Carbon-Positive Landscaping
You may think there isn’t much we can do as individuals about climate change. We do need government and corporations to really make a difference, but there is such a thing as carbon-positive landscaping. You actually can make a difference by designing or changing your landscape to remove more carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, than the landscape creates.
And, yes, of course there are things individuals can do beyond our landscapes (e.g., buy less, eat less meat, ride that bike instead of using the car, etc), but landscaping is the focus here. Here’s a partial list of what you can consider:
Rethink your lawn: Large expanses of Kentucky Blue Grass and other non-native, high maintenance lawns are ubiquitous in the American landscape. It’s our default outdoor landscape and it is an environmental negative and an ecological deadzone. I know that’s harsh, and that we love our green lawns, but they are heavy resource users, especially in the parched west. If you can, take out as much non-native grass lawn as possible, and you will cut down on the energy-guzzling mowing, watering, and fertilizing necessary to maintain a good-looking lawn in Denver. If you must have a lawn, there are alternatives that are less carbon-intense, such as buffalo grass, and certain low-growing fescues.
Plant some trees: Plant a small tree that will grow into a very large tree, preferably one adapted to our conditions here, and preferably one that will last a long time. Trees sequester large amounts of carbon.
Plant a pocket prairie with native plants: Denver was short-grass prairie, a complex ecosystem of native plants with deep roots. Our native plants will sequester a great deal of carbon, be easier to maintain than non-native, exotic plants, use less water, require little in the way of fertilizer, and provide habitat for a myriad of insects, birds, and animals. A pocket prairie is just a piece of your landscape that you’ve dedicated to prairie plants and let go a little wilder (i.e., it can be designed, but it will do its own thing). You’ll sequester much more carbon than your average landscape.
Think hard about your hardscape: Stone pavers, e.g., require a lot of energy to mine, cut, and transport to your yard. So, the more hardscape you avoid, the less energy you’ve used for your landscape. Concrete is produced with cement and has to be heated to extraordinarily high temperatures to manufacture. So, avoid concrete. Alternatives include decomposed granite or gravel. It’s always better to have permeable surfaces, anyway, to allow water to percolate into the ground.
Skip fertilizers: Synthetic fertilizers often contain synthetic nitrogen, which requires a lot of energy to produce. In addition, fertilized plants stimulate the soil microbes to produce extra amounts of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas. So, skip the fertilizer. There are many carbon-neutral ways to keep your soil healthy, like adding a mulch of crushed leaves to the surface of your landscape, and making your own compost or compost tea. One bonus to using native plants is that they require little to no fertilizer. In fact, they prefer none.
Avoid all gas-powered machinery: we use many gallons of gasoline to power our lawn mowers in this country, and it just isn’t necessary unless you own a park-sized lot. I prefer a push mower that uses my muscle power. It’s less expensive, great exercise, and cuts my “grass” just fine (I really don’t have grass). And gas-powered leaf blowers are a triple whammy of not good things. Not only do they contribute to climate change, they are really bad for the insect world, and bad for anyone with allergies. They also drive anyone within earshot crazy. Leaving the leaves is not just good for the soil, but many insects overwinter in your leaves. That is a good thing.
Of course, there’s more, but if you just consider these six things, you’ll be in positive territory. If this interests you, you can download the Climate Positive Design toolkit, which has many more ideas for using your landscape for carbon sequestration.