We designed the Aurora Climate Garden to be an edible “pocket forest”. There are no isolated plots, the entire area forms a system. Horticultural knowledge and food security are extremely important for adapting to climate change. However, our project aims to actually slow down and mitigate these changes. How? By restoring the natural ecosystem in this small corner of the city.
To achieve this, we compost a lot and recycle urban waste. Our tools, whenever possible, are native, edible, useful plants and herbs. Our best allies are soil bacteria, fungi and earthworms, not to mention the birds, bees, spiders and beetles that follow them. We design according to the principles of permaculture and use a variety of regenerative agroforestry techniques to transform the area into a living, self-sustaining microclimate.
We are trying to discover the secret to building healthy soil through experience. We know that the more plants we grow, the more solar energy we can harness, and thus the more organic carbon we can bind in the soil, which can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Organic carbon bound in the soil also helps restore the water cycle by retaining water in the soil. The more rain we can retain in the system, the more ways we can use it during dry periods. We provide habitat for countless species of plants and animals because biodiversity increases the natural resilience of the system, thus providing protection against extremes of climate change.
In five years, our old parking lot has become a completely self-sustaining, cooling green space in the heart of the city – a living, working model where we can share our produce, our compost, but most importantly, all the knowledge and experience we have gained over the years.
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