{"id":10225,"date":"2019-07-15T11:33:53","date_gmt":"2019-07-15T10:33:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ethicalsuperstore.com\/blog\/?p=10225"},"modified":"2020-11-27T14:52:03","modified_gmt":"2020-11-27T14:52:03","slug":"trees-for-life-day-1-donation-on-all-orders-the-amazon-rainforest-is-no-longer-in-its-prime-so-every-tree-planted-helps-the-planet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ethicalsuperstore.com\/blog\/charity\/trees-for-life-day-1-donation-on-all-orders-the-amazon-rainforest-is-no-longer-in-its-prime-so-every-tree-planted-helps-the-planet\/","title":{"rendered":"Trees for Life Day – \u00a31 Donation on all orders – The Amazon Rainforest is no longer in it’s prime, so every tree planted helps the planet."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On 13th and 14th October a well known online retailer will be flogging discounts for it\u2019s yearly \u2018Prime Day\u2019. Many shoppers aren\u2019t happy shopping at this particular online store due to widely reported issues (you can find out what Ethical Consumer thinks here<\/a>), so to make it less taxing for you to find something better we thought we\u2019d team up with Trees for Life<\/a> and give a donation with every order placed on Monday 13th and Tuesday 14th October! 2020 will be the third year we have done ‘Trees For Life Day’ the \u00a31 donation over these days and not it is more important than ever to be supporting bio-diversity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We have worked with Trees for Life since 2012<\/a>, offering you the chance to offset the carbon from your delivery by donation to Trees for Life, your generosity has funded more than 24,000 trees to be planted to help restore the Caledonian Forest. The highlands of Scotland had in the past been covered by forest, at it\u2019s peak 5000 years ago when tree cover and diversity was at its greatest extent. It was not a dense blanket of pine woodland as once thought, no one knows exactly what this landscape was like however from pollen record and comparisons with other wild forests we can paint a picture. Wildlife certainly flourish, Lynx prowled the denser parts of the forest, packs of wolves hunted deer and giant wild cattle know as aurochs grazed the open glades. Bears scooped salmon from the rivers whilst elk grazed in the willow meadows created by the dams of beavers. The forest was rich and diverse and it\u2019s likely the structure of the forest was very varied creating a mosaic of denser woodland, open savannahs with open heaths and bogs. Native trees included Socts pine, aspen, birch, rowan, oak holly, willow and alder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 4,500 years ago there was a period of cold wet weather, this began encouraging the spread of peat bogs as the environment became less favourable for tree growth, it is thought after this climate fluctuation the woodland would have regained land however this was at the time early farmers arrived. Around 3,900 years ago farmers were grazing animals and in many areas burned the heath and pinewoods to encourage heather growth. Through the centuries trees were felled for timber, fuel and to create space for further agriculture. By the time of the Romans over half the native forests had gone. Further destruction took place with the Vikings said to have burned areas of forest, but it was the overgrazing which caused the most destruction.

After the first World War the Forestry Commission was set up as it was recognised Britain had almost ran out of timber, so fast growing species were introduced such as Sitka spruce to create dense plantations which were not able to sustain the same wide and varied wildlife as the native trees. Since then the focus of the Commission has changed and it has carried out a great deal of work to reverse the situation.   

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The long term ecological destruction has transformed the Scottish Highlands with only around 1% of native pinewoods remaining with habitats degraded or lost. With habitats being isolated and fragmented species within this patch are more vulnerable to inbreeding and disturbance such as disease and fire, connected habitats are crucial to the long term survival of species.  Wildlife has also been drastically affected with predators such as wolves, bears, and lynx driven to extinction as well as beavers, auroch elk and wild boar all gone has disrupted the ecosystem and the important part they played. Deer numbers have increased due to the lack of predators, whilst this may sound positive but they can prevent young trees from developing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trees for Life’s vision is to restore a large area of wild\ndiverse forest, which would include a wide range of habitats, to the\nScottish Highlands. The aim is not to recreate a forest of the past. Even if we\nknew what past forests were really like, forests are ever-changing ecosystems.\nThe goal is to restore the key elements in the forest to allow evolution and\nnatural processes a freer reign.  Trees\nfor Life have planted over one million trees and is now working to plant a\nmillion more in five years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Trees<\/a> Trees for Life started practical work in 1989, in the years since then, as well as removing hundreds of acres of non-native species, establishing a flourishing nursery in which over 60,000 trees are grown per year, miles of redundant fences pulled down to help wildlife and establishing 44 major tree-planting sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n