Plant trees with TreeTwist to make a positive and carbon emission offsetting contribution towards a better environment

Our Impact on Our Earth 

 

Carbon emissions -

 

   We cannot continue to use energy at our present rate. Statistics given on the government website www.sustainable-development.gov.uk  show that some calculations suggest that three planets' worth of resources would be needed to roll out UK levels of consumption globally.  We need to cut back our carbon emissions, we need to consider what we do everyday, and what we need to do going forward. We need to take responsibility.  It is not enough to simply try and offset and carry on as though nothing is happening. We need to cut back AND offset. And when we offset, we need to make sure that it is in projects that are managed responsibly, and that are accountable to us.

In the UK, households are responsible for around 25% of total Carbon emissions. And household energy demands continue to rise

If you have any comments to make, or wish to add a fact to this page, please email us on info@treetwist.co.uk

To calculate your own carbon footprint, by using the National Energy Foundation CO2 calculator, click here

UK households are the most energy-inefficient in Europe. Our passion for our tumble dryers (4,000 watts per hour), our habit of leaving appliances on standby and our reluctance to live without energy intensive incandescent bulbs sets us apart. The average household uses 10 kWh every day on powering lights and appliances alone, and overall we produce an average six tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Thousands of goods we buy off the shelves are now as well travelled as the average celebrity or cabinet minister. There is a huge  carbon cost involved. Every kiwi fruit, or avocado flown from New Zealand, for instance, emits five times its own weight in carbon dioxide emissions and the average shopping basket of food has clocked up the same miles as flying to the moon. Between 25 and 30 per cent of the UK's overall carbon dioxide emissions are attributed to food production and transportation. Food miles also tarnish organic food's halo - 70 per cent is imported.*

Food is not the only consumable with a high carbon cost: In 2005, 19,000 tonnes of flowers were imported into the UK from Kenya, racking up 33,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. (The Observer)

TreeTwist projects do not erase all this, but they help. If you agree to purchase one TreeTie, TreeClip or WristTwist, you add a tree to the environment. This doesn't equate to a flight to South America, or even 1000 miles in your car, you won't wash your carbon footprint away, but you are responsible for the addition of a tree to a forest that was once described as the Lungs of Britain. It makes sense that any managed and properly planted and tended tree will generate an ongoing reduction in CO2 emissions, carbon off setting that without your input would not have happened. TreeTwist Ltd does not advocate carbon offsetting INSTEAD of trying to cut carbon emissions back, but in conjunction with it. A TreeTwist is a beautiful link to a good thing.  Buy a TreeTwist, plant a tree and you are helping.

Click here to dedicate a tree

 

Some Carbon Facts:

The average Briton produces 126 time more Carbon Dioxide than someone living in Nepal, in fact CO2 emissions from using an electric kettle for one year are equivalent to an average person's TOTAL annual CO2 emissions in Nepal. (Source :John Vidal, The Guardian)

The Environment Agency has invited experts to name the people who have done most to save the planet; Father Christmas comes in at 100, for his "sleek, no-carbon operation (Source : David Adam, Environment Correspondent, Tuesday November 28, 2006. The Guardian)

A spokesman for the Met Office said it is "virtually certain" that this autumn (2006) will be the warmest for 300 years.

A leading  climatologist has said that Europe's Alpine region is going through its warmest period in 1,300 years

30,089 people have committed to saving their 20% on www.est.org.uk

A survey by British Gas has revealed that Tudor houses are more energy efficient than many homes built between the 1960s and 1990s

A dripping tap wastes enough hot water in one week to half fill a bath.

Tony Blair said 'If each household had three energy-saving light bulbs you would save enough energy, to fund the equivalent of all the street lighting in Britain

For more, click here

 

To add a fact, email us on info@treetwist.co.uk

As you look at this computer screen you leave a trail of carbon. It is frustrating to be part of a problem when what you want is to be part of a solution. But society isn't geared  to make this easy for you. We live in a fossil fuel powered world. It is almost impossible to opt out, and therefore almost impossible not to contribute to global warming.

Scary Global Warming facts

Problems facing the Caledonian Forest

Woodland in decline

The Doomsday clock

Thermohaline Circulation (or potential lack of ) ~ as in The Day After Tomorrow

Save Our Seas!

One Way to make a difference

 

Woodland in decline.

And it isn't just carbon. We need to be taking more care of our forests, managing them properly as Trees For Life do. The Sunday Telegraph (Jan 28 2007) reports that many animals and plants are at risk as 'half of our woodlands are derelict'. Dormice, Woodpeckers and bats are on the verge of dying out because our ancient forests have been so neglected.  Some woods and forests, more than  400 years old have been so poorly managed and broken up in to isolated fragments so small that they are no longer able to support rich wildlife. Jonathan Wentworth, an environmental advisor, said that the forests are 'losing the very wildlife that people use to define British woodland'. Ancient woods now cover just 2% of the country. Although there has bee replanting, many of the ancient techniques used to manage and maintain healthy woodland have been neglected. A reduction in coppicing (cutting down trees on a rotational basis to create clearings) has meant that canopies have blocked out sunlight to such an extent that smaller plants, flowers and insects have suffered A survey of the woodland plants life has revealed that 56 out of 72 key plant species have become significantly less common over the past 30 years. For once it isn't all down to climate change.  Supporting organisations such as Trees for Life helps sustain forest and woodland in healthy condition.

 The following statistics are from the Woodland Trust, striving to safeguard what remains of our woodland.

The UK is one of the least wooded areas in Europe. The European average for area wooded is 44 %. Here in the UK that figure is only 12%

Almost 50% of woodland that remained intact in 1930 has now been damaged or destroyed.

85% of the remaining woodland has no protective legislative designation

UK woods are home to 230 species under threat - more than any other habitat. 46 species associated with traditional native broadleaf woodlands have become extinct since the start of the 20th century.

To find out more about the internal life of woodland or forestland, click here

Which trees are best for offsetting carbon?

Click on the link to find out more.

 

To dedicate a tree and take action today, click here!

 

 

 




The summer of 2003 was Europe’s hottest for 500 years. The heatwave caused 28,000 premature deaths across the continent

 

 

Scientists have said that the Scottish Crossbill, found only in Scotland, might have to move to Iceland because of global warming, but they warned it was unlikely that the bird would survive the move.

BBC.

 

Between 25 and 30 per cent of the UK's overall carbon dioxide emissions are attributed to food production and transportation. Food miles also tarnish organic food's halo - 70 per cent is imported.

The Observer.

 

 

 

 

It is already too late to stop any further atmospheric warming, due to the inertia of the climate system; even if greenhouse gas emissions were reduced to pre-industrial levels within the next 100 years, average temperatures would not stabilise for several centuries, sea levels would continue to rise due to thermal expansion and melting ice for several millennia