June

Estimates suggest that a garden of 1,000 square meters could sequester one ton of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year [see entry from November, 2019]. Miyawaki forests, or tiny forests, are even more efficient sequestering CO2 due to their greater biodiversity and vegetation density. I wonder how much CO2 am I sequestering in my little páteo high density forest (around 25 square meters)?

Even small, little apartment forests help to clean the air, reduce water runoff, lower heat, feed bees, attract birds (and free manure!), reduce the garbage produced (by composting and mulching), lowers stress, brightens the day and fills the space with ever-changing beauty. 

Unlike «things», Nature does not repeat itself. One never knows what flower will open next, what new plant will show up, or what culprit will eat the fruits that we longed for :)

May 2023 photo by Monica Pinheiro, free to use if you respect the license CC BY-NC-SA (CC).

strings

It all started with a string (a) and pieces of wasted biomass (b). Then creating little tensions (c), expanding one bit (d) at a time (e), and allowing infrastructure to grow (f) to shape natural (g), negative carbon shading for my home (h). Unlike artificial shading infrastructures (i), nature-based solutions become better with time (j) and go on sequestering carbon dioxide, cooling (k) the environment (l), and greening our cities (m). If they cease to live, they are still precious as colour pallets (n), compost or biomass for energy (o). Thinking (p) how can I expand the platform to this city balcony small forest... Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC).

June

"Any human activity that does not require a large flow of irreplaceable resources or produce severe environmental degradation might continue to grow indefinitely." (Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows, Jorgen Randers & William W. Behrens III (1972). The Limits to Growth).  Some activities are CO2 negative, like gardening, so they can and should be indefinitely increased. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC )

March

Carbon dioxide (CO2) sink in the city / Sumidouro de dióxido de carbono (CO2) citadino. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC).

November

“A garden of 1,000 square meters (a quarter of an acre) can pack away up to one ton of CO2 per year.” Peter Wohlleben (2019). The Weather Detective: Rediscovering Nature's Secret Signs. Penguin.
Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC).