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…
Tags: carbon offsetting, Climate Change, deforestation africa, planting trees in africa, reforestation malawi, Ripple Africa
Malawi to be the next bike ride?!
It’s funny you should write this as just today I’ve been looking into how we as a company can up our recycling efforts etc. Perhaps all this CO2 focus can become another selling point for the more eco-savvy customer?
Mr Glover, it’s rare that I say thins but you have let me down severely…………..
A bloody 318d it may help you think ECO friendly and all that but hells teeth. If you ask Andrew to stop driving his Lotus 7 (or Caterham whatever it is) every other weekend that would more than cover the difference in the CO2 savings surely he would sacrifice that for the sake of his brother? BMW have awkward driving angles when you are in the seat trust me for everyone on here say you’ve bought the BMW but go and byuy the Jag you deserve it.
DGB says Malawi bike ride, this is a good idea Mathew, you can’t win, 30 fast growing trees will take 2 years to offset the aircraft trip for 1 passenger there and back.
Solar power or wind, we all have plenty of wind. 318d projects the image required when selling PVCu products, successful enough without rubbing customers noses in it.
Mike – maybe a cycle ride to Malawi will be more suitable. Anybody up for it?
Some numbers to consider comparing tree planting and flights.
Ball park flight energy use here:
http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/withouthotair/c5/page_35.shtml
estimates typical intercontinental flight energy usage to be 30 kWh/d per year
from the carbon translation chart http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/withouthotair/cL/page_371.shtml
you can see 30kWh/d is equivalent to about 2.7 tons of C02 emissions however the author notes that the actual c02 equivalent of flights is likely to be 2 or 3 times that figure, so lets call it 6 tons per person of co2 for 1 trip to Africa and back.
Ripple africa estimates a tree has a net c02 benefit of 10 kg c02 per year which is 0.01 tons, so 600 trees need to be planted as a c02 equivalent of the flight per person.
As Matthew is planning to fund the planting of 72,000 trees per year, he could charter a private jet and still be in C02 credit on this basis…
Matthew are you planning to see some games at the world cup whilst you are down in that neck of the woods?
Matthew, I applaud your efforts in supporting a small charity which can probably have a significant influence on the lives of a small number of people in a small area of Milawi, that in its self is worth while, the fact that you are helping the environment also has its merits.
As a medium sized manufacturer of PVC-u products and If you are truly committed to helping the environment, have you considered the PVC-u profile you manufacture, is it the most environmentally friendly option or is profile cost more important than the environmental cost?
Helping improve the environment is not just about cutting CO2 emissions, there are many more things to consider, the danger in setting yourself up as an environmentalist is that you leave yourself open to criticism at every turn.
It is a bit like the person who starts out as a vegetarian on moral grounds and ends up as a vegan or even more extreme, once you go down a certain road and take moral stands it can be difficult to draw a line and justify your actions in other aspects of your life.
This is not a criticism just an observation.
Canbanjo – no, I’ll be watching the World Cup on a 50″ plasma screen TV. Although, I will ensure my kids are watching with me. Is that OK?
Andy – Ripple Africa do not set themselves out to be an answer to global warming – the main point of the charity is to help the people in a small part of Malawi to have a better life which is what you have quite righty sussed out.
The question about PVCu vs other materials is a different question which I cannot really give you a satisfactory answer.
Re: vegetarianism. I’m not sure whether you’re aware, but I am a vegetarian, and have been for 10 years. It’s difficult as I wear leather shoes, and eat dairy products etc etc. There’s no right and wrong answer. But everyone needs to make their own decision about what is acceptable and what is not.
All I can do is take decisions which feel right to me. I might not be right but I’m comfortable with the decisions I’ve taken.
And, I’m not judging those who take differing opinions.
Fair comment Matthew, I am not one to judge as there are a lot of measures I could take towards the sustainability of the precious resources of our planet which I don’t take.
I accept the argument about leather shoes etc and no doubt there is an argument for wearing leather, I just wondered as you conscience is obviously becoming increasingly challenged if you might think about using a profile which has lead free polymers!
Andy – in the scheme of things the lead free debate seems so insignificant to me, but I will research the subject further.
Yeah! ok Matthew, I don’t profess to be an expert on the subject, just trying to stimulate debate.
And by the way, get to bed you have a very high overhead and 80 staff company to run tomorrow.
Night x
Andy – were you drunk last night by any chance?
To me it is about first identifying the easy wins.
eg it is easy to reduce how much meat you eat, but it is not so easy to cut out animal products in shoes and stuff.
So eat less meat, then move on to the next easy win.
Planting trees or generating solar energy in africa is an easy win compared to trying to do the same in the UK.
Reduce flights if you can. easy win.
insulate your loft. easy win.
buy a car which is 50% more efficient. easy win.
identify the easy wins, which will vary from person to person, do them and move on.
There are so many big easy wins that we do not need to beat ourselves up about other incremental improvements.
well thats what i reckon
Canbanjo says ……….[ so lets call it 6 tons per person of co2 for 1 trip to Africa and back ]
Does that mean in effect with a plane with 400 pasengers on a round trip , you have to account for 2400 tons of co2 ? that seems an awful lot to me for 1 plane doing 1 return trip.
Kevin,
yup planes are pretty evil.
please feel free to check my source: http://www.withouthotair.com/
on the one hand it seems very wrong that aviation fuel is not taxed, which is one reason why flying is so cheap…but on the other hand flying is one thing you really can’t do without fossil fuels, so I would rather everything else becomes zero C02 so we can continue to fly.
I did look at your source ,
It states that 240,000 ltres of fuel are used each way for 416 passengers
1 litre of fuel is approx 800 grams so 480,000 litres is 384,000 kgs or 384 tons
so for each person on board 0.92 tons of fuel is burnt on a round trip . Now I am not a scientist but i do know that matter cannot be created or destroyed , so tell me how does burning just under a ton of fuel produce 6 tons of CO2 ?
Kevin, i have looked at some other numbers, as 2400 tons does seem a lot as you say.
this site:
http://www.cheap-parking.net/flight-carbon-emissions.php
shows emissions per person from heathrow to cape town at 1 ton c02, which is not far off the 1.35 tons co2 estimated by David Mackay.
but it is surprising because a plane only weighs 400 tons.
maybe the extra weight is something to do with the combustion process, carbon becoming co2. I will find out one day.
Kevin,
I am not a scientist either but the answer is probably something like:
Burning hydrocarbon, using propane as an example is
C3H8 + 5 O2 ? 4 H2O + 3 CO2 + Energy
atomic mass of carbon is 12, hydrogen is 1 and oxygen is 16
so the mass of the propane is C12 (x3) + H1(x8) = 44
whilst the mass of the oxygen added is 5 x (O16 (x2)) = 160
so the mass of the exhaust is nearly 5 times the mass of the fuel.
of that exhaust you get
water 4x(H1(x2) + O16) = 72
+ carbon dioxide 3 x (C12 + O16(x2)) = 132
so the mass of the carbon dioxide is 3 times that of the fuel.
on that basis the emissions per person numbers in the posts above are not as far out as you would think.
Hi All,
We are an eco-tourism safari operator based in Malawi specialising in development tourism, combining the fields of development and tourism in order to provide tourism generated income into grass toute local community initiative projects across the country. We work closely with Liz & Geoff at Ripple Africa and have recently donated $2,651 to their tree planting initiative through client donations. We also operate carbon free tours around the country, i.e. bike tours, with good quality UK Mountain bikes, staying in eco-lodges and visiting local rural projects along the route. There is also a 1.5% Payment for Eco-Services charge that each client donates to good causes within Malawi (such as Ripple Africa), so you can feel you are doing your bit.
Anyway, I have heard from Geoff there might be interest in a bike tour to the country. Please feel free to have a look at our website, http://www.responsiblesafaricompany.com or email me direct dom@responsiblesafaricompany.com for more info and will be happy to help.
Look forward to hearing from any interested parties in the future.
Best,
Dom
Managing Director
The Responsible Safari Company