Here we are at the beginning of April and the third Peat Free April. And I think it’s fair to say the backlash has begun.
In the last month or so the way propaganda is used internationally to change the narrative of a situation has awoken many to the use of propaganda but can we say we see it in the gardening world, and is it obvious or is it hidden? Or does it do what the propagandist wants it to do, and cause confusion, especially to new gardeners or to people finding the sustainability in gardening conversation difficult to see through? I would argue it’s mainly the last two, and that interestingly the more right wing press seem to have decided to join in too.
And of course this isn’t just key to the peat debate. There are still people suggesting garden chemicals are fine to use, despite the effects we know, through good, peer reviewed science, that these chemicals are having on our biodiversity. We see plastic grass being called sustainable, which we know it’s not, and despite the outcry a few years ago plastic pots are still in every garden centre across the nation, despite not being recyclable by most local authorities. Plastic plants, hedges and topiary are seemingly in most garden centres and the bags of peat based compost are piling up, next to the peat free.
But gardening is green I hear many cry, and that is of course correct at it’s basest level, but there is nothing green about the industry behind it, other than a few nurseries who are really rocking the trend, but it’s fair to say industrial horticulture has a long way to go before it can call itself sustainable in any meaningful way.
And yet we see “natural” pesticides, sustainable fake lawns, sustainable peat extraction all mentioned repeatedly and we believe it. Of course we do-why would people lie?
Let me give you an example. Recently Bristol airport declared it was aiming to be net carbon zero by 2030 and being net zero as an airport by last year. to a round of huge applause, with the Mayor there at an event, they claim to be the first airport to do this, but what they fail to talk about is the little caveat that states they are reliant on future technology to achieve this. It might be a statement of intent but it relies on a lot of other work first and is really no more than that. It can’t be but it does capture headlines and create a buzz around something that they have no real control over. Let’s be clear-carbon neutral planes are definitely not guaranteed, and anyone working in sustainability will tell you cutting down your air miles is the only way we can achieve net zero based on todays technology. But that message creates a small confusion in the heads of those hearing the message. It brings up questions, and makes people think that industry has got all of our best interests at heart. Which they may have, but your and my interests do no make them the profits they need, but making us think that way does.
So let’s go back to peat. There has been an ongoing campaign in the Telegraph stating that horticulture cannot cope without peat. That it will be the end of the industry in the UK, and that we have saved so much peat from being cut through peat free usage by gardeners at home that we can still afford to keep cutting for the industry.
And none of this is true. Let’s be clear. It’s propaganda from an industry that knows it has left it to the last minute to make the changes it needs to make. The industry has known peat was not sustainable for decades and this is part of what I imagine to be a political campaign, lobbying at government level, to stop a ban on peat, rather than making the changes they could have been making over the last decade or more. Westland horticulture, who are very ready at press events to talk about sustainability, birds and biodiversity, are known to have been lobbying parliament and I suspect they will not be the only ones. And that is but one.
But what is really unnerving is the message that we have saved enough and that the industry can carry on being environmentally destructive as long as home gardeners use peat free. We are still using exactly the same amount of peat each year as ever and the notion that we have cut use is simply untrue according to the Horticultural Trades Association so where is this narrative coming from? Indeed yesterday in an article in the Guardian it was suggested that a peat ban might affect food security and accessibility because brassicas, salads and mushrooms would be affected. Having asked a farmer pal who grows brassicas it’s now apparent that what they mean is that brassicas and salads are started in plugs, which are peat based. So rather than creating change and working out how that can be altered, they’re using the threat of food shortages to scare people. More propaganda which inevitably some people will believe.
Of course we don’t really know. That’s the thing with this level of propaganda and it being mixed with marketing-it’s a dangerous collaboration that is focused on selling the idea that buying that brands product will support you to be more sustainable whilst totally missing the point that sustainability doesn’t need to be bought, but quite the opposite.
The other thing that must be mentioned here is that there’s a suggestion in these article that the peat free campaign is simply online noise. Of course that is not true and there are many people working on this, and organisations such as Peat Free April, are just keeping up the pressure and gaining traction throughout being a part of online communities and linking that with real life campaigning. That’s a low blow and also a slur, assuming all social media is just an outlet for anger and not able to make any real change. Persil had to remove an advert a few years ago that claimed hashtags make no real change, but can I just point to the #metoo movement amongst many others that have and are making real societal change.
so next time you go to the garden centre, take note of the messaging, the marketing, and try to see what’s going on. And let’s push for the vital ban on peat that we know we need, and not listen to the people who are focused on profit over anything else.
