Sometimes a new idea lands in my brain so hard it seems to bounce. It sets up a shock, a confusion of awakening. This happened to me just a few moments ago. When the dust settled and I got a good look at this shiny new idea, I thought, “Holy wow! I’ve just solved global warming!”

Many will take exception to the thrust of this article, pointing out evidence they have come across that purports to prove that neither humans nor rising carbon dioxide levels are actually the cause of global warming. With so many conflicting voices and convincing evidence on either side, how to know who to believe? Still, hear me out. I think you’ll agree that my idea, if implemented, can only be good for the planet even if the GW theorists are wrong.

Better brains than mine have struggled with this problem for ages and haven’t come up with a clear direction going beyond the usual tired ‘use spiral fluorescent bulbs and recycle’ stuff, and who am I? I’m no scientist, that’s certain. Still, this idea is radiating obviousness and I simply must pass it along. Please, somebody, let me know if I’m missing something here. Or if this idea has already been proposed and rejected, and for what reason. Where’s the harm?

It is well known that plants and animals are complementary forms of life, having evolved to consume each others’ wastes. Plants emit oxygen and consume carbon dioxide, while animals consume oxygen and emit carbon dioxide. Unless there is some conflicting scientific lore I am not privy to, this simple equation seems to point toward a straightforward solution to the problem.

Problem: Too much carbon dioxide emission.
Solution: More plants to suck up the excess CO2 and replenish it with exhalations of oxygen.

Here it is: go forward with mass plantings of all forms of greenery all over the planet, everywhere we can. Let us all plant trees and gardens wherever we can, and thickly sow every possible niche and cranny with weedy perennial wildflowers, edible plants and other hardy greenery. If we plant in the places where nothing else yet grows, we will increase the ratio of plants to animals and thereby reducing the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere.

Parking lots would all need to have a certain percentage of their area dedicated to plantings. This wasted space could be freed up by reducing vehicle traffic and decreasing the need for parking space, through encouraging or enforcing the use of public transit and alternative means of transportation such as bicycles. All new buildings (this is actually happening already to some extent, at least in some cities) should be built with rooftop gardens. Terraces devoted to greenery should be included in building design whenever possible. I’m not just talking potted plants on the balcony; these should be planted thickly, solidly and abundantly.

The socio-economy-communal benefits that could result from such a greening of formerly barren environments are enormous, even notwithstanding the global impact. Multiple problems would be addressed:

1. The sheer ugliness of modern cities and suburbs: Beauty is a fundamental human need. Modern humans are compelled to satisfy their basic hunger for beauty through consuming of various media simply because natural beauty has become less and less available outside our own doors. Green growing things, especially in abundance, are tremendously aesthetically pleasing to human senses.

2. Urban and sub-urban alienation and isolation (not knowing who your neighbours are): when people tend a garden near one another, they interact. It’s human nature. As they interact, they come to know each other. Connections are made, an end to isolation and the beginnings of true community.

3. Nature Deficit Disorder: Modern children, for various reasons (including increase in texting, video gaming, web-surfing, television watching, any and all free time occupied by school and parent-organized activities such as soccer and lessons in this and that, as well as parental fear and over-protectiveness) spend vanishingly little time experiencing the natural world. Schools need to include gardening in their curriculums, and with actual gardening, not discussion of the theory of gardens.

4. Poverty and hunger. As much land as possible should be dedicated to community gardens, fruit trees and various wild perennial edibles such as dandelion, chickweed, lamb’s-quarter etc. These should be planted and tended by those members of the community at large who benefit from them, which as much as possible should be the poor and homeless and any who have no other space in which to plant. The affluent and those with homes where it’s possible should be encouraged to plant in their balconies and rooftops. All homeless folk should be given a plot of land along with all the seeds they need, and a place to sleep near their plot, too. Food banks should begin providing seed packages along with their groceries.

5. Stress, anxiety and depression: Greenery is soothing. Gardens are places of peace and harmony which have been shown to relive stress, soothe anxiety and lift mood.

6. Shrinking wildlife habitat: Increasing the greenspace will also increase wildlife habitat. All parks should be allowed to revert to a wild state, with paths for walking, jogging and cycling winding through thick woods and wild meadows. Wildlife also should be encouraged to re-inhabit these parks. The modern obsession with creating ’safety’ through control and suppression of nature has run its course. We have already paved, cleared, killed off and polluted an insanely high proportion of the arable land on the planet. It’s time to begin to give back what we have taken, to become true caretakers and tenders of the land.

We are growing increasingly out of balance with the natural world, but it is not too late to shift that balance. It’s time for a real green revolution, and I don’t mean just recycling your plastic or shopping at the local farmer’s market. If government will not cooperate with this plan, we each must become seed revolutionaries, planting gardens in unlikely places. Plant and encourage others to plant. Lobby, blog, petition, protest and persist until government accedes to a mass-mandated greening of the world.

This truly could truly become, in relatively short order, a world of abundance for all, and not in some mystical, airy-fairy sense either. Plant. Plant. Plant.

You have my permission to reprint, reproduce and forward this article freely, but do please remember to credit me and provide a link to the original article here.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 18th, 2007 at 11:53 pm and is filed under truth and strangeness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.