Coeden Fach is currently carrying out a feasibility study to consider the financial viability of a community led carbon offset project. We are hoping to relaunch ourselves as a carbon offsetting CIC, offering individuals and businesses the chance to begin to offset their carbon emissions through tree planting. We will remain a community, not for profit organisation growing local provenance trees and working with volunteers.
As with our existing project the carbon offset venture will be very hands on and we will encourage participants to actively engage in growing and planting their own trees. We believe that through nurturing trees, individuals will in turn be nurturing their own sense of environmental responsibility and awareness. The project will have education at its heart and will have a strong community focus.
Our first Carbon Offset Tree Planting Customers!
Shiko Community Drum Group
Our first carbon offsetting customers are Shiko, a community drum group based in Mumbles. Many group members live away from Mumbles and the group became concerned about their unavoidable travel emissions to and from their base at the Tabernacle on Newton Road. Nigel from Coeden Fach worked with the group to help calculate their approximate annual mileage to and from their weekly venue , he then worked out their carbon footprint and calculated how many trees they would need to plant to sequester their emissions.
Calculating Shiko’s carbon emissions
A tree over its lifetime will sequester around a ton of atmospheric carbon. Shiko’s group carbon footprint was calculated at around 3.5 tons of carbon from their combined group mileage of around 11,000 miles per annum. This means that roughly 3.5 trees would need to be planted to sequester this amount. As the group has been going for 17 years they decided to plant 17 times the 3.5 trees calculated for last years emissions, thus making them possibly the world’s first carbon neutral community drum group! The group paid for their trees by holding a group busk in the city centre during a council run street music event in early March (see below)
Shiko busking for their trees!
Planting their trees
The group planted their 60 trees on Sunday 19th March at a site near Ammanford. One of the group members, Jan Hilditch, added a further 20 trees to cover her personal business travel over the last year making a total of 80 trees comprising: 15 Rowan, 38 Hazel, 7 Spindle and 20 Field Maple. The weather was….Welsh! but this didn’t dampen the groups spirits as you can see from the photos- Well done Shiko!
