Sustainability Challenge #4: Grow Your Own Garden and Composting

Monday, April 29, 2024
By Carolina Silva, Interior Designer
In Sustainability, Community

by The SHD Sustainability Committee

Gardening season is officially here! With April being earth month, our team took the opportunity to clean up the garden bed, build a second planter, and prepare the soil for new plants to get set up for our next Sustainability Challenge: Grow your own garden and composting.

Our team took the initiative to calculate our own personal Carbon Footprint by participating in the Global Footprint Network's Ecological Footprint calculator. Each employee answered questions about their habits with their home, driving, food consumption, etc. to determine their personal carbon footprint. These results were combined, and it was determined that, as an office, on average, we produce 15.02 tons of CO2 a year. This means that if everyone on the planet lived like the people in our office do (and most Americans do), we would need 5 times the current earth capacity to sustain our way of life. Though not ideal, these numbers help us see where the gaps are and how we can lower our environmental impact, starting with the food we eat.

There is no garden too small to make a difference! So much of the fresh produce we see in groceries stores comes from across the country and is wrapped in wasteful packaging. What isn’t purchased more than likely ends up in landfills, creating greenhouse gas emissions. By growing only/or a portion of what we need, whether in our back yards or balconies, we can minimize our emissions which offsets our carbon footprint.

If this is your first-time gardening, set yourself up for success. A small herb garden can yield things like basil and oregano, for a fresh taste to pizza night, or mint for fresh tea. If veggies aren’t your style, consider planting a pollinator friendly flower bed! These are not only beautiful and colorful, but pollination encourages fruit production and reduces the need for pest control. Composting doesn’t have to be complicated! Starting a small composting bin and feeding it your kitchen scraps can produce fertile soil for your garden. You can even subscribe to compost collection programs if that is more suitable to your lifestyle! We would love to see what you decide to do! Share photos of your garden or composting with us!

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