1,078,000 trees. That’s the number of trees The Conservation Volunteers’ partnership with OVO Energy celebrated being planted with their I Dig Trees programme in 2019.
With 370,000 trees up for grabs this year, the biggest yearly pledge to date, the 2020/21 tree planting seasons looks to be even bigger!
With the start of the tree planting season, quickly approaching, we are taking a look at why trees are so important in the fight against climate change and how you can still be part of this year’s effort whilst remaining COVID-19 safe.
Looking back at the 2019/20 planting season
Last year, the climate crisis dominated the news agenda around the world. School children across the globe went on strike, people marched to demand action from their leaders and governments and promises of more trees being planted by governments across the globe were promised.
With the coronavirus lockdown beginning as the 2019/20 tree planting season drew to a close, the climate crisis has taken a backseat to a more immediate threat. However, this doesn’t mean the crisis has stopped.
In 2019, we kicked off the tree planting season with a fantastic TCV 60th Anniversary Tree Planting Event in West Hampstead, London. Over 100 TCV volunteers joined us to plant 3,500 new native trees.
Our I Dig Tree partners OVO Energy joined us for the special event and by the end of the season, we reached over 1 million trees planted through I Dig Trees since the programme began!
If laid out tip to tip, the trees planted as part of I Dig Trees would reach from Aberdeen to London, or collectively cover 46,750 tennis courts! It’s easy to see why I Dig Trees won the Charity Times Award for Corporate Social Responsibility Project of the Year.
TCV and OVO Energy promised that next year would be bigger and better as we encouraged more people across the UK to plant trees in a bid to beat climate change, and whilst lockdown may have put a stop to our spring and summer activities, we’re hopeful that we will be able to make good on our promise this autumn and winter.
2020/21 Tree Planting Season
With lockdown measures changing regularly, we are working hard behind the scenes to ensure that we are able to go ahead with our tree planting plans for this season.
The planting of trees is an important and simple thing that we can all do to contribute to the fight against the climate crisis. Trees help to reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere by absorbing carbon dioxide, using the carbon to produce sugars for tree growth and releasing the oxygen back into the air.
In April, due to the global lockdown, daily global carbon emissions were down by 17% compared to 2019, but they rose to just a 5% decrease by June.
As lockdown measures have eased around the world, the brief respite we had in global emissions will be long forgotten, therefore it is important that we focus on what we can do now to protect our planet for the future generations.
That is why for the 2020/21 tree planting season, I Dig Trees is pledging its largest number of trees to date: 370,000! However, none of the success of I Dig Trees happen without the help of YOU, our wonderful volunteers, coming together to make a difference.
For climate. For wildlife. For communities – I Dig Trees! To find out more about I Dig Trees visit our website or follow us on Twitter to keep up-to-date with the latest TCV news.
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