In the face of climate change, it's easy to feel overwhelmed and powerless to change our world for the better. But here at Green People, we’re all for small changes that make a big difference.
If we all start to make positive changes, no matter how small, there’s hope that we can begin to restore the world to its natural balance.
5 ways to conserve and protect plants
Plants are the backbone of all life. Without plants; air, food, water, some medicines and, of course, our natural and organic beauty products simply wouldn’t exist! Some of the key threats that face plant diversity include:
- Habitat loss and degradation
- Pollution and disease
- Climate change
In this blog post, you'll discover 4 simple things you can do to help conserve and protect plants from these threats.
1. Grow your own
Investing in an edible garden gives you the opportunity to grow a wide array of interesting plants with flavours fresher than money can buy. Forgoing supermarkets in favour of home-grown vegetables, herbs and fruits not only saves you money but also helps protect the planet.
You can start reducing your environmental impact and carbon footprint by growing just one or two of your favourite foods in your garden, or even on a sunny window sill!
2. Use natural pesticides
While they may protect the plant they’re purposed for, pesticides can contaminate soil, water and other vegetation, causing harm to birds, fish, beneficial insects and non-target plants. This can have a devastating impact on pollination, thus throwing the whole ecosystem out of balance.
Clever plant combining or making your own natural pesticides using everyday food items such as garlic and pepper are a great way to combat invasive species without harming the environment or your health.
3. Support rewilding from your back garden
During the last century, Britain has lost around 97% of its wildflower meadows[i]. Not only do these provide a beautiful spectrum of colour from May all the way through to early October, they also help to protect species such as skylarks, barn owls, brown hares, butterflies and bumbles bees that all rely on this threatened habitat for survival.
By supporting rewilding schemes and making your own mini meadow, you can help to provide cover and food for some of Britain’s most loved wildlife.
Over the last 50 years, Britain has lost around 98% of its wildflower meadows.
You don’t need acres of land to grow a mini meadow, a small patch of lawn in a sunny spot is all you need to start growing your wildflowers and provide cover and food for some of Britain’s most loved wildlife. Popular wildflowers to sow and grow include cowslip, field poppy, ox-eye daisy, red clover, yellow rattle and for a longer flowering season we also recommend adding in some spiny restharrow, betony and field scabious.
4. Stay on the path
While nothing beats a long walk in the wilderness, sticking to the designated paths on nature trails can help protect precious plant life.
You may not think that straying away from the path could do much harm, but the truth is, organisations such as the National Trust construct and maintain specific footpaths to minimise damage to the environment.
Repeated disturbance of the ground can cause saplings, animal habitat and fragile soils to become damaged beyond recovery whilst organic matter, such as fallen leaves and bark, play a vital role in protecting the soil from erosion.
There’s still so much to experience and enjoy on nature walks but by staying on the path, we can avoid damaging our precious plant life and preserve the beautiful British countryside for future generations.
5. Support a tree-planting charity
Lots of businesses help to offset their carbon emissions by working with a tree planting charity. We work with the World Land Trust and you can help them to build a forest of the future by signing up for an account when you shop with us.
This will mean that you become a Green Beauty Club member and can choose to donate your Green Points to support the incredible work that this charity does preserve and protects natural habitats.
Explore our certified organic products
Choosing to shop certified organic skin care and lifestyle products is something we can all do to help protect plant life.
To be certified organic you must demonstrate the source of your ingredients from farm to formulation and it is a requirement of our certifiers that we do not use any endangered plants in our products and that any plants we do use are sustainably sourced.
Do you have any tips to conserve and protect plants? We'd love to hear from you on social @GreenPeopleUK
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