The Role Plants Can Play in Mitigating Climate Change Concerns
February 25, 2023 
Photo: UF/IFAS Extension
Horticulture industry friend Tal Coley wants to educate the public about the benefits that landscaping can offer in terms of climate solutions. Coley, the current CEO of the Florida Nursery, Growers, and Landscape Association (FNGLA) and former senior director of advocacy and government affairs for AmericanHort, recently penned on op-ed for Jacksonville.com outlining the role that plants can play in mitigating climate change concerns – and how we can incentivize it.
“We need agricultural producers like nursery operators to speak up and tout the benefits of plants. That’s why I’m proud that members of the Florida Nursery, Growers and Landscape Association have become leaders in the Florida Climate Smart Agriculture Work Group,” Coley says in the article. “These producers are leading a conversation about how we can deliver climate solutions in the way we deliver food, feed, fuel, fiber, and aesthetics. It would be enough for us to plant for climate change mitigation alone. But a landscape can provide a great deal more of the environmental benefits that we call ecosystems services.”
Coley also notes the critical role that universities can play in researching and highlighting the benefits of plants in both residential and natural landscapes.
“Putting the right plants in the right places is what the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences codifies in its Florida-Friendly Landscaping program,” Coley says. “It’s a recipe for a beautiful yard and colorful landscape while protecting Florida’s environment and natural resources. You can have turf, native plants, and other plants bred for Florida’s climate to be drought tolerant, pest resistant, noninvasive and still easy to maintain.”
You can read the entire piece here.
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