From little acorns: Scottish schools support the Global Trees campaign
November 26, 2007 | Posted by Catherine
The Global Trees campaign, initiated by Peter Grant in 2006, continues to grow at a remarkable pace. There are two great pieces of coverage in the press today.
First, The Sun launches a hunt to find the greenest school in Scotland while urging school children to raise enough money to plant a new forest.
Every school which takes part will be awarded a commemorative plaque while the school which raises the most money before the 2008 school holidays will win a specially-commissioned steel sculpture by Andy Scott.
For every £5 raised by their efforts, Global Trees will buy a tree to be planted by the Central Scotland Forest Trust in the a new forest at Carron between Falkirk and Stirling.
The newspaper interviewed Peter Grant who explained how he started the Global Trees charity after being inspired by a speech given by Bill Clinton emphasising climate change as the most serious issue facing the human race.
“By December” says Peter. “We had made both Grant Management and the flats we manage carbon neutral.”
“Since then Global Trees has planted over 100,000 trees in Scotland and worldwide to help individuals and small and large companies go carbon neutral.”
“Kids know trees are the lungs of the world, absorbing CO2 and replacing it with oxygen. Here’s hoping this campaign helps them raise enough money to plant thousands of trees in our new Scottish forest and literally breathe new life into our environment.”
No sooner had we digested the morning papers than a report appeared on Scotland Today, the news broadcast from Scottish Television, also covering the campaign to plant a new forest for Scotland.
Environment Minister Michael Russell MSP lent his support to the campaign:
“I think the really important thing is getting young people involved in the issues of climate change and the environment.”
“Young people know that the planet is in trouble and they are very enthusiastic about doing something about it so making sure that they are actively involved in fundraising to plant the trees is one part of it but there are other parts too and that includes changing behaviour and talking to the children this morning, they know that they have to do that too.”
Peter Grant was also interviewed on camera:
“In our first year, we have managed to plant 100,000 trees across the world, some in Scotland and some elsewhere. Countries benefiting include Cameroon, Cambodia and Ecuador but we are hoping to plant millions of trees ultimately because we have got to make a big difference and the more trees that we can plant the more of a difference we can make.”
The full report and video is available here on the STV website.
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