On Tuesday, November 24th myself and three of my fellow Nitronauts donned our rain gear and headed off to East Timor Park in Dublin to take part in the latest project in our Nitro Gives program, tree planting! As we are by no means experts in planting trees we teamed up with the Tree Council of Ireland so they could lend us their expertise. So with shovels and compost in hand, and the help of some seasoned tree planting professionals, we went forth and planted 8 trees in the beautiful park.
The Tree Council is focused on the planting, management and conservation of trees in Ireland, the aim of which is to promote the planting, care and overall enjoyment of the trees that grow on Irish soil. To do so, the Tree Council organise networking opportunities and events, publish literature and provide information to the public. They helped us to organise our event and a number of their wonderful employees joined us on the day to aid us in our efforts.
Our reasons for taking part in this activity were twofold. We wanted to:
- Emphasise that at Nitro we not only support the idea of the paperless office, but we truly believe in being a fully sustainable and environmentally conscious company
- Give back to the local community
Furthermore, our activity formed part of our registered action for the European Week of Waste Reduction (EWWR). The EWWR is a European Initiative run in conjunction with the European Parliament. The focus of the week, which ran from 21-29 November, is to raise awareness around sustainable resources and waste management. This year’s EWWR theme is: Dematerialisation: doing more with less. As such, we are highlighting that businesses can improve their productivity and their business processes by using less paper in the office; our aim is to enable companies to become paperless offices. You can keep up to date with all of our EWWR activities via our twitter page
We chose this particular activity as part of our EWWR action because, shockingly, with the current rate of deforestation, it will take less than 100 years to destroy every rainforest on the planet. Approximately 4 billion trees worldwide are cut down each year for paper production. This accounts for about 35% of all harvested trees. By planting trees, we are helping to combat this pressing issue. We want to encourage companies to go paperless and save the trees so that everyone can reap the benefits.
While planting 8 trees may not seem substantial, you can have a huge impact on the planet by planting a single tree. That is more than possible for an individual. And if companies get involved, that can have an even bigger impact. Loveplugs have jumped on board and they have agreed to plant ten trees for every single order they receive. Our tree planting day involved planting 2 oaks, 3 apple, 2 holly and 1 ivy tree and in doing so we not only made the park look more beautiful but we also helped to replenish natural resources which are usually cut down to fuel our unsustainable paper habits. Each tree has a real effect on the environment. Take a look for yourself at the difference that one single tree can make:
- On average, one tree generates an estimated $7 in savings annually in environmental benefits, (this includes energy conservation and reduced pollution)
- A single tree can produce approximately 260 pounds of oxygen each year.
- Water originating in national forests provides drinking water for approximately 60 million individuals world-wide
- One tree can absorb as much carbon in a year as a car produces while driving 26,000 miles. This amounts to about one ton of carbon in its lifetime
- One tree makes over 16 reams of copy paper, or approximately 8,333 sheets.
Therefore, by planting a tree rather than cutting one down to produce paper, the environment is benefitting greatly.
If you would like to help transform your office into a paperless workplace, why not take a free trial of Nitro to see for yourself what a difference you can make.
The Nitro Gives programme is a charitable initiative which is run by a number of Nitro employees across the world, with every employee given the opportunity to ‘give back’. We organise and take part in many events throughout the year including canal clean-ups and marathons, all with the aim of raising funds for charitable donations. For this particular activity, Nitro Gives made a donation to the Tree Council to enable us to take part in their Family Tree Scheme.
