There’s an old Middle Eastern story about a little bird who, when she heard the sky was falling, lay down on the trail on her back with her feet up. A horseman came thundering down the trail, stopped, and asked what the little bird was doing. “I heard the sky is falling and I’m helping to hold it up.” “What can a little bird like you do?” the horseman replied. The bird replied, “I do what I can!”
The majority of scientists believe we are in a global crisis, the earth is getting warmer, and we are polluting our world more and more. Weather patterns are changing; there is more flooding, more fires, and our oceans are full of plastic. This year we had a record heat wave.
No, the sky is not falling, yet, and while the problems are immense, each of us, like the little bird, can do something to help mitigate the crisis. If each of us used one fewer plastic bag a week in the Edmonton area, 52 million fewer bags a year would be used, many of which would have gone into the landfill.
Canadians throw away between 40 to 63 per cent of the food they buy, at a yearly cost of between $1,100 to $1,766 per household. Not only is the cost high, the estimated food waste creates 56.6 million tons of carbon dioxide. Food in landfills also creates methane gas — 25 times more damaging to the environment than CO2. We buy too much and throw the excess out. Why throw out food past its best-before date, when "best before" refers only to a possible deterioration of taste?
Gardening reduces waste. Food fresh from your garden not only tastes better, we are less likely to waste it. We use the odd sizes of vegetables never seen in the grocery store. And gardening reduces carbon emissions by reducing the costs of growing, processing, transporting, and selling commercial food.
A study in the journal Science said the best way to fight climate change is to plant at least a trillion trees worldwide. Some countries have undertaken ambitious goals. For example, Ethiopia had planned to plant four billion by October. Here in St. Albert, you can plant a tree in your yard or come out each September to help plant up to 500 trees with the St. Albert Rotary Club in Rotary Park.
Have you wondered why there are far fewer songbirds today? Could it be because of the use of herbicides and pesticides by not only farmers, but by city folk on their lawns? We also have a shortage of pollinators and many bees and other pollinators are killed by the use of systemic pesticides.
Provide a refuge for birds. Avoid chemicals on your lawn and other parts of your yard. Plant trees and shrubs that provide berries and insects for the birds. Put up bird houses. And don’t forget a bird bath. Water attracts birds, to drink and bathe in.
Our environment is a legacy to pass on to our children and our grandchildren and their children. Let’s hope they will thank us and not hate us for what we have done for the environment. And so, be like the little bird, do what you can.
Charles Schroder is a St. Albert resident and an avid gardener.
