A Harper Tree Story….NATURAL CARBON EATERS

Every living thing on earth is made up of four basic elements -- carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. They make up about 96 percent of your body, and they make up most of a tree's roots, trunk, branches and leaves as well. We get our carbon by eating it through our mouths. Trees, on the other hand, breathe it in the way that we breathe in oxygen. When a tree breaths, it inhales carbon dioxide and exhales oxygen -- the exact opposite of what humans do. This natural process helps to clean the air. 

When you plant trees, you are directly cleaning the air. As a tree matures, it can consume 48 pounds of carbon dioxide per year as it turns that CO2 into parts of itself. It also releases enough oxygen to supply your needs for two years. These two effects help to give the earth a healthier climate. 

Harper Adams plants a significant number of trees every year. Some are within our beautiful campus grounds and some in our woodland which is part of the wider estate. The Grounds Dept. have an on-going plan of managing the woodland as well as planting ornamental trees within the campus grounds.

Any woodland requires maintenance to ensure it is healthy and part of that plan includes some trees being cut. This is sometimes carried out under teaching / supervision if you have have enrolled on the Cross Cutting, Maintenance & Felling up to 380mm or Occasional Chainsaw Course (web page link https://www.harper-adams.ac.uk/courses/short-course/land-based-skills.cfm   ).

The timber is then bought to campus for processing again as part of the Chainsaw course. Onec split and air-dried the logs are then sold locally to staff & members of the local community, mostly for use in log burners. This results in locally grown/processed timber being used locally and a product with a small carbon footprint.

 If you're looking to have a positive impact on your carbon footprint and wish to enhance visually and provide a home for nature, planting trees is certainly once way to do it!