Greener Planet Policy
Cocopeat is a renewable resource unlike
peat moss, which has taken centuries to evolve. The extensive
use of traditional peat moss in horticulture has resulted
in the depletion of natural bogs (swamps), an essential
part of our wildlife heritage. Peat moss extraction harms
the unique and fragile wetlands ecosystem. There are many
highly adapted plant and animal species that are found
only in peat bogs. The destruction of the world’s
wetlands is progressing at an alarming rate. In the UK
alone 75% of blanket bogs and 94% of raised bogs have
been destroyed over the past century. UK gardeners and
horticulture use a staggering 2.55 million cubic meters
of peat moss each year. We can all play our part in assuring
the conservation of peat bogs by using alternative substrates
to peat moss such as cocopeat.
Our wetlands cover only 3%
of the Earth’s land surface, but may store 16-24%
of all soil-borne carbon. (Peat bogs absorb carbon dioxide
and store it as carbon.) When peat bogs are drained for
peat extraction, it has an adverse effect of decreased
carbon absorption. Drier and more aerobic, or oxygen-fed
peatland ecosystems could support the growth of enzymes
that would directly release carbon dioxide back into the
atmosphere in a kind of runaway acceleration of the carbon
cycle. This in turn impacts upon global warming. Wetlands
are therefore crucial for the health of the planet and
the argument for their preservation is very powerful.
