The first thing to understand is how climate change will manifest itself. How is the weather going to change? Immediately we have a problem as nobody can be certain. But broadly, winters will probably get wetter and summers drier and hotter. The number and intensity of frosts will reduce and Spring will come earlier.
Second question - which plants will no longer thrive and which ones will do well? And third - what other impact will we see on our gardens? Will some insects become extinct and others become more prevalent?
Its all pretty complicated but a good gardener can help you tackle these issues.
Plants that could have a tough time include traditional English cottage garden plants such as lupins and delphiniums, that won't cope well with dry conditions. Spring bulbs, so loved by british gardeners will also suffer - but because of the wetter winters. And the centrepiece of the British garden, the lawn, will become increasingly difficult and costly to maintain.
In terms of insects and disease, changing conditions have already seen an increase in some beetle populations and wetter winters will encourage more fungal disease.
Ironically, increased carbon emissions may actually benefit plants, which will absorb more carbon dioxide and grow faster and be more robust. This will help plants resist any increase in disease or insects.
On the plus side it will be easier to grow more exotic fruits such as grapes, figs, oranges, lemons, nectarines and apricots. Some architectural plants such as palms will do well. And glamorous climbers such as shocking pink bougainvillea will thrive.
When you are planning planting for your garden think about the local conditions.
Plants that are drought tolerant have a better chance of flourishing. But also bear in mind that many Mediterranean plants won't favour wet winters, so you may need damp loving ones too. If the weather gets stormier, which it's likely to, then consider planting windbreaks to shelter the garden from high winds. Look at your plot - is it currently exposed to the elements?
If your garden is in a flood risk area then resist planting for the long term - any damage will be all the more depressing if plants you have nurtured for years are destroyed overnight.
When planting up a garden get your gardener to thoroughly prepare the soil, with organic matter, gravel or grit to maximise drainage. It's really important not to have waterlogged beds during the wet winters that are in store. And to cope with the drier summers, work with the weather. Set up water butts to catch water during the wetter months that can be used to water the garden in the summer. There are also systems to clean up bath and washing up water so that it can be recycled in the garden, although this isn't recommended for fruit trees or vegetable patches.
Wildlife gardens with ponds and water features will relieve the dryness of summer and provide a source of water for wildlife - insects, birds, you may even find you have a family of frogs moving in who can deal with some of your garden pests!
While you are trying to work out the best planting scheme for your patch spare a thought for gardeners working in historical gardens and stately homes. Their job is to maintain the planting that was first devised maybe 100 or 200 years ago, when climate change was unheard of. There's is the biggest challenge.
The President of the United Nations Ban Ki Moon today announced the Bali, Indonesia Climate Change Conference “Worst Person in the World Award". The first prize, an all inclusive one week waterboarding adventure at Abu Ghraib prison was a hotly contested prize. When Senator John McCain was asked why the United States was not combatting global warming he blamed “special interest groups" which contribute to expensive political campaigns in exchange for political favors later. Senator Mike Gravel, who ended the Vietnam War was banned from all future Democratic Presidential debates for saying “Our Government is owned lock, stock and barrel by the Military Industrial Companies." The Iraq War has been a tremedous source of gold, profit, for the war monger corporations and oil companies.
Climate Change is a euphemism for “planetary poisoning leading to the extinction of all life on earth forever". Human beings are a species of animal composed of air, water and earth. The massive burning of oil by human beings to drive their SUV’s is poisoning the earth’s air, water and earth to the point where the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat from the poisoned earth will soon become so deadly that we will all soon die like Michael Vick’s dogs simply by breathing air, drinking water, and eating food from the soil. Poison air, water and earth are already causing millions of prolonged agonizing deaths from cancer. This has been a tremendous source of gold, profit, for the pharmaceutical companies. Keep that in mind as you are retching your guts out from chemotherapy.
Human beings have become so sophisticated, so educated, that they have forgotten that they drop dead from poison, from venomous snake bites and from kool aid. As we merrily go about like Santa’s elves building our own worldwide gas chamber, recall that even Hitler didn’t feel the need to poison the water or the earth in his gas chambers; poisoning the air was sufficient for Hehr Fuhrer. The thing about poison is it doesn’t care what your religion or skin color is. At least snakes are not racist.
Humans are now in a race against time to stop poisoning themselves and each other to death. According to Ban Ki Moon at the Bali Climate Change Conference planetary poisoning will soon cause the earth’s temperature to warm up to the point where the Arctic, Antarctic and Greenland will melt and the earth’s one ocean will rise permanently by 100 feet. Ground Zero will be permanently at the bottom of the ocean. Denver will be prime beachfront property. Driving on our present course, the heating of the earth will cause the earth’s mountain glaciers to melt and therefore the earth’s rivers to run dry as their source of water disappears. This will solve the Israeli Palestinian problem because when Mount Hermon’s glacier and the Himalayan glacier melts the Jordan and Euphrates Rivers will run dry and the people will die of thirst and famine.
Ban Ki Moon told the Bali Climate Change Conference that this will result in starving nuclear armed nations going to war over water and the remaining soil that has not either been turned into desert or submerged under 100 feet of water. The resulting nuclear world war followed by worldwide nuclear winter then ultraviolet summer will cause a radioactive cloud of poison to blot out the sun for one year and turn all of earth’s water into permanently radioactive poison. The simple solution to these Hellish problems is that starting tomorrow everyone on earth stops driving cars and burning oil (gasoline) to drive them.
Our ancestors got along fine without cars for 5 million, 5,000,000 years without cars until 125 years ago. If we give up cars today then life on earth will go on for another 5 billion years. If we do not give up cars then life on earth will go extinct forever in the next few years as we fight nuclear world wars over oil and water. Every nuclear scientist knows that nuclear world war III will have no survivors. We are all about to drown under 100 feet of radioactive soup. During the one year of nuclear winter the radioactive cloud will eat away all of the earth’s ozone, which when pressed together is only one penny thick. When the ozone is gone we will have ultraviolet summer. Without ozone to protect us from the nuclear rays of the sun lead will melt on the earth’s surface as it does on Venus, where women come from.
The only way to win nuclear world war III is to prevent it and the only way to prevent it is for all of us to give up our cars permanently today. We can all go back to walking and riding horses and camels as we watch the air, water and earth clear up, and think of the Hell we avoided. Ban Ki Moon told the Bali Climate Change Conference that what we are about to experience is worse than any horror science fiction movie because it is real.
Human beings suffer from the same problem as politicians. George Bush’s term in office is only 8 years. The average human being’s term on earth is around 75 years. George Bush is thinking “Let Hillary Clinton deal with this mess" and human beings are thinking “Our kids will figure this out, everyone has to die anyways."
Unfortunately George Bush and Hillary Clinton are puppets for the American Petroleum Institute and the Warmonger corporations, which also own the media, which is the reason that people don’t see the train barreling towards them and their children. Bill and Hillary Clinton never ratified Kyoto and just based on that they should be banned from the White House permanently. George Bush hired some Exxon Mobil oil lawyer to doctor scientific reports at the White House to say that planetary poisoning is good for us all. Just based on that alone George Bush is now facing a charge of treason brought forward by the female polar bears now forced to eat their children.
The United States of America guzzles 20 million barrels of oil every day, 10 million imported. Next on the list is China at 5 million then Russia at 2 million and most of the 190 countries on earth burn a few thousand barrels of oil per day. It is common knowledge that the Saudi bin Laden family financed George Bush’s oil company. It is also common knowledge that George Bush Sr. called the environmentalists “the spotted owl crowd" and sits on the board of the Saudi House of Saud. Today at the Bali Climate Change Conference Ban Ki Moon handed out the “Bali Worst Person in the World Award" to Saudi Oil Minister Ali al Naimi who narrowly edged out George Bush.
Saudi Oil Minister Ali al Naimi won the award by saying, “The world should make the most of its huge reserves (50 years) of fossil fuels (coal and oil). The trend towards a move away from fossil fuel consumption as a means of addressing climate change does not represent a practical alternative to reducing greenhouse gas emissions." Actually, it’s the only way. The question we all face now is do we go on insanely burning oil for another 50 years, at which point there will be no more oil and we will have to stop anyway, if anyone is still here, or do we stop driving our cars permanently today, and save life on earth from going extinct at our hands? If the climate can change then we can change.
Both India Cooper & Karen Fish are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
India Cooper has sinced written about articles on various topics from Arts, Environment and Gardening. Expert gardener India Cooper reflects on how environmental changes equate to changes in the . To find out more please visit. India Cooper's top article generates over 673000 views. to your Favourites.
Karen Fish has sinced written about articles on various topics from Credit Cards, George W. Bush and George W. Bush. Karen Fish is a writer currently living in Los Angeles California.The Temple of Love. Karen Fish's top article generates over 22200 views. to your Favourites.