More than 150 gardeners, community members and climate-conscious residents logged in for a powerful webinar hosted by Climate Legacy in partnership with the Ontario Horticultural Association (OHA). The session featured Master Gardener Claudette Sims, former president of Master Gardeners of Ontario and a familiar voice to CBC audiences, who delivered her new talk, “Your Garden, Your Superpower: How Gardeners Can Help Fight Climate Change.”
Drawing on her expertise in ecological gardening and public education, Claudette presented the new webinar created by the OHA Climate Action Committee, highlighting how everyday garden practices can become meaningful climate solutions.
The event aligns closely with Climate Legacy’s mission to mobilize older Canadians in climate action through their voice, skills and resources. Founded in 2019 by a group of retired Canadians determined to ensure a livable future for the next generations, Climate Legacy works to engage seniors as a powerful but often overlooked force in the transition to a zero-carbon economy, according to their website https://climatelegacy.ca/. Their programming encourages practical, local action, something this webinar delivered by showing how backyard and community gardens can become sites of climate resilience.
Claudette began the presentation by exclaiming, “Our planet has a fever,” then shared statistics and described the “non-linear, chaotic, and unpredictable changes happening to global weather patterns as the Earth’s average temperature rises” as “Global Weirding.” She reminded listeners that human activities primarily cause climate change, citing examples such as generating power using fossil fuels, manufacturing goods, cutting down forests, using transportation, producing food, powering buildings and consuming too much!
While the talk was startling, it was also hopeful and necessary, as Claudette quoted Canadian climate scientist Dr. Katherine Hayhoe, who said, “The most important thing you can do to help with climate change is to talk about it.” And that Claudette did, and in response, as a reporter, the next best thing to help is to write about it.
Mitigating the effects of climate change is everyone’s responsibility, and it can be done by “reducing our energy use, using public transportation, reducing food waste, shopping local, buying less, buying used, repairing what we have, advocating for better policies, volunteering, working with local groups, learning and educating others, contacting your government representatives, and signing relevant petitions.”
Appealing to the home gardeners on the call, Claudette noted that gardeners have even more options, saying that “What you plant and how you garden can help: clean air, reduce emissions, clean water, reduce heat islands, reduce flooding, reduce tension, improve your health and the health of our planet.” Her talk covered food chains and alarming realities: insect declines and the declines of those that eat them, such as 2.9 billion birds having perished since 1970; other species’ rapid population declines; and the serious threat of the spotted lanternfly, “an invasive planthopper that threatens Ontario’s agricultural sector.”
Claudette put focus on what makes healthy soil, noting that it is essential for climate and food security. She encouraged gardeners to use leaves in the garden, suggesting that this is the perfect time to start collecting them for the garden instead of putting them at the curb for garbage pickup.
Adding wood chips to gardens was also seen as a positive way to support healthy soil organisms. Listeners also learned that it would be wise to limit purchased soil to container gardening and houseplants and to stop using peat, as she shared, “it takes about 1000 years to form a metre of peat,” showing viewers a photo of the peatlands in northern Ontario. When discussing lawns, Claudette suggested leaving lawn clippings on the lawn to feed it and retain moisture.
The presentation included helpful information on why native plants are best and how invasive plants threaten biological diversity. Claudette specifically mentioned that white oak is the best tree for supporting biodiversity.
Participants filled the chat with questions and comments, underscoring a growing movement that gardeners across Ontario are ready to turn their love of the land into climate leadership. As of publication, the presentation will be available on YouTube at https://youtu.be/66wzewLGhRU. To learn more about the OHA and Climate Legacy, visit gardenontario.org and https://climatelegacy.ca/ to see how you can make a difference because “There is no planet B.”
