The Treesponsibility Newsletter - Web Issue One: Autumn 2000

"It's when ordinary people making a small difference in their own neighbourhood wake up to the horror of what is being done to the planet believing that they can make a difference, that real change will take place" (David Mowatt, "Making Waves" Issue 11.)

During the Summer, for the first time in fifty million years, the ice sheet melted at the North Pole. Meanwhile in Calderdale, Treesponsibility people were engaged in a busy round of site visits, looking for new places to plant and checking the trees we planted in earlier seasons. I am glad to report that the majority of the saplings are doing well. (The "Millenium Site" was particularly pleasing, with a success rate approaching 100%).

Our vision is ecological restoration, to provide a rich environment in our climate changing world. We want to see a network of woods, wildlife corridors, community orchards and coppices across Calderdale, providing shelter for permaculture sites, a natural means of FLOOD DEFENCE (tree planting on the valley sides reduces run off), and livelihoods for local people.

This Autumn will be a busy one for us. We are in the process of erecting a polytunnel at our tree nursery site at Bent's Farm, where we can grow the seedlings to provide for our future needs. (An added benefit will be that it will allow disabled people, who can't attend tree plantings, to take an active role within Treesponsibility). Southall's Trust, a Quaker charity, very kindly donated £600 to cover the costs of the frame, and we are now fund-raising for the sheeting and equipment (does anyone know where we can get hold of large quantities of used or cheap "root-trainers"?). We also urgently need locally gathered tree seeds - especially birch, oak and alder - and NOW is the time of year to gather them. If anyone in the mid Pennine area can send us some, we would be very grateful.

The tree planting season has already begun - we've started work on the hedge at Bent's Farm, and hosted three plantings (with Calder Valley Quakers, Halifax High School, and a group of Buddhists from Manchester). The DIARY is filling up, with plantings scheduled for every Thursday and Saturday until December, with the exception of Saturday 4th November, which will be a massive "heeling in" spree, to sort out a donation of 5,000 trees from Fountains Forestry!

Some people from Treesponsibility will be demonstrating at the Hague Climate Summit in November. We believe that planting trees is a very sensible way to slow the rate of climate change but it can never be a substitute for reducing fossil fuel emissions. At the moment, each American citizen is responsible for emitting 19 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, and that is, quite simply, unsustainable. Governments - and in particular the US government - must take action to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Back home, we will continue to take A PART IN CALDERDALE COUNCIL'S UDP PROCESS. (The council is currently reviewing its Unitary Development Plan which will establish the groundrules for its planning decisions for the next 16 years. We put quite a lot of energy into preparing a detailed response, and are now involved with the unglamorous committee work!).

Fund-raising will be a major issue for us this Autumn. Our landfill tax funding finished at the end of August, and there is no prospect of any more before January. We still haven't heard from the lottery bureaucrats, who are now incredibly late and most unhelpful when telephoned. We are applying to the Environmental Action Fund, but won't have an answer until next year. Selling OUR BOOK and ECOFLOWS will generate some cash, but things are still very tight, so DONATIONS would be gratefully received. (Click to relevant spot).

The next NEWSLETTER will appear sometime in December.

Happy tree planting!