There is four times as much carbon stored in our peat bogs as in our woodlands. And yet the save our bogs campaign has hardly got off the ground - or should that be into it?
In fact, 60% of the peat we use is imported from Ireland so we are now trashing somebody else's bogs. But the carbon released from oxidised peat affects us all and every other living thing on Earth. We should let sleeping bogs lie rather than stir up their carbon stores. Our annual peat use is the equivalent of a staggering 300,000 cars on the road. And it does count in the UK carbon inventory so reducing these emissions would help towards the legally binding 80% reduction target by 2050.
I was on the Today programme on Radio 4 yesterday talking about this stuff. Having been in our little studio at the Lodge at 7am I finally got to have my chat with John Humphrys at around 0840.
A group of organisations is calling for a peat levy - a tax on peat sales. The government claims to be keen on green taxes so here is one that will raise a small amount of money but help habitat conservation and climate change all in one go. Previous governments have tried a voluntary approach which worked a bit but not nearly as much as hoped. A ban on peat use seems a little heavy handed but but would be simple and effective. If a voluntary approach can only go so far and regulation is not flavour of the decade then a peat levy may be the only effective alternative to sticking your head in the peat.
Where I work part time we have taken delivery of bags of peat free compost and would hope they are not all like this but I have not seen any decent peat free compost yet,think for sure myself and other keen gardeners would not need any persuading to use it if we could find something decent.At the moment completely wrong way round i.e.produce rubbish and try and force people to use it.Should be produce good stuff and people will definitely buy it have no fear of that.Of course some of the big organisations get given some to make us look idiots for not using it but come on surely you are not taken in.
All us keen amature gardeners would like nothing more than a good peat free compost and almost without exception we cannot find one.