If you are lucky enough to have a garden, then it should be seen as your opportunity to reduce your carbon footprint through creative, eco-friendly design ideas. For instance, up to 29% of carbon emissions are directly linked to the food industry. By designing a garden based on feeding your family, you are significantly reducing your environmental impact while creating an interesting and beautiful backyard. Meanwhile, you can use nature to your advantage to build something homely, yet sustainable.
Fossil Fuel-Free Energy
Anyone spending significant time in the garden will need to use energy, whether for attractive lighting, winter heating, or hedge trimming. Switching to fossil fuel alternatives will create a more interesting and unique aesthetic. For instance, sun-powered backyard lighting can be charged during the day and then create a stunning scene after sundown. A modern electric mower will surely get the neighbors talking, while using a proper campfire for heating creates a proper outdoorsy atmosphere.
Grow Your Own
Transportation accounts for more than 10% of CO2 emissions from food. Even if you buy local, it will have been transported in a truck to the supermarket. Having a vegetable patch adds character to your garden, creating color as seasons change and different fruits and vegetables grow. From strawberries and pumpkins to cucumbers and cauliflowers, you have the potential to fill your garden with every color of the rainbow. You’ll also attract bugs and birds that liven up the space.
Reuse Everything
The natural aesthetic works so well for garden, that there is little reason to have any plastic, store-bought items at all. Rather than keeping an ugly hose pipe in the shed, why not collect your own rainwater? Each year, up to 40% of American states experience a drought, so collecting rainwater when you can will ensure that you always have enough water. You can continue this natural theme by designing furniture from cut down trees, rather than buying something mass produced. A wooden chair or bench does the job and ensures that your garden is 100% original and naturally beautiful.
The ‘eco’ way of life is an absolute necessity in the modern world. However, it is also a subtly attractive design trend. The imperfections of a garden designed according to nature add character, charm and uniqueness to your outdoor space. Ditch the fossil fuels, grow something useful, and reuse everything to keep this rugged, natural aesthetic which is both exciting and comforting, like a campfire beneath the stars.
Blog: Jennifer Dawson