Category Archives: ethics

Smoke and Mirrors

Earth-friendly organic gardening has had a drubbing recently in other gardening magazines. What drives the ‘organic bashers’ – a lack of understanding, or the need to keep the chemical companies sweet? By John Walker. Published in Organic Gardening, June 2008. … Continue reading

Posted in carbon emissions, carbon footprint, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, eco gardening, environment, ethics, garden centres & gardening industry, glyphosate, greenwash, media, organic gardening, pesticides in the garden, politics, published articles, tv gardening & celebrities | 1 Comment

A Royal Shade of Green?

In an exclusive interview for Organic Gardening, I talk recycling, renewable energy and carbon footprints with Bob Sweet, the key decision-maker behind the Royal Horticultural Society flower shows, including the 2008 Chelsea Flower Show. By John Walker. Published in Organic … Continue reading

Posted in carbon emissions, carbon footprint, climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, ecological footprints, ecological sustainability, energy use, environment, ethics, garden centres & gardening industry, gardening footprint, greenwash, media, overconsumption, plastic, published articles, recycling, tv gardening & celebrities | Leave a comment

A Tale of Two Books

Two new titles, both claiming to show us how to garden in more planet-friendly ways, while helping to curb climate change, prove that you can never judge a book by its cover. By John Walker. Published in Organic Gardening, February … Continue reading

Posted in carbon emissions, carbon footprint, climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, ecological sustainability, energy use, environment, ethics, gardening footprint, green gardening, nature & the natural world, organic gardening, published articles | Leave a comment

Centres For the Earth

As supermarkets eye up the ‘green pound’, what we need is not a monoculture of ‘Tescoised’ garden centres but local, diverse and distinctive earth centres. By John Walker. Published in Organic Gardening, October 2007. By the time you read this, … Continue reading

Posted in climate- & earth-friendly gardening, eco gardening, energy use, environment, ethics, garden centres & gardening industry, gardening footprint, nature & the natural world, organic gardening, overconsumption, published articles, recycling, resilience, retail monoculture, transition | 1 Comment

Intensive Care

As weather patterns shift and water supplies dwindle, can we sustain the container gardening craze in its present form? By John Walker. Published in Organic Gardening, August 2007. Love them or loathe them, there’s something mesmerising about those TV dramas … Continue reading

Posted in climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, container gardening, easy gardening, ecological sustainability, energy use, environment, ethics, gardening footprint, green gardening, organic gardening, overconsumption, peat & peat-free compost, pesticides in the garden, published articles, rainwater harvesting, soil, tv gardening & celebrities, water & 'water footprints' | Leave a comment

Make Pesticides History

Increasing attempts to discredit organic growing by chemical-happy spin-doctors point to only one thing: the pesticide manufacturers are well and truly on the back foot. By John Walker. Published in Organic Gardening, March 2007. It’s a safe bet that a … Continue reading

Posted in eco gardening, environment, ethics, food & kitchen gardening, garden centres & gardening industry, genetically modified (GM) crops, glyphosate, greenwash, media, nature & the natural world, organic gardening, peat & peat-free compost, pesticides in the garden, politics, pollution, published articles, tv gardening & celebrities | 1 Comment

Time To Power Down?

As concern over Western ‘energy obesity’ moves up the agenda, can we really afford, financially or morally, to continue switching on our propagators and greenhouse heaters? By John Walker. Published in Organic Gardening, January 2007. Winner of the Garden Media … Continue reading

Posted in allotments, carbon emissions, carbon footprint, climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, eco gardening, ecological sustainability, energy use, environment, ethics, food & kitchen gardening, fossil fuels, garden centres & gardening industry, green gardening, organic gardening, published articles, renewable gardening | Leave a comment