If you’re a regular reader you’ll know I’ve been grappling with the whole climate change issue for a while now.
Back in January 2009 I tried to set up a tree planting charity with a few other people from the industry, and actually went as far as creating website called Trees4Windows.com. At the time, I lost a bit of enthusiasm when I received negative feedback from some quarters, and then buried myself back into work commitments. But, I never stopped thinking that I would at some point like to get involved with planting trees on a large scale.
Then, more recently I’ve been thinking about climate change a lot more, as a result of the post I wrote about whether humans are responsible for anthropogenic global warming. The debate between John O’Sullivan and Canbanjo allowed me to research both the skeptic and ‘warmist’ points of view, and I’ve read a lot about the science supporting human induced global warming.
I have come to the conclusion that whether or not global warming is happening, the risks associated with not acting are greater than those associated with acting. So, I am going to try cut my own personal CO2 emissions as much as I can, and try to reduce those of my company. (By the way, I decided to order a BMW 318d rather than the Jag or the milk float, as the CO2 emissions are lowish, and fuel economy will save me money).

I then started researching tree planting again. Back in January 2009 I met up with the Woodland Trust to see if we could set up a deal with them for planting trees on a large scale, and with other companies from our industry taking part. The problem for me was that to sponsor a tree is around £15 – which covers the cost of the tree, planting it, purchase of land, maintaining it over the coming years and a contribution towards the overheads of the charity. To me, that’s not good value for money, and not enough trees could be planted.
So, I started researching dorestation and reforestion projects in the Amazon Rainforest. There does seem to be a lot of focus on the Amazon Rainforest, and for very good reasons. I found that the rate of deforestation in the area has slowed over recent years, so I then started researching deforestation in Africa, and found this website:
I was immediately impressed with the website and liked the feel of the charity, probably because it reminded me of Heal. Ripple Africa is run by a husband and wife team, Geoff and Liz Furber, who are based in Buckingham. They set up the charity around five years ago after purchasing a small property next to Lake Malawi and decided to start helping out the local community.
Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world and the charity is involved in education, healthcare and environmental projects. In particular, Geoff and Liz have put a lot of time and effort into setting up tree nurseries.

According to the website:
Trees in Malawi are being cut down at an alarming rate. An area of forest the size of a football pitch is cut down every 10 minutes. This tree planting project is centred in Nkhata Bay District, Malawi, Africa, an area of 4,000 sq.km which is about the size of Kent. Ultimately, we want to set up 400 community tree nurseries growing a total of 4 million trees per year.
Since 2006, we have helped 176 community tree nurseries to plant over three million trees, and we estimate that 3,000 people are working on this project. We are planting a combination of indigenous, exotic and fruit trees. The main aims of the project are to provide sustainable timber in woodlots for firewood, building, etc., to restore degraded land by planting indigenous trees, and to provide additional food using fruit trees and nitrogen-fixing trees. In addition to tree planting, we are also involved in environmental awareness training.
So, I made contact and went down to meet Geoff and Liz on Monday to find out more, particularly about the environmental side of their work. I have to say, the passion and hard work that they put into this small charity is very inspiring, and they do it for free as volunteers. The vast majority of the money they raise is sent to Malawi where they are now the largest employer in that area of Malawi.
They accept that it has not all been plain sailing, and they are still learning as they go, but they are making a real difference to the lives of very poor people.
I have decided to support the work of Ripple Africa, and particularly help fund their tree nursery projects. We have agreed to fund 24 tree nurseries which will plant in the region of 72,000 trees per year. We will promote the relationship with Ripple Africa through our Conservatory Outlet website. The detail needs sorting out, but we will promote something like ‘For every conservatory we install, we will plant 50 trees in Malawi’.
I hate to use the term ‘carbon offsetting’ as the planting of trees in Malawi is more than just trying to help climate change. Ripple Africa’s primar environmental objectives are to help local communities in Malawi to:
plant trees
reduce deforestation and land degradation
protect and manage the local environment
develop sustainable local livelihoods
alleviate poverty
I’m not for one minute suggesting that by partnering with Ripple Africa I’ll be making a massive contribution to fighting global warming. The problem needs tackling head on by world leaders on a macro scale with a massive change in how we look at energy generation.
For me, I’m happy to be helping a small charity make a big difference. I’ll finish this post by recommending you view the following video:
You can view other videos from Ripple Africa at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/rippleafrica#p/u
If other companies are interested in helping Ripple Africa with their environmental projects, please contact me. There is also the potential to resurrect the Trees4Windows concept with the focus on planting trees in Malawi. I hope to visit Malawi in the Summer and see the tree nurseries in action.
In the meantime, I look forward to hearing your constructive thoughts…














