Believe in Scotland's independence campaign aims to be carbon positive
Planting trees to offset your carbon footprint is easier than you might think and it’s just one of the ways we can all make our own contribution to combatting climate change. You can find Believe in Scotland’s Corporate Grove here.
Back in November, Scotland, specifically Glasgow, hosted COP26. At the end of the conference some progress was announced to great fanfare. However, in our opinion the underwhelming progress announced amounted smoke and mirrors rather than the radical change we require.
We sincerely hope that an independent Scotland will lead the way in showing the world how to address environmental wellbeing. Indeed, according to a new report on energy production in 2022 Scotland generated 98% of its energy needs from renewable energy sources. 32,031.2 GWh - approximately 24% of the UK’s renewable energy total despite possessing only 8% of the UK’s population.
As we campaign, we are very much aware of our carbon footprint. In 2021 Business for Scotland and Believe in Scotland distributed almost 2 million items of campaign materials throughout Scotland. That included 850,000 leaflets, 60,000 copies of a 24-page newspaper and 1million copies of an 8-page newspaper, as well as tens of thousands of campaign materials such as books and badges. To top it all off hundreds and sometimes thousands of mugs, postcards, and canvasses were also purchased several hundred billboards (although those were mostly electronic).
Unable to use recycled paper across the board, all of our paper materials including our Scotland the Brief books have been registered with carbon offsetting schemes. Our 1,060,000 newspapers were also printed on 100% recycled paper, but we want to go further - further than just carbon neutral, we want our campaign to be significantly CARBON POSITIVE - so we have set up the Believe in Scotland Grove.
Every month we will plant new trees to make our campaigning activity carbon positive. We also want to make sure that the trees planted were actually in Scotland, so we have decided to support Trees for Life to plant and pay for new trees and helping to reforest Scotland's amazing natural landscape.
We believe this will assist in helping to alleviate the impact of climate change on the planet and grow new habitats for rare insects, animals, and plant life boosting Scotland’s biodiversity. If you would like to help us, or to offset some of your own carbon footprint, go to our Corporate Grove, and click “Add to the Grove” and donate a tree for just £6.00 to Believe in Scotland's Grove as a one-off, or by setting up a regular direct debit.
You can calculate your own carbon footprint using various online calculators - WWF provide just one of them and you can offset your carbon by adding trees to our Grove. Trees for Life calculates 6 trees offset 1 tonne of CO2. So 1 Tree = 0.16 tonnes CO2.
Your tree(s) will help to rewild the Caledonian Forest, a rich habitat found only in the Scottish Highlands. It will be a sapling grown from locally collected seed and will be one of a number of species planted such as Scots Pine, Willow, Birch, Rowan, Hazel, Alder, Holly, Aspen and Bird Cherry. The Believe in Scotland grove will be planted at one of Trees for Life’s remote sites in the Scottish Highlands. Trees for Life plants in remote areas best suited to the return of the Caledonian Forest such as on their conservation estate, Dundreggan, situated near Loch Ness, and Glen Affric National Nature Reserve. Believe in Scotland is also seeking to sponsor peat bog restoration projects which can be up-to 10 times more efficient at carbon capture than planting trees.
Believe in Scotland is a campaign to create a better, fairer greener, healthier, and happier Scotland. We wish to replace the outdated tired old ideas of left and right tribalism in politics with an enlightened Wellbeing led socioeconomic approach to policy and we believe this requires the full powers of independence for Scotland.
You can also become a Believe in Scotland member and support our campaign - Join us.