14 February 2009
SUSTAINABLE GARDENS: Book review - Sustainable Gardens, CSIRO Publishing Gardening Guides by Rob Cross & Roger Spencer
Our gardens are a microcosm of nature; the ecological processes that go on in a garden mirror those operating on a global scale. The better we understand and quantify these cycles and processes, the more effective will be our own management strategies.
Sustainable Gardens shows amateur and professional horticulturists how to make informed decisions when designing, constructing and maintaining parks and gardens for reduced environmental impact.
It describes the historical context of the global, national and local environmental issues that confront us and examines the idea of sustainable living as a means of addressing these issues. It draws attention to the new discipline of sustainability science with its emphasis on environmental accounting, and how this is being applied at the global, national, country, household and individual levels to establish benchmarks, set management goals, assess trends and measure progress towards sustainability. The book also discusses how gardens can make a major contribution to a sustainable future through increased food production and a close connection with the local environment.
