As an avid gardener, I never thought twice about picking up a bag of potting soil or a bag of peat moss every spring. Have you ever thought about where that peat moss comes from? While reusing forest product waste materials in potting soil is good, the use of peat moss needs to stop. Why? Peat is dug up from the earth, repackaged into plastic bags and sold to an unsuspecting public for profit. Peatlands are natural water-retentive bogs that cover 3 percent of the global land surface but store more carbon than all other vegetation types in the world combined, including trees. When peatland is destroyed, it releases greenhouse gases.
I garden because I love nature, and do not want to contribute to the destruction of it just so I can temporarily have a pretty pot of flowers. Peatlands take thousands of years to create. Next time you go to the store to buy a bag of potting soil, look on the list of ingredients. If it says peat, turn away. Ask the store manager to stock peat-free compost or potting soil. The U.K. is in the process of banning peat entirely. The U.S. needs to pick up the pace and not become one of the worst offenders.
