This year, Earth Day is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a renewed focus on climate change. As the Earth Day foundation states, “Climate change represents the biggest challenge to the future of humanity and the life-support systems that make our world habitable.” (https://www.earthday.org/). As a collective group, each human can each make small changes to benefit the climate of our world. Cornell Farm wants to be a part of that change by inspiring our patrons with a few ways to make a positive impact on your corner of the Earth.
Reducing our Foodprint:
As Earthday.org explains, “Our food system accounts for more than a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions, making animal agriculture one of the largest contributors to climate change.” While we aren’t saying you should immediately switch to veganism, we are suggesting that you can support our ecosystem by planting your own edible garden. In a world where Victory Gardens are coming back into vogue, planting our own fruits and veggies is one way to not only boost nutrition, but reduce our impact on gas emissions and deforestation.
Plant a Tree:
Of course, planting trees is one of the best and easiest ways to lower carbon emissions and deforestation. As an article from NASA explains, “By planting more than a half trillion trees, we could capture about 205 gigatons of carbon (a gigaton is 1 billion metric tons), reducing atmospheric carbon by about 25 percent. That’s enough to negate about 20 years of human-produced carbon emissions at the current rate, or about half of all carbon emitted by humans since 1960.” We here at Cornell Farms would love to point out that fruit trees serve the dual purpose of both reducing our foodprint, as well as lowering greenhouse gasses.
Reducing Use of Systemic Pesticides or Herbicides:
At Cornell Farms, we are committed to environmental stewardship. In addition to procuring locally sourced goods whenever possible and prioritizing partnerships with companies that value sustainability, we also care for our own grounds and the plants we grow with sustainability in mind and without the use of systemic pesticides or herbicides. By using and selling organic products like EB Stone, we can reduce the high salt index and leeching of unabsorbed chemicals into our waterways that come with chemical fertilizers.
Plant Natives:
There are numerous benefits to using native plants in landscaping. Not only do they require less upkeep, fertilizers, and products to maintain them, they also support the habitat of native animal life. Many species of insects and animals depend on these plants for food and habitat. Additionally, using native plants in place of grass lawns cuts down on the air pollution created from lawnmowers. Finally, native plants help to decrease carbon dioxide levels, which is a key component of climate change.
