Choose compost and natural fertilizers rather than chemical fertilizers

Palm tree, Malaysia
Photograph by Philippe Bourseiller

Overuse of chemical fertilizers containing nitrogen contributes to pollution of water by nitrates. Highly soluble, these chemicals are easily washed away by rain and carried into rivers and aquifers. Nitrates contribute to the eutrophication of rivers by causing them to become over-rich in nutrients, so that algae grow rapidly and deplete the oxygen supply, which suffocates all water life. Large amounts of nitrates in groundwater interfere with drinking-water supplies.

In your garden, use natural fertilizers (stone meal, bone meal or wood ash) and compost made from organic waste to improve soil structure and fertility naturally, effectively and sustainably.

- from the book '365 Ways to save the Earth' by Philippe Bourseiller