Help us to convince the National Trust that there is another way to plant trees. 

A donation of £20 can help plant seven trees in our Milk Wood projects.

We didn’t expect to be asking you all for this, but thanks to the plans of the National Trust to partner with a company that doesn’t have the needs of mums and babies at their heart, we need your help!

Planting trees to create beautiful Milk Woods across the country has been on our minds since 2019. When HMF cofounder and scientist Dr Natalie Shenker presented the impact of formula milk production and use on the environment in the British Medical Journal, it focussed everyone’s minds on the need to give more support to mothers who wanted to breastfeed, and to do so in the most sustainable way possible.

Since then, we have worked with students and scientists at Imperial College to understand the carbon footprint of milk banking, and how we can offset our own carbon emissions. The plan for the Milk Woods Project has been pulled together by an amazing group of people who sit on the HMF’s Sustainability Committee, and who come from all walks of life, including parents who have donated and received milk from the Hearts Milk Bank. They are supported by the team at Woods for the Trees, a group of woodsmen who care about making sure tree-planting is done in the right way. We had planned to ‘go live’ later this year, but, well, you know…

Our Milk Woods have several aims:

• To create beautiful, accessible community spaces
• To be a permanent site of tribute to the efforts of milk donors everywhere, in particular mothers who donate after the death of a baby
• To offset the carbon footprint of the Hearts Milk Bank
• To link alongside the national network of Donor Milk Hubs being rolled out
• To offer wood-based training and education so the next generation can engage with issues around sustainability, early years, and just having fun in beautiful woods!

We hope that the National Trust will reconsider their plans, and engage with the Human Milk Foundation instead to make sure that all trees that go into the ground are funded ethically.

So what’s this going to cost?

Well, not as much as a month of National Trust membership. According to the Forestry Commission, each new tree with shelter and stake to keep it safe and growing costs £2.68. And we’re going to need a lot of trees, and volunteers, and help…