive.  It might be great for the health of the people doing it, but it isn&#x27;t helping the climate.  It isn&#x27;t as bad as drag racing but is far worse than hiking.  It is an environmentally costly hobby that should be approached with caution.