For Government and Organisations
OUR IDEA
We have an idea that every county in Ireland could have one or more reforested areas, which are like nature reserves.
They would be new forests of saplings, planted carefully and designed to suit the special conditions of each area.
People could have access to parts of it, and the rest could be left for nature.
We have called this idea ‘Green Lungs for Every County’. We want to ask the government and any organisations that have land all over Ireland to get involved and plant trees.
WHY PLANT TREES?
1: THE CLIMATE CRISIS
Professor Tom Crowther and his team in Switzerland have shown that planting trees is by far the biggest and cheapest way to reduce carbon in the atmosphere, which is essential if we want to save our climate.
In the world 1.6 billion hectares are or could be available for planting trees — that’s 0.9 billion if you exclude towns and cities and fields for crops.
If we planted as many trees as possible in these areas, we would remove 200 Gigatonnes of carbon from the atmosphere: that’s two thirds of what human activity has put into the air since the industrial revolution. Wow!
There is also research that shows that young forests remove more carbon than when they are fully grown. Another reason why we should plant new trees now.
Ireland is only a small country but that does not mean there are not many available areas where trees could be planted. We can do our bit for the climate by planting native or non-monoculture spruce trees.
2: THE BIODIVERSITY CRISIS
Ireland is losing its biological diversity – that’s the number of different species we live with – at an extraordinary rate, never before seen. So many species are becoming rare and even extinct.
Trees are part of this biodiversity, but in a very special way. By planting more, we will be saving the hundreds of species that need them to survive. For instance, the humble Hawthorn provides food for more than 150 different insect species, such as:
Shieldbugs, Bumblebees, Ladybirds, Lacewings. Many other creatures nest, roost and hibernate in hawthorn, such as: Toads, Wrens, Woodmice, Slowworms, Song thrush, Blackbirds, yellow hammers. These are just a few of the creatures this one species supports.
3: PEOPLE NEED WILD SPACES
We are spending more and more time connected to screens and many of us have no access to a wild space.
Nature is important to people. It is our natural environment and we need it to survive, especially us children. We need a wild space to play in and be free, and forests, even when very young, provide this.
That’s why we think ‘Green Lungs For Every County’ is needed.
If everybody had a wild, growing forest in their county they could visit parts of it whenever they wanted, and get to know the trees.
A walk in the woods improves mental and physical health and is very relaxing too!
We could plant these trees for our future, and save Ireland’s biodiversity and climate at the same time!
We are contacting TDs, Ministers and Senators as well as Organisations in Ireland to see if they can help. If you would like to get involved either as an organisation or individuals who want to help make this happen, please contact us at: ctreec@protonmail.com