Despite her passion for raising awareness of climate change concerns, Laura Tobin has faced scrutiny from some viewers of ITV’s Good Morning Britain for jetting off to film TV segments about the environment. The TV presenter and weather expert has now addressed the criticism in an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, where she collaborated with Flood Re to launch an innovative Flood Resilient Garden.
TV presenter Laura addressed one particular case of backlash she endured about her carbon footprint, after flying to the Arctic with her GMB crew to film a report discussing climate change. The star recalled: “If I do something, like, we flew to the Arctic, people said, ‘Oh, you’re going to the Arctic to talk about climate change, why are you flying there?’
“We had minimal crew, we flew economy, we offset our carbon footprint, because it was much more valuable to the planet for us telling a story that people would have heard, rather than not going, and not telling it.”
Despite some negative comments being sparked by Laura’s trip, the weather presenter also received plenty of praise from viewers who had been educated by the segment. She continued: “And the amount of people that came to us and said, ‘Oh my goodness, we talked about this school, we changed our way of living and found things that we could do to make a difference’.”
Referencing her Everyday Ways to Save Our Planet guide, Laura explained: “That’s why I wrote a book, because I want people to know that little, tiny things make a difference.
“So I feel like the more people who try and make great, green, innovative changes – be it small or big – that will lead other people to do the same.”
This Spring, Laura and Flood Re are encouraging gardeners to make their green spaces more adaptable to heavy rain, after the UK faced its second-wettest October to March period on record.
Scientists have confirmed that climate change was a major factor in Brits suffering such a waterlogged winter.
Describing the Chelsea Flower Show display, Laura shared: “There’s high sides on all the shrubs, and then it goes into the the waterways, and then that goes down into the pond – so there’s a lovely stream that goes back to the pond.
“And then the pond has small amounts of irrigation underneath it, so that it slowly permeates into the ground and stores as much water as possible. And then they’ve got loads of dense planting, which slows the flow of water.”
Marvelling at the garden, Laura continued: “There’s just so many things that people can take away and use in their garden – it’s not just like a flood resistant garden and it looks really ugly, it just looks pretty! It looks prettier than most of the other gardens.
“So it’s just showing that you can be flood resistant, and have the right kind of plants that have really deep roots that mean in the summertime, it can still find the water. So it’s just basically future proofing your garden.
“I think that one in eight gardens were flooded last year – so if we can prevent that flooding, then that will then prevent house flooding – it means that the water goes back into the waterways quicker.”
Laura Tobin has teamed up with Flood Re to launch the Flood Resilient Garden at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The garden has been carefully designed to show people how to make their gardens both beautiful and resilient to the effects of flooding. To learn more about how to harness your garden as a flood prevent tool visit www.floodre.co.uk/flood-resilient-garden
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