Carbon dioxide is responsible for 60% of the greenhouse effect and burning fossil fuels releases the carbon dioxide stored millions of years ago. Deforestation releases not only the carbon store in trees but means that less carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere, creating a vicious circle.
Trees help combat the changes by `breathing in' carbon dioxide in a process called photosynthesis, and `breathing out' oxygen. The more trees we have, the more carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere, and the more we help to combat the change by compensating for the carbon dioxide we produce. This is called `carbon offsetting'.
Carbon offsetting schemes do have a role to play but remember there is no magic way to buy ourselves out of climate change. Ultimately there is no solution to climate change other than to emit less pollution, which means adopting greener lifestyles. See our green tips section.
"A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people." — Franklin Delano Roosevelt
The World Land Trust is an international conservation charity based in Halesworth, a rural town in Suffolk, UK. Since its foundation in 1989 as the World Wide Land Conservation Trust, the World Land Trust has been working to preserve the world's most biologically important and threatened lands, and has helped purchase and protect over 350,000 acres of habitats rich in wildlife, in Belize, Costa Rica, India, the Philippines, South America and the UK.
Woodland Friends is dedicated to recreating native woodland in the UK by turning redundant agricultural land into new, thriving woodland. A variety of sponsorship options are available starting from just £7. You can plant a tree to commemorate a birth, marriage, birthday, anniversary or to help offset your carbon footprint. Only native British trees are planted and sponsors are welcome to visit the site to see their tree and the progress of the woodland. www.woodlandfriends.co.uk
Shiply is a green transport solution. They are the UK’s online transport marketplace where users can list goods they want to transport and then receive very low cost quotes from over 9,000 green transport providers already making similar journeys. By making use of spare capacity in delivery lorries they have been helping to cut down on wasteful journeys (saved over 7,000,000+ miles) and CO2 emissions (3,300,000+ kg) whilst at the same time saving the consumer up to 75% on their move. www.shiply.com
The British Christmas Tree Growers Association insists on growers within its membership comply with its Code of Practice on the environmental and sustainable cultivation of trees for sale. As a natural product the Christmas tree absorbs carbons and particulates and provides oxygen ad wildlife cover during its 10 years of growth. After use the tree can be and is recycled as mulch, footpaths and bridlepaths, river and sand dune protection and fish habitats. www.bctga.co.uk
TreeTwist exists to make it easy and fun for you to plant a tree and make a positive contribution towards our environment. www.treetwist.co.uk/
co2balance.com can help you minimise your carbon emissions and offset the unavoidable residue. Offsetting works by investing funds in sequestration or energy efficiency projects that absorb or prevent the release of a tonnage of CO2 equivalent to your carbon footprint. www.co2balance.uk.com/
Tree-Nation is an ecological project with a focused objective: To plant 8 million trees in Niger, Africa to fight desertification! Large-scale plantation of trees will increase the land's productivity and re-generate the soil. www.tree-nation.com
