Metro (UK)

‘Gardens can help save the planet’

DESIGNER FELICITY O’ROURKE TELLS CLARE MORRISROE HOW HER EXTINCTION GARDEN WAS DESIGNED TO INSPIRE US TO RECONNECT WITH NATURE

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IT WAS a shocking scene that visitors to the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival were not expecting: a full-size passenger jet crashed into the ground with suitcases spilling from the smoking fuselage. Instead of colourful blooms, the award-winning show garden was littered with odd shoes, children’s toys and random holiday items. There was no fence – just the billowing yellow tape of a police crime scene.

As she watched the reactions of the public, the garden’s creator, Felicity O’Rouke – a former airline pilot – could see her disturbing­ly powerful message was hitting home. That the human race is hurtling at great speed towards its own destructio­n.

‘The aircraft is one of mankind’s most notable achievemen­ts, while also contributi­ng to climate change and now ironically to the rapid spread of Covid-19,’ says Felicity, who won an RHS silver medal for her Extinction Garden. ‘It addresses the sixth mass extinction threat to our planet, caused by our continual exploitati­on and destructio­n of its natural resources and ancient ecosystems.

‘Climate change is not just about the extinction of the orangutans in the Asian rainforest­s and polar bears on the melting ice caps. As the recent extreme and unpredicta­ble weather events around the globe are

‘I wanted to shock people... without compassion there can be no motivation for change’

demonstrat­ing, the survival of our own species is now at risk, too.‘

How to portray that in a garden was Felicity’s biggest challenge. ‘As a former commercial airline pilot, I wanted to shock people to take notice. To see a crashed airplane instils a deep, visceral sense of loss. Without grief there can be no compassion – and without compassion there can be no motivation for change.’

Through the door of the wreckage is a forest of ancient plants, which existed long before humankind set foot on this planet and, says Felicity, will survive long after our own extinction. ‘We might be the dominant species on the earth but we are not superior. Recently we have become so detached from nature, we forget that we are nature. Now we must work with nature to protect our future.’

However, mum-of-three Felicity believes it’s not too late. ‘The agricultur­al, industrial and technology revolution­s have brought huge achievemen­ts for humankind – but they have also impacted the planet adversely. Now the scientific revolution is giving us the ability to monitor how these ‘achievemen­ts’ have tipped the global environmen­tal scales and threaten our future.

‘The recent pandemic has highlighte­d our incredible capacity to change in the face of an imminent threat. We now need to tackle climate change with the same urgency.’

And we can all do our bit to help. ‘Our gardens are mini ecosystems – collective­ly, gardens in the UK amount to the size of the Lake District and Peak District combined – which emphasises the role we all have in contributi­ng to a richer, greener and more diverse environmen­t.’

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says we must work with nature to protect
our future
Shock value: Felicity says we must work with nature to protect our future
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