5 environmental benefits of growing your own vegetables
Sustainability is something that is on many people’s minds right now – and with good reason. As climate change makes itself unmistakably clear, households are looking into ways in which they can reduce their carbon footprint and make environmentally friendly choices. One way is to eat local and seasonal produce to combat rising global temperatures and reduce food waste.
Here are just a few benefits that you can expect from growing your fruits and vegetables!
Reduce carbon emissions
By adding more plants into the environment, you are essentially increasing the number of carbon dioxide absorbers and decreasing the amount of harmful gas in the atmosphere. In turn, your plants will give out oxygen, improving the local air quality.
What’s more, you won’t be relying on deliveries of vegetables from all over the world. Given today’s globalization, we can eat fruits and vegetables from Africa and South America on a daily basis. But have you ever thought about how much fuel it takes for them to get here in the first place?
Reduce the use of fertilizer and pesticides
Mass-grown vegetables often use harmful chemicals to make the yield as big as possible. In your garden, you wouldn’t need to use such products, meaning that you are reducing the amount of harmful substances that are going into the groundand into your body.
If you do need to use any chemicals, you can use them in small amounts and know exactly how much you’re comfortable using. With shop-bought vegetables, you will never know how many chemicals you are potentially consuming.
Protect local wildlife
By growing your own fruits and vegetables, you are also providing sustenance to the local wildlife. Insects like bees and butterflies, as well as birds, make their homes and feed from the flowers and berries that homemade vegetables produce.
However, you don’t want the local wildlife to gobble the whole lot! Keep your crop safe from hungry birds, slugs and snails with nets and non-harmful remedies.
Mitigates global warming
Eating your own vegetables reduces the need to ship produce from countries all over the world. By growing your vegetables, you are joining a growing movement that opposes the environmental destruction caused by globalisation and the consumption of out-of-season fruits and vegetables. Eat local and seasonal produce to combat rising global temperatures.
