Earth Day: Planting trees with Ecologi

Today is Earth Day, a day to invest in our Earth and reflect on how we can help to restore our planet. As a business, we regularly assess our carbon footprint, from shipping and supply chain through to the creation of the products themselves. We are not perfect, but we are trying to reduce our impact however we can, and this includes offsetting our carbon through the planting of trees.

This year we decided to make a change and partner with Ecologi, a platform to help businesses become more climate positive by offsetting their carbon emissions through the planting of trees. Together with Ecologi we are planting a tree for every order placed on babymel.com. To date, we have now planted a massive 3,226 trees. Ecologi states that the average person would need to plant between 725 - 1,000 trees to offset their carbon for the year. With 10 employees at Babymel HQ, we are on track to this marker by the end of 2022 but we know we can do bigger and better. 

Understanding how and why trees are so important to our planet is key for the future of our Earth. So in celebration of Earth Day, we’d like to share our research with you so that we can work together to plant more trees and ultimately reduce our carbon footprints.

What is carbon and where does it come from?

We all use carbon in our every day life without necessarily realising its effects on our environment or knowing where it comes from. Carbon emissions can be produced by the natural environment and human life. Natural causes are commonly generated from decomposition, severe storms, wild fires and volcanos, however human life creates enormous amounts of carbon daily from the burning of coals and fossil fuels, deforestation and industrial production.

So how does this effect us directly? Simply look around your home and look at what requires electricity, heating and production. Everything from an item bought in a shop, the food on your plate and the driving of your car is contributing to your carbon footprint. We now live in a world that relies on damaging amounts of carbon production. So unless you want to go Bear Grills and live in the wilderness offsetting your carbon is a more achievable way to become carbon neutral. Platforms like Ecologi are designed so individuals as well as businesses can work together to plant more trees and counteract their carbon usage.

How does planting a tree offset carbon?

Trees help our environment massively, they absorb the negative carbon in our atmosphere through photosynthesis which allows them to grow. Therefore the more trees we plant the more carbon can be offset and remove from the atmosphere. Trees also provide habitats for many animals all over the world so you are also helping to provide shelter for wildlife as well as offsetting your carbon.

“It’s now common knowledge that one of the best tools to tackle the climate crisis and keep our temperatures from rising above 1.5C is to plant trees. They are also crucial in preventing ecological collapse." - Ecologi

Ecologi work together with tree planting partners in Madagascar. This process allows the mass planting of trees to take place, with a total of over 39.6 million trees planted and 1.7million tonnes of carbon reduced to date. 

We encourage you to discover your carbon footprint by taking a questionnaire on a trusted environmentalist site such as WWF and assess how you can make reductions in your day to day life as well as offsetting your carbon by purchasing from brands that partner with sites like Ecologi. Help us plant more trees and save our Earth.