Sustainable Living Talk with David Maher, This coming Sunday at Solas
Come along to our garden centre this Sunday, 24th April and see what Changes You can make to a Greener Life
To quote Mark Twain “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it”. Well, when it comes to our climate the unfortunate truth is that as a species, humans are very much changing what is normal in terms of weather pattern – but unfortunately not is a planned or positive way.
The talk will cover 5 practical ways the next generation can be encouraged to live a more sustainable life
#1 Compost Your Food Waste and green Garden waste
Food waste accounts for 8% of global carbon emissions, compared to only a little over 2% by the airline industry. So, reduce food waste by shopping regularly and buying only what you need. Apart from minimising waste, ensure you divert food and garden waste from landfill to compost. Composting is easy, effective and turns a waste product into something useful which can be used to enrich soil or grown organic vegetables
#2 Chickens – Convert Food Waste into Eggs
This is most likely the most fun and rewarding thing you can do your back garden. Chickens are inexpensive to buy, a 6 month ago ready to lay hen costs just €15 and a chicken coop large enough for 4 hens is available for only €100. Although the chicken you see in the supermarket is only about 7 weeks ago, hens have a life expectancy of 7-10 years and will happily give you an egg a day for the first 5-7 years.
#3 Grow Your Own Vegetables
Growing and eating seasonable herbs, salads and vegetables is a great way to pass a skill onto your kids, save money and learn to live in harmony with the natural cycle of nature. There is no need to worry about air miles when dig spuds in your own back garden. By investing in glass houses you can extend the salad season to almost 12 months a year, and allows you serve up new potatoes for Christmas dinner
#4 Grow Irish Wildflower Seeds (Biodiversity Mix)
Encourage wildlife especially bees into your garden by dedicating a section of your garden or your locality to native Irish wildflowers. Not alone this this support bio-diversity but brings a wonderful splash of colour to your garden and saves on a huge amount of labour involved in needlessly cutting the lawn every week when a wild flower meadow will thrive and flower until well into the autumn.
#5 Teach your Children to choose the path less trodden
Actions speak louder than words, so reflect and make the green decision before mindlessly jumping on a zero-carbon tax flight to spend the weekend in Spain. Don’t default to opposing allocating road space to promote walking, cycling and public transport. Don’t allow yourself to believe global warming is not happening or demand that someone changes their ways so you can continue as before. Actions have consequences and people must at least try to lead by example and speak up even when it is hard.