Aren’t trees great? They’re eco-warriors personified. They take in carbon dioxide and give us oxygen. They provide a haven for wildlife. They give us delicious fruits to eat. They’re beautiful to look at. And frankly, there’s a reason why they’re called the lungs of the Earth.
But, despite all these incredible reasons to love trees, deforestation continues to destroy woodlands and jungles to this day. In fact, we’re losing forests at a rate of 27 football pitches per minute.
Let that sink in. A staggering 27 football pitches worth of trees disappear every minute.
Um, guys. Can we stop? We kind of need those to like, survive as a species.
That’s where brilliant organisations like Eden Reforestation come in. Eden Reforestation is fighting back by planting trees all over the world to curb the worst effects of deforestation. And they’re doing a pretty banging job at it too.
What is Eden Reforestation?
Some heroes don’t wear capes, and the folks at Eden Reforestation exemplify this perfectly.
Their motto is “it takes a village to raise a forest”.
They plant trees in places like Haiti, Mozambique, Indonesia, Kenya, and Brazil to protect ecosystems and tackle climate change.
But it’s not all about trees to these guys. They also empower local communities by hiring people in remote villages to plant trees in their local area. They improve people’s financial well-being, help get kids into schools, and restore natural habitats through tree-planting initiatives.
All over the world, local communities are thriving as wildlife and natural habitats flourish thanks to the hard-working team behind the charity.
Bottom line is, the peeps at Eden Reforestation are doing a whole lot of good. And they’ve been at it since 2005 with a brilliant track record so far. Let’s take a look at the impact they’ve had on our planet since they got started.
What’s Eden Reforestation’s impact?
Every month, Eden Reforestation plants millions of trees all over the world using their bottom-up approach where nearly 15,000 local employees are paid a fair wage to plant, protect, and grow trees.
That’s right; these guys don’t just put some seeds in the ground and congratulate themselves on a job well done. They make sure the saplings become trees that make our planet a little greener.
They currently have 280 unique projects across 10 countries. And so far, the charity has planted more than 977,000,000 trees all over the world. Given their efforts, they’re on track to reach a billion soon.
That’s not bad.
A single tree could absorb around a tonne of CO2 over a lifetime of 100 years. Btw, have you ever wondered what a tonne of CO2 actually looks like? It’s such an abstract concept, right? Well, we did our best to illustrate it here. So take a look if you’re interested.
So a tonne of CO2 might not solve climate change, but it’s sure to make a small difference at least. After all, a billion trees mean a billion tonnes of CO2 captured over the next century.
It’s no surprise then, that they have more than 1,200 corporate partners, including Zixty, who back their efforts and support them through carbon offsetting initiatives.
How does Eden Reforestation work with local communities?
Eden Reforestation recognises that “it takes a village to raise a forest”. That’s why they work with local people to make their projects a success. And their grassroots approach has worked.
Get it? Grassroots! Anyway…
The idea is as follows; people are employed to plant and care for trees in areas where Eden Reforestation operates. These people receive a fair wage to restore badly-degraded areas.
As a result, families are able to put food on the table, parents are able to send their children to school, and micro-enterprises are popping up providing further work for local communities.
For instance, a single mother of four in Mozambique who worried about putting food on the table can now send her kids to school because, for the first time in her life, she has a steady income.
Eden Reforestation doesn’t just employ people in menial jobs. It provides job progression opportunities, training, and support for communities to ensure they thrive and take pride in their restored ecosystem.
What are the benefits of reforestation?
Trees are superheroes. And reforestation comes with so many benefits for the planet and people in general.
At its most basic, growing trees can help restore ecosystems that have been damaged by deforestation, while also providing a habitat for native wildlife. Reforestation can also help improve air quality by reducing air pollution because trees store carbon dioxide.
We know reforestation can also have positive impacts on local communities right now. Eden Reforestation shows us exactly how. It stimulates rural development and creates jobs for locals.
The health benefits of reforestation should not be forgotten either – trees act as natural filters that protect us from the sun’s ultraviolet rays by providing shade, while simultaneously releasing oxygen into the atmosphere that we need to survive.
Reforestation is an invaluable activity with lots of benefits for our planet and its inhabitants alike – making it an excellent option for restoring biodiversity and creating green spaces in our environment.
Are there any downsides to reforestation?
Reforestation has a valuable role to play, but is by no means a magic bullet when it comes to addressing climate change. Tree planting requires space, and space can often be limited. Not all areas have expanses of land available where it makes sense to plant trees. Especially because we often need that land to grow other things, like the food we need to survive as a species.
When reforestation efforts are concentrated in areas where they benefit the local economy and community, they can be a force of good. They’re part of the solution – not a route to eco absolution.
Eden Reforestation and Zixty: How you can plant trees with short term car insurance
Here at Zixty, we work with Eden Reforestation to help you carbon offset your car journeys. It’s simple, really.
When you take out a temporary car insurance policy with us and enable the free Zixty Miles add-on, we carbon offset your journeys up to 100 miles each day while you’re a customer. Also, we plant a tree every time you take out a policy.
We’re pretty much the only short term car insurance policy in the UK that lets you plant trees all over the world on your drive to Tesco.
We do this through our partnership with Eden Reforestation. Like we said, these guys know what they’re doing. So we trust them to grow your trees from saplings to fully-fledged climate warriors hell-bent on zapping carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Other Zixty Spotlights
If you’d like to read more about other green initiatives, why not head on over to Zixty Spotlight: National Trust tree planting scheme, or all about finding and booking eco travel options using BookSmart24, and finally Giki Zero is a neat solution to help you understand and reduce your carbon footprint.
