Dig for victory! Boris backs our tree campaign
‘Brilliant’ scheme will boost health and wellbeing, says PM
BORIS Johnson has praised the Daily Mail’s ‘brilliant’ tree planting campaign which got under way this weekend.
Thousands of volunteers across the UK rolled up their sleeves, put on their wellies and started digging to plant trees to make Britain a greener and more beautiful place.
The Prime Minister, who has become increasingly interested in environmental issues, led praise for the Be A Tree Angel campaign.
Yesterday, taking time out from his busy schedule, Mr Johnson said: ‘I would like to pay tribute to the Daily Mail for this brilliant campaign.
‘Trees are not only an essential feature of our cities and countryside, but also provide significant health and wellbeing benefits, and are a vital part of our response to climate change.
‘We have the opportunity to be the first generation to leave the natural environment in a better state than we found it, protecting the climate for future generations.’ The Be A Tree Angel campaign has been organised with the Tree Council – an umbrella body which represents organisations and charities engaged in planting trees, including the Campaign to
Protect Rural England and the Royal Horticultural Society.
The Conservatives have promised to spend £640million to plant more trees in towns, cities and woodlands.
Pledges to plant more trees have also been made by the SNP, Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party, and the Brexit Party.
The Daily Mail is encouraging readers to take part in planting events, to plant trees in their own gardens and to pledge cash to support tree-planting projects.
The campaign kicked off at the weekend with events all over the country as part of National Tree Week, which runs from November 23 to December 1. This newspaper has highlighted how some parts of the country – such as agricultural areas of East Anglia – have as little as 2 per cent tree cover and how more than 100,000 trees in streets and parks have been felled in the past three years.
But we need trees more than ever to help clean up polluted air, prevent flooding and to keep our towns and cities cool at a time of rising temperatures.
A large oak tree can draw between 50 and 100 gallons of water from the ground each day.
Britain needs to greatly increase its tree cover if it has any chance of meeting its commitment to cut the amount of greenhouse gas we produce each year to ‘net zero’ by 2050. At a time of global warming, trees can help to suck carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it into wood in their trunks and branches. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, 12million hectares of trees are hacked down worldwide every year – equivalent to an area bigger than Portugal.
The chief executive of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, Crispin Truman, also praised the Daily Mail’s campaign.
‘Trees make us feel good,’ he said. ‘Wherever we live, they provide us with a space to unwind, relax and exercise – all vital for our physical and mental health. Trees are hugely important in the fight against climate change. They remove carbon, provide shade and cleaner air – for example, each year London’s trees remove 2.4million tons of pollution.
‘They are also important for wildlife, both in our towns and cities and in the countryside. We need to plant millions of trees in the coming decades if we are to have any chance of mitigating the worst effects of the climate emergency.’