Operation Breaking Stones
You know them: those fully tiled gardens or the path to the front door and for the rest a large gravel pit as if a racing car could fly out of the bend at any moment. All because people want to have a low-maintenance garden.
Anyone with a little gardening experience knows that even with such a stone front yard it is an illusion. At first it goes well, but soon seeds and spores manage to find the cracks and the stones turn greener. With a lot of effort, nature can be controlled again, but it is not beautiful.
Caption: Plants growing in the pavement
Why not opt ââfor more green and colourful, instead of such a concrete garden? It makes people and animals happy and it offers even more benefits. With the right layout, such a garden may even be less labour-intensive in the long run than the concrete version.
Municipalities faced with cutbacks have once compared the costs of constructing and managing various types of surfacing compared to âgreenâ. It soon became apparent that paving and its maintenance (including construction and replacement) are a much more expensive option.
In addition, no account has been taken of the fact that all that pavement causes a large peak load of rainwater drainage. In recent years we have regularly been confronted with flooded cellars and streets in the Netherlands. It is expected that these types of heavy showers will only occur more frequently in the future.
Operation Breaking Stones (Saxifrage)
The action âOperation Steenbreekâ is named after the small plant Saxifraga (Saxifraga), whose name is derived from the Latin words âsaxumâ = âstoneâ and âfrangereâ = âbreakâ. Many species of this genus seem to actually be able to break rock and can be found in crevices and spaces in rocks in mountain areas. In Operation Saxifrage, we also break away rocks to make room for plants!
Caption: Diemerpark at Zeeburg Amsterdam
Green Cities
In the city, all that stone has even more adverse effects. It exacerbates the heat island effect (Urban Heath Island). Temperatures in the city can be up to 7 ° C higher than in the countryside.
A petrified living environment reduces biodiversity. Butterflies, (wild) bees and other insects cannot reproduce and live there. As a result, many bird species, bats and other animals that depend on these insects do not survive in the city.
In periods of drought, all that paving has the opposite negative effect than flooding. Plants and trees cannot benefit from moisture buffered by the soil, because all the water is always quickly drained.
Caption: Caption: Isala Hospital Zwolle
Green around us provides air purification (particle dust) and reduces stress. Patients who are allowed to heal in a green environment appear to recover faster. Greenery provides relaxation, fun and there is always something to discover. Even particularly busy children (ADD ADHD) can relax or let off steam.
Stone Age
We seem to have entered a stone or perhaps concrete era. To make people aware of this, Operation Steenbreek was officially started on 28 January 2015 in Leeuwarden. Experts held a symposium at Van Hall / Larenstein University of Applied Sciences, supported by studies by students about how our gardens can be made liveable again. They show that a green garden does not necessarily have to be very expensive and that paving is a much more expensive solution to purchase.
The cities of Leeuwarden, Amersfoort, Groningen, The Hague and Eindhoven already have experience with these types of projects. Together we turn the city into a green oasis with living space for people and animals.