Earth care is trending in 2019

Here is some good news for Mother Earth in 2019: we are moving from self-care (above all else) to earth care, according to the Garden Media Group.

Its 2019 trends report focuses on the “intrinsic connection people have with nature”, picking up on trends in colour, design and technology that strengthen our relationship with nature.

These include robotic bees to pollinate crops, solar-powered weed whackers and robotic mowers.

They have also observed how people are banding together to protect the earth. This includes reducing plastic usage, the #DeleteFacebook movement, pruning screen time, planting for beneficial insects and aiming for zero waste. The biggest concern is that, globally, we have become an indoor generation.

Some interesting statistics:

• 90% of people worldwide spend nearly 22 hours a day inside without daylight or fresh air.
• Children spend on average less than one hour a day outside, 50% less than their parents did.
• Teens log almost seven hours a day on their mobile phones while adults spend 11 hours a day looking at screens and check their phones every 10 minutes.

But it is not all bad news. Indoor plants are more popular than ever. What better way to start developing a green thumb? According to GardenResearch.com, 30% of households bought an indoor plant last year and Pinterest searches for indoor plants is up by 90%.

“Millennials,” says the Garden Media Group, have “fallen in love with indoor plants, and have become plant parents with a sense of purpose and a new connection with nature”.

According to the New York Times, wellness-minded millennials are finding that plants fill the “emotional and decorative void” in their lives.

The report focuses on children in its section on Growing Nature Lovers. To entice them away from screens, they suggest sowing seeds together, especially colourful fruit and vegetable seeds, planting compact and pickable fruiting shrubs, plants in containers and demonstrating healthy environmental practices.

Recycling remains an issue. “Currently only 9% of plastics are being recycled and eight million metric tons a year are being dumped into the ocean.”

But at the same time Google saw a 700% increase in searches for “zero waste”. This has spurred trends like the “root to stem” movement that advocates using every part of vegetables, composting to reduce waste and advocacy directed at large corporations to stop single-use plastics.

It’s all about good stewardship. Through gardening, we learn to notice things like our use of water, what plants need, the presence of insects and birds, or lack of them.

According to landscape designer Thomas Rainer: “We have driven nature out of our neighbourhoods and cities. It’s time to bring it back … one tree, shrub, flower, edible and succulent at a time.”

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