Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #PeatFree
Most recents (6)
Chatting this week to a producer of #peatfree compost I gained an insight which I feel that I should already have had but anyway I thought I would share it in case like me, others missed its significance.
The peat that has been used widely in the horticultural industry comes from bogs where it has lain already decomposed for millennia. It's brilliant for making compost because it has a good structure, is inert and mostly weed and pathogen free
The way that it is harvested is that it is just stripped off the site when the weather allows and because it is already decomposed it can just be stored in vast heaps until it is required. If demand increases it is there in a stockpile and the demand can be fulfilled quickly.
Having grown a bit sick of the silly conservation vs farming narrative, last year I started on a series of articles about farmers doing great things for #nature in #Cumbria. I didn't do one on @herdyshepherd1, but thankfully, I had lots of other farms to choose from. (THREAD) 
First up (unsurprisingly) was @wildhaweswater, where I'm lucky enough to work as site manager. We are hoping to show how sustainable upland farming can work alongside ecological restoration. We're learning lots in the process. @Natures_Voice leeschofield.co.uk/farming-with-n…
Next, I visited Sam & Claire at @gowbarrow, on the beautiful shores of Ullswater. They're doing brillinat regenerative farming, with cattle, pigs and ponies. leeschofield.co.uk/farming-with-n…
🧵 So disappointed to see Newcastle's "Urban Garden", partnered with @BrewDog, yesterday.
An excellent opportunity to put sustainability into practice, and to educate people on the climate, ruined through a series of avoidable, bad decisions 👇
An excellent opportunity to put sustainability into practice, and to educate people on the climate, ruined through a series of avoidable, bad decisions 👇
Claiming to have "sustainability" at it's core, @NE1BID's #UrbanGarden is partnered with carbon negative @BrewDog, and promotes the planting of trees in Brewdog's forest.
Excellent 👏 But a series of harmful decisions have been made for the "garden" itself.
Excellent 👏 But a series of harmful decisions have been made for the "garden" itself.
Decision 1⃣
Installing masses of @Easigrass plastic grass, which:
⚠️ Supports demand for fossil fuels
🔥 Causes carbon emissions through production
🌍 Will not degrade for centuries
👨👩👧👦 Implies that fake grass is sustainable
Installing masses of @Easigrass plastic grass, which:
⚠️ Supports demand for fossil fuels
🔥 Causes carbon emissions through production
🌍 Will not degrade for centuries
👨👩👧👦 Implies that fake grass is sustainable
Q: What have our peatlands ever done for us?
A: LOADS!
These amazing habitats provide a series of vital ecosystem service benefits – but only when they are healthy. Indulge us in a peaty thread and find out more… (1/7)
A: LOADS!
These amazing habitats provide a series of vital ecosystem service benefits – but only when they are healthy. Indulge us in a peaty thread and find out more… (1/7)
CARBON CAPTURE
🌍 Healthy peatlands actively absorb and store carbon from the atmosphere
🌳 Globally peatlands store twice as much carbon as forests
🏭 CO2 emissions from damaged peatlands account for 5% of UK greenhouse gas emissions (2/7)
🌍 Healthy peatlands actively absorb and store carbon from the atmosphere
🌳 Globally peatlands store twice as much carbon as forests
🏭 CO2 emissions from damaged peatlands account for 5% of UK greenhouse gas emissions (2/7)
BIODIVERSITY BOOSTING
🌱 Healthy peatlands are homes to lots of rare and specialised wildlife, and provide vital wildlife corridors for lots of other species
🐝 41% of UK species are declining and 15% are threatened with extinction (3/7)
🌱 Healthy peatlands are homes to lots of rare and specialised wildlife, and provide vital wildlife corridors for lots of other species
🐝 41% of UK species are declining and 15% are threatened with extinction (3/7)
@GWmag @TheMontyDon @Telegraph No surprises that ‘attack’ featured heavily from then on, such is the venom that’s on tap from our #gardening & #horticulture industries. And then came wild, chest-thumping talk (yawn) of ‘boycotts’ of @GWmag 👇So we won’t engage with what @TheMontyDon says, we’ll ‘fight back'
@GWmag @TheMontyDon @Telegraph and show him who’s boss (even if we know we’re doing the wrong thing by mining peat, destroying habitat & adding to #climatechaos, because profit comes before everything else). One of the few media outlets that treated the story with honesty was @Independent w/ this headline
@GWmag @TheMontyDon @Telegraph @Independent That was a bit more like it. No invective toward @TheMontyDon, pinpointing of industry/gov failure to end peat use & mention of how using peat is adding to our #ClimateCrisis. What’s not to like? @thetimes’s stab at covering the ‘story’ couldn’t resist an invidious touch:
This is a thread about the toxicity that permeates the UK #gardening & #horticulture industries. In the current issue of @GWmag @TheMontyDon pointed out that retailers are ‘actively choosing to do harm’ if they sell peat, peat-based compost or plants grown in peat. He was stating
@GWmag @TheMontyDon the obvious. It’s a scientific fact that peat bogs release their stored carbon when they are drained & mined. FACT. More carbon means more #climatechaos. Carbon set free by its use in #gardening doesn’t hide away. It’s all driving our #ClimateEmergency. @TheMontyDon was saying
@GWmag @TheMontyDon in plain terms, that if your an industry that’s still digging up peat and releasing carbon, and adding to #ClimateBreakdown, then you’re part of the problem we all share. Let’s not forget that no gardener needs peat to succeed & that modern & reliable #peatfree mixes exist, and
