The Full Story

We’ve long had concerns about the impact our touring has on the environment. In a normal year, we’d drive more than 10,000 miles across the country and that alone is a frightening thought in terms of the carbon footprint it creates. We worked out that every year, Ninebarrow was generating over 2.5 tonnes of CO2 just through the mileage we were clocking up. On top of that, we estimated that a further half tonne of CO2 was being generated per gig through audiences travelling to and from the venues.

 

It was a shock to discover that across our musical careers, which started in 2012 and might, if we are lucky, span some 25-30 years, we would generate nearly 1000 tonnes of CO2.

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So, we decided to celebrate the launch of our fourth studio album, ‘A Pocket Full of Acorns’, by fulfilling a long-held wish to address this issue. In the week that the album is released, we’ll gather with a group of socially distanced family-volunteers to dig deep and plant THE NINEBARROW WOODLAND. Spearheaded by 500 oaks, the collection will also include 125 each of silver birch and hornbeam, 75 wild cherries, 50 field maples and 25 each of alder, crab apple, walnut, rowan and sweet chestnut on three acres of land in North Dorset.

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We’re under no illusions about the imperceptible impact that planting 1000 trees will have on the climate emergency our planet faces. But we wanted to highlight the fact that it is within the power of each and every one of us to do more than we are currently doing. We all need to play our part and take what action we can to ensure future generations and life on this planet - in all its myriad forms - have something to inherit.

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75% of the planting costs are being covered by the Woodland Trust's MOREwoods Scheme, but the remaining 25%, along with the on-going maintenance and development costs of the woodland will need to be covered by us directly.

 

Donations will be used to help cover the costs of:

 

• Saplings

• Tree guards

• Tools

• Mulch (for weed suppression)

• Coronavirus safety measures for volunteers during planting (inc portaloos and sanitation stations)

• Replacement saplings if necessary

• Enhancement of long-term biodiversity inc:

• Development of a central wildflower ‘glade’

• Bird boxes

• Bat boxes

• Woodland webcams allowing people to watch the project develop in real-time

 

All donors will be kept up-to-date with the project’s progress through (optional) email updates.