The 100 Tree Project
Is it possible to plant enough trees to become carbon neutral for one year?
At the start of last year, as many others did too, I fully woke up to the climate and ecological crisis. Ever since reading the IPCC report in October 2018 I knew that we were in a serious situation and that things have to change and fast. Prior to this I’d been aware of global warming, of course. It was taught in school as a theory that will affect the future, not something we need to be too concerned about and certainly without advice about how to act to minimise this. Of course writing about environmental issues I’d been aware of climate change for a while but still I wasn’t actioning much. If you’ve followed my work for a while you’ll know that I’ve focused a lot on physical waste, the waste I can see and have made significant reductions to this (we now fill only 2 wheelie bins each year as a family of 4). However, this is not enough. I still strongly believe it is important but I knew last year I needed to do more.
So, at the start of the year I calculated my carbon footprint using an online carbon calculator and found out that I was producing 7.4 tonnes of carbon each year. It’s a rough way to calculate this but it gave me something to go on. I then did a bit of reading as to how much carbon a single tree takes in. This is even more of a rough calculation but I wanted a goal as to how many trees I should personally plant to become carbon neutral. I came up with the figure of 100. This is not absolutely scientifically correct, to do that would involve a lot more work and probably have put me off completing this project.
So I can reveal in 2019 I planted 94 trees:
I have used the search engine Ecosia 1481 times. Ecosia plants a tree roughly every 45 searches so that’s 40 trees.
I bought 49 trees for me through Just One Tree (It’s this unrounded number as I bought one on behalf of my oldest daughter too).
I shopped at Boobalou , an online eco-friendly shop, twice. They plant one tree per order so that’s 2 trees.
I paid for our Christmas tree to stay living in a field all year by buying a living tree from Christmas Trees For Life – The Family Tree = 1 Tree.
As a Christmas gift I received a tree dedication from the Woodland Trust = 1 tree
I left our buddleia in the garden and let it grow and grow and it became a tree! 1 tree
I scattered tree seeds like acorns, picking them up when they fell on the pavement and placing them on grass verges, especially the bits with bare soil. Of all the apples I have eaten nearly all of the cores has been put under my hedge. Birds have eaten them and potentially deposited the seeds all over town! I have also thrown cherry stones and pear cores around in the garden! 0 trees? It’s hard to know the impact of this but it’s likely I’ve got something growing by my seed scattering antics! However, I haven't counted this in my total.
I feel bad to admit I haven’t really got my hands dirty doing this, however, it shows just how easy it is to plant trees!
Alongside this I continued to make changes to actually reduce the amount of carbon I produced. I did this by:
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Continuing my waste reducing mission! By buying unpackaged food I am creating less carbon; all packaging creates a carbon footprint.
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Reducing the amount of dairy I eat. I have been a vegetarian for 27 years, this diet has a lower carbon footprint already compared to a diet including meat. However, dairy has a higher carbon footprint than plants. I now nearly always have a plant-based breakfast, often have a plant-based lunch and sometimes have a plant-based dinner. I have mostly stopped putting milk in my tea (as an avid tea-drinker this was a big, yet surprisingly simple swap! Who knew tea tastes better without milk!). This means that my carbon footprint is probably a bit less than I calculated (yippee!)
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We have gone down to one vehicle for our family. This has encouraged us to walk more and use public transport more (again this has meant my carbon footprint is a bit less than calculated).
With all these changes plus the planting of 94 trees, I am happy to declare that last year I was probably just about carbon neutral! Is this enough? No! We need to be carbon zero. We need systematic changes. Individuals can not do this alone we need governments around the world to act now. Last year I was involved with two Extinction Rebellion protests and marched as part of the Global Climate Strike in September. I have also helped to distribute the Hourglass, a newspaper written by Extinction Rebellion and I have challenged and supported local schools to do more. I have posted extensively about climate change on my social media. Reducing carbon emissions is a crucial element in the book I wrote last year 52 Tips to Reduce Waste. I have talked about climate change in conversations to friends, family in fact whenever it comes up in conversation in a way I have never done before. So the 100 tree project has been a success but I’m still creating carbon emissions, you are still creating carbon emissions, almost every person is damaging the planet with carbon. We need to keep planting trees and we need significant systematic changes.
Just so you know this is NOT a sponsored post. I have put links to companies I used in case you want to find out more about them. I do some freelance work for Boobalou but I also shop with them as a customer.
Thank you so much to my fantastic Patrons including Nature and Nurture Baby Vitamins.
If you feel you could spare a pound (or more!) to support me in creating blog posts, videos, social-media content and spreading the eco-friendly message into schools and community groups check out my Patreon page.
For more ways to reduce your carbon footprint check out my ebook "52 Tips To Reduce Waste."
