I remember when National Tree Week landed last year, at the beginning of my first year of business and I was excited to have a reason to post about my favourite trees each day.
Reflecting back on those posts, I feel even more strongly that my favourite tree was the apple tree in my grandparents’ garden. That’s because of all the memories and feelings that those memories stir up as I used to stand on the garden wall and pick the apples with my grandad.
Reflecting back on those posts, I feel even more strongly that my favourite tree was the apple tree in my grandparents’ garden. That’s because of all the memories and feelings that those memories stir up as I used to stand on the garden wall and pick the apples with my grandad.
Having recently moved to the Vale of Glamorgan I was lucky enough to pick up some spare apples from a neighbour’s apple tree this autumn. There is nothing more comforting than apple crumble and custard on a Sunday autumn evening.
Here we go into National Tree Week again. I feel a little more enlightened over this week of celebration this year.
National Tree week happens at this time of year as it is the time of year when new trees and hedges are planted. This year I have become involved with a Replant volunteer group. The village that I have moved to has the lowest canopy cover of the county so there is a big drive by this local group to plant trees to increase that canopy cover.
The last 2 weekends have been a flurry of activity. Last Saturday we planted 345 trees on an area of grassland owned by a local business.
Here we go into National Tree Week again. I feel a little more enlightened over this week of celebration this year.
National Tree week happens at this time of year as it is the time of year when new trees and hedges are planted. This year I have become involved with a Replant volunteer group. The village that I have moved to has the lowest canopy cover of the county so there is a big drive by this local group to plant trees to increase that canopy cover.
The last 2 weekends have been a flurry of activity. Last Saturday we planted 345 trees on an area of grassland owned by a local business.
This weekend we planted a hedgerow on a small area of land which had been cleared during the redevelopment revamp of a local church.
The purpose of the week is to celebrate trees and all the amazing things that trees do.
🌳They sequester and store carbon in their structure and remove CO2 from the atmosphere
🌳They provide shade in hot summer months which can reduce urban temperatures by as much as 10 degrees centigrade
🌳They remove pollution from the air, helping keep urban areas safe in particular around schools and dense housing areas.
🌳They can prevent flooding from happening, and we are all aware of flooding as an increased risk with climate change
🌳They provide a habitat for other plants, animals and fungi
🌳They can provide us with food
🌳They can improve the mental health
🌳 They contribute to soil health
The year has felt like trees have had a centre-stage like never before. The Queen’s Green Canopy as part of the jubilee really highlighted trees and replanting as critical for all of us. I have been lucky enough to be involved in cases where I am aware that trees from the Queen’s tree-of-trees will be located and replanted to flourish and grow.
Dispute this attention I remain surprised by the extremes in some views on trees. Whilst planning authorities, the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales and the Forestry Commission can protect trees with legislation, it leaves vulnerable those trees which are alleged to be causing a nuisance, trees which are diseased and trees which are unprotected and are within private ownership.
As I’ve learned from the Cambridge University Sustainability in Business Course, we cannot wait for legislation to bring about environmental change as the pace of that cannot be quick enough, we have to move that forward more quickly with cultural and attitude change.
We need to make people enthusiastic about planting trees in their garden, prioritising trees over parking spaces, happy to live with fallen autumn leaves and tolerating the space that growing trees in our urban environment need.
This is one of the reasons I have been hugely inspired this last month with news of the Welsh Government’s scheme to donate a free tree to each household in Wales to plant in their garden. These are all donated from the Woodland Trust and come with guidance on how and, critically (with my lawyer hat on) where to plant them. I have found my local tree donation hub and will be attending soon to pick up my tree.
Also meeting the social enterprise Yes Make at the London Tree Officers meeting last week. Hearing about the amazing work that they do to repurpose fallen or felled trees within inner London to retain the wood within the local area. They use the wood to create sculptures and street furniture and get kids and local residents involved in projects. (see photo, credit from Yes Make Instagram account). This really is so exciting. Not only do those residents learn new skills but this sort of work starts moving the needle in terms of attitude change to get people appreciating the value of the trees that are around them.
🌳They sequester and store carbon in their structure and remove CO2 from the atmosphere
🌳They provide shade in hot summer months which can reduce urban temperatures by as much as 10 degrees centigrade
🌳They remove pollution from the air, helping keep urban areas safe in particular around schools and dense housing areas.
🌳They can prevent flooding from happening, and we are all aware of flooding as an increased risk with climate change
🌳They provide a habitat for other plants, animals and fungi
🌳They can provide us with food
🌳They can improve the mental health
🌳 They contribute to soil health
The year has felt like trees have had a centre-stage like never before. The Queen’s Green Canopy as part of the jubilee really highlighted trees and replanting as critical for all of us. I have been lucky enough to be involved in cases where I am aware that trees from the Queen’s tree-of-trees will be located and replanted to flourish and grow.
Dispute this attention I remain surprised by the extremes in some views on trees. Whilst planning authorities, the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales and the Forestry Commission can protect trees with legislation, it leaves vulnerable those trees which are alleged to be causing a nuisance, trees which are diseased and trees which are unprotected and are within private ownership.
As I’ve learned from the Cambridge University Sustainability in Business Course, we cannot wait for legislation to bring about environmental change as the pace of that cannot be quick enough, we have to move that forward more quickly with cultural and attitude change.
We need to make people enthusiastic about planting trees in their garden, prioritising trees over parking spaces, happy to live with fallen autumn leaves and tolerating the space that growing trees in our urban environment need.
This is one of the reasons I have been hugely inspired this last month with news of the Welsh Government’s scheme to donate a free tree to each household in Wales to plant in their garden. These are all donated from the Woodland Trust and come with guidance on how and, critically (with my lawyer hat on) where to plant them. I have found my local tree donation hub and will be attending soon to pick up my tree.
Also meeting the social enterprise Yes Make at the London Tree Officers meeting last week. Hearing about the amazing work that they do to repurpose fallen or felled trees within inner London to retain the wood within the local area. They use the wood to create sculptures and street furniture and get kids and local residents involved in projects. (see photo, credit from Yes Make Instagram account). This really is so exciting. Not only do those residents learn new skills but this sort of work starts moving the needle in terms of attitude change to get people appreciating the value of the trees that are around them.
Also this year The Woodland Trust deserve further mention with the work that they are doing to protect ancient and veteran trees. At the moment there is nothing which gives these trees additional protection over and above standard methods of tree protection. The Woodland Trust are working hard to ensure the category of ancient or veteran gives the trees additional rights to help with their preservation.
And finally, at Tree Law a mention should go to the charities that we support. A reflection back on last year’s charity donations saw 9% of our donations being made to tree charities. We have targeted ourselves to increase this to 25% this year. We are supporting 9Trees to not only continue to plant trees but also to give us the opportunity to visit our planted trees and enjoy the mental health benefits that being out in nature gives.
So as the Tree Hugging Lawyer I will be celebrating this week and reflecting on all that I have learned this last year on the importance of trees.
What are your plans for National Tree Week?
And finally, at Tree Law a mention should go to the charities that we support. A reflection back on last year’s charity donations saw 9% of our donations being made to tree charities. We have targeted ourselves to increase this to 25% this year. We are supporting 9Trees to not only continue to plant trees but also to give us the opportunity to visit our planted trees and enjoy the mental health benefits that being out in nature gives.
So as the Tree Hugging Lawyer I will be celebrating this week and reflecting on all that I have learned this last year on the importance of trees.
What are your plans for National Tree Week?
