#AttenboroughForest
The following is a work of Speculative Fiction; where fact is woven with the fiction and wishful thinking for the purpose of stimulating discussion. The subject of this short story is the place and practicalities of Trees and the Climate Crisis.
From obscurity in 2018 to an international following today Greta Thunberg is no stranger to the young. She has a twitter following of 200,000. But last week social media was so alive it eclipsed all her previous notoriety.
A year ago Greta had Skype call with David Attenborough. It has 47,913 views. On the anniversary of that call PM Boris Johnson, though not mentioning the occasion, gave praise to the work of Sir David. Greta was asked the following day for her reaction to the PM’s words.
The reply started with her typical style. She said that while perhaps well meaning praise was an insufficient response to the calling Sir David urges upon us. Then she paused and looked up to side as if she just saw in that moment what she needed to say.
‘The way you honour an activist is to take action. Over a year ago the Prime Minister promised 30 million more trees. In 5 years time Sir David will be 100 years of age. If the Prime Minister wants to give action to his praise let him start today in creating a forest in Sir David’ honour.’
Before Greta had even finished speaking social media was electrified with the hashtag #AttenboroughForest. Her 3 million followers on facebook after months of subdued resignation to the restraints of Covid restrictions had something positive to focus on.
There is speculation on whether Miss Thunberg had intended to make the remark. Watching the recording it seemed that this was a genuine Eureka moment. Activists are frequently criticised for forever going on about what they are against and not enough of what they are for. This is hardly a fair reflection on Greta’s activism but it has given something tangible, something with real emotional warmth.
Sir David Attenborough has inspired millions by bringing the natural world into our homes. Greta’s challenge, though directed at the Prime Minister, has given the nation a way of saying ‘Thank you’.
The Prime Minister was soon asked for comment. He repeated his pledge of November 2019 for £640 million to triple the number of trees planted. ‘The planting figures were woefully short of target in 2019. Are the figures going to show that the government has made up for the shortfall?’ came a question from the press. ‘We don’t yet have figures for last year. Everything is subject to the needs of taking the Covid virus.’ Barely containing his disbelief the correspondent followed up asking, ‘Are forestry workers not able to social distance in over a million hectares of woodland?’
Notedly abashed the PM took another question. ‘Why wasn’t this new money?’
‘The £640 million is new spending specifically on tree planting.’
‘Isn’t it true that this money is a diversion of spending taken from the Department for International Development?’
‘The Department has merged with the Foreign Office as a more effective way meet our commitments to countries in need’.
The following day’s headlines were full of references to Social Distancing in a forest that doesn’t yet exist. But the most worrying trend for the Prime Minister was not the twitter storm of youth, rather the disquiet of traditional Conservative supporters who have a deep respect for David Attenborough who felt that a new National Forest was just the feel good expression the country needed.
Luke Pollard, the Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, added to the pressure by tabling a question in parliament. Not only did the question seek an answer to the state of progress on tree planting but added one about the Drax power station. In 2019, Drax burned 6.88 million tonnes of pellets made from at least 13.75 million tonnes of green wood. However, the UK’s total annual wood production was just 11.1 million tonnes. Does DEFRA have figures for 2020?
The UK is only beaten by Ireland as Europe’s least wooded country. Seven out of the ten largest forests are in Scotland. There is also growing demand for wood. Although Drax dwarfs other users there is growing interest in CLT (Cross Laminated Timber) for building. It is championed as a means to build homes that sequester carbon. Despite set-backs with regulations following the Grenfell Tower tragedy it is seen as likely to increase the demand on wood.
Simon Case, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, arranged an online meeting with George Eustice MP to discuss solutions that could build on possibilities as a result of the upcoming Agriculture Bill. ‘Is the PM wanting a token? There is already sea-change in our approach to forestry through Re-wilding’, Mr Pollard asked after the pleasantries.
‘Both’ was the reply. ‘A fundamental rethink of the industry is going to take time to implement. So, in the meantime you need to find an Attenborough Forest. You will also be getting briefings from MI5 of online activity that is relevant to this issue’. The Cabinet Secretary had no desire to spend much time on this. He had plenty more things to consider. It was not surprising that it was a very brief meeting.
#AttenboroughForest was still trending. All the usual suspects were looking at how they could use the hashtag to further there personal favourite campaign. Luke Pollard’s question in parliament, with it’s reference to Drax, had given #AxeDrax more publicity. Wood, and the fact that the whole biofuel industry is included as a renewable energy source in government statistics seemed questionable. The power station received £2.36 million a day for burning biomass.
The rationale for supporting the Drax Power Station was that this is a large existing asset that has converted most of it’s fuel source away from coal. Four out of it’s six units have already been converted to wood pellets. So far it had had less difficulties with it’s gas power station expansion. The Yorkshire site was approved by the Government in October 2019. Although the environmental law organisation ClientEarth is challenging this decision in the Court of Appeal. The biggest worry for the company is growing anger in
Another campaign that has taken up #AttenboroughForest is Stop HS2. Linking the case against HS2, however, has not gained as much traction. Chris Packham made an emotional appeal to save the trees from destruction for the High Speed’s construction. But there is still more focus on the business case, citing reduced demand due to covid restrictions that has resulted in a change in travel habits that are unlikely to return to their previous levels.
The announcement by The Ingka Group, Ikea’s largest owner, of purchasing 10,840 acres of forest in southeast Georgia has cheered campaigners in the US, The purchase comes with legally-binding commitments to restore native trees and protect habitat. This is in stark contrast to the pine monocultures in the southern states, where Drax sources most of its wood, that are utterly devoid of biodiversity. The wood used by Drax comes from plantations not forests.
George Eustace guided Defra in a PR campaign to use the Attenborough hashtag for tree planting commitments that were already in the pipe-line. Oxfordshire Trees for Future were the first of many to be contacted to see if they would like to be named as an Attenborough Forest. He was still looked at creating a new national forest. It wouldn’t be easy and it wouldn’t be quick. He hadn’t given up. Would the re-wilding movement have the answer.
Wild Ennerdale offered a great template. While the Common Agricultural Policy of the EU not longer applied to the UK which had prompted the Agriculture Bill it was still not clear how the re-wilding would work in favour of a national scale Attenborough Forest. A Channel 4 News item had explored the Agriculture Bill in its recent look at re-wilding. Alex Thomson was interviewing Roger Tempest of The Broughton Hall Estate who hopes to plant 600,00 trees on 300 hectares.
The idea was promising but it was still small-fry in comparison the likes of Kielder Forest. Kielder is 200 times larger. It one of the biggest man-made woodlands in Europe. Would the PM be happy enough with a spin on Broughton or would he expect another Kielder. And where could you find an area big enough, What was clear is that it had captured the public’s imagination.
The Woodland Trust charity were now using the Attenborough hashtag to rebrand their 8 options of free tree planting packs for schools and communities. They were also looking into how to use the hashtag to raise awareness and funds.
Apart from merchandise companies producing items such as Attenborough t-shirts the first use of the hashtag by a commercial company was Who Gives A Crap. The company had launched in 2012 in Australia as a social enterprise to fund toilets in developing countries and were soon making progress. They were already using bamboo in Australia and wanted something similar to supply their growing UK market. Because of their environmental and social ethics they approached the Yorkshire Hemp who produced supplied certified organic and conventional bulk hemp to the baking and food manufacturing industry. They were already investing in paper production and were equally keen to partner with a like-minded distributer.
Yorkshire Hemp knew that once up and running hemp toilet paper is actually far cheaper to manufacture than regular toilet paper. This is because it uses less energy and chemicals. Toilet paper is made from cellulose. Trees are only 30% cellulose, hemp is 85% cellulose and hemp grows so much faster. Over a third of trees are cut down to satisfy our demand for paper. Who Gives a Crap and Yorkshire Hemp saw the Attenborough hashtag as a legitimate vehicle for their partnership UK launch.
According to the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), over 40% of all industrial wood goes into the paper industry, which is contributing towards deforestation. Moving over to hemp would slow this but for DEFRA the question was where is the land coming from. Re-wilding would both take land out of food production but also reduce stocking rates as well. Diverting more land to hemp production only added to the pressure.
DEFRA were looking at alternative ways of boosting production to meet the additional aims of the Agriculture Bill: natural flood protection, re-forestation, public land access and biodiversity. Since 1962 the driving force had been the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy). Having left the European Union meant everything was open to change.
Rediscoveries coming from the Amazon were getting a closer look by, among others, Johannes Lehmann, a Cornell University professor specializing in soil chemistry and geology. He was uncovering the mysteries of terra preta. For the most part the Amazon under the surface the soil notoriously poor in nutrients and organic matter. In thousands of patches dotted along the Amazon River and its tributaries, where dark, friable soil extends metres deep, fertile in nutrients and organic material. Put together they would cover an area the size of France,
This black earth was the result of the way the indigenous inhabitants produced their food 2000 years ago using biochar. Anthropologist William Woods of the University of Kansas suggests that through pyrolysis the local population created soil that was able to sustain substantial populations. In addition to improving soil biodiversity and fertility, reduced nutrient runoff and increased crop yields biochar sequestered carbon.
While biochar could benefit food production it was yet another source of demand for trees in the absence of suitable alternatives. Virtually any organic material can be used to make biochar. The source feedstock that made most sense would be the one that produced the most dry matter in the shortest time, The most suitable alternative was, again, hemp.
George Eustace was listening to Rishi Sunak in Cabinet talking about Carbon Tax. Moving levies from Electricity to Gas reflected the fossil fuel element in production. His ears picked up with mention of a carbon tax on meet and dairy. Both industries were already struggling with ever increasing such as changes in the treatment of slurry adding to costs.
More people were turning to plant based alternatives. The influence of David Attenborough and Greta Thunberg among so many more was driving change in what people were eating and drinking. Patrick Brown, CEO of Impossible Foods, predicted that plant based foods will completely replace meat and dairy in 15 years. George doubted this happening but it was definitely the direction of travel.
George cast his mind back to the Animal Rebellion protest in 2019. The involvement of veganism was inevitable but a third of ordinary consumers had already started looking at food differently. What would the food industry look like if plant based was the norm? George received a report on farms and farmers transitioning to plant based production. Farmers were adaptable given the information and financial stability.
The main conclusion of the report was that farming would need to diversify with less emphasis on food production. Plant based production needed less land for food with comparable nutritional and calorific values. Non food crops were viable if the demand continued to grow. DEFRA would need to champion the transition.
By the time the Agriculture Bill gained royal assent there were hundreds of Attenborough Community Forests across the country. Roger Tempest was delighted that David Attenborough accepted an invitation for a ceremonial tree planting at Broughton Hall. A new national was a question for another day.
The last 2 units at Drax were converted from coal. This time the feedstock was hemp. Not everyone was happy. But there was celebration that plans for a new gas fired power station were dropped.
Following in the footsteps plant based food were the beginnings of a plant based economy.