“We are at a unique stage in our history. Never before have we had such an awareness of what we are doing to the planet, and never before have we had the power to do something about that. Surely we all have a responsibility to care for our Blue Planet. The future of humanity and indeed, all life on earth, now depends on us.” Sir David Attenborough
AVERAGE PRICE: £15 PER TREE. (That's about the same as a good main meal in a restaurant or a few pints of beer in the pub.)
For the first two weeks of June- I am living Plastic-Free during my Plastic-Free Fortnight. Hopefully during this time, I will raise enough money to plant numerous trees. For EVERY tree planted, I will pick up 2 bags of litter. **
With your help, that's three little positive differences: 2 bags of litter removed from our environment and 1 new tree planted.
The looming and destructive impacts of Climate Change are concerns constantly on my mind but just worrying about it isn’t enough. Our whole planet is at risk: our lives, the lives of our children, the lives of all innocent species. There are less than 11 years left to act before it’s thought Climate Change will be irreversible. This should be a global issue at the very forefront of our investments. Despite the current push for developments, I fear that not enough is being done.
So, I want to make a bigger difference myself and I hope that you will join me and support my project.
My name is Anna McDiarmid and I am 16 years old from Biggar in South Lanarkshire, Scotland.
For the first two weeks of June, I am living PLASTIC-FREE for my “Plastic-Free Fortnight” in an attempt to prove that a more sustainable lifestyle is possible and to raise money for planting trees and collecting litter. I will be living without single-use plastic entirely and without durable plastic as far as possible.
Please follow my journey on Instagram @plasticfreefortnight
In the developed world, plastic dominates most of our lives through use for food packaging, clothes, stationary, household products, toiletries… the list goes on. Our civilisation has become dependent on this man-made material whilst the world’s oceans are being suffocated by it.
The link between plastic pollution and climate change is not always made clear and often they are viewed as two increasingly destructive, though separate ideas. However, between the two there is a significant overlap. Both have, of course, been created and catalysed by man-kind through our constant dependency on immediate access to virtually everything in our fast-pace, industrialised lives. Plastic, the production of which releases numerous Greenhouse Gases into the atmosphere is now also thought to release even MORE of these gases as it breaks down. As, say, a plastic bottle breaks down, over the years it degrades, it's surface area increases and so the amount of gas released becomes greater and greater and greater- (suggests new research).
WE CAN change this by using less plastic, by sourcing alternatives and making more sustainable choices. For two weeks, I am trying to live without it entirely.
However, another one of the leading contributors to Global Warming is an excess of Carbon dioxide: the gas churned out by cars, buses, planes, boats... By trapping the heat in our atmosphere, it acts like a blanket smothering our planet as it causes the the global temperature to rise, the ice caps to melt and the sea levels to rise.
WE CAN change this by planting more trees. This is by no means a simple solution, our global activities and excessive production of CO2 MUST decline, however trees absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and produce oxygen through photosynthesis. They are the natural "lungs of the Earth."
I will be purchasing all the trees from STAIRWAY TREES in Ayrshire. To ensure that the trees will as viable as possible when planted, they use AIR-POTS® (https://air-pot.com/garden/) . Unlike normal pots, they do not compromise root growth and are made from 100% RECYCLED PLASTIC. Additionally, the pots can be re-used for numerous different plants ensuring healthy root growth. These trees opposed to smaller, less developed ones, are far more likely to thrive and require less maintenance to ensure that they successfully grow. AVERAGE PRICE of my trees: £15.
With the money raised, I will be planting a variety of, mainly indigenous, trees in Perthshire, Ayrshire, and hopefully in my home town of Biggar. For every tree planted, I will pick up 2 bags of litter with a team of like-minded people joining me.**
Here in Scotland, we are privileged in having an environment perfectly suited to host trees. During and following my Plastic-Free Fortnight I hope you can spare a little bit cash and put it towards saving our future. Together we can save the planet but we must act now, before it's too late, and we must act together.
Thank you :)
**With the money received during my Plastic-Free Fortnight 2 bags of litter will be collected per £15 (value of 1 tree). All donations received after the fortnight will ONLY go towards a tree. Bags of litter will ONLY be collected for tree donations made during 1st-14th of June.