The Treeflights blog

Two chaps with a passion for trees in dotcom startup drama

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Living Greener


Moving up to Mid-Wales from London has made me realize how 'lightly' it is possible to live. Up here we are 'off grid'- no mains electricity, water or gas. Luckily we have broadband! Ru has dammed his stream, and pipes water from the dam to power a self-designed hydroelectric system that charges the batteries. In summer, when the stream is too feeble, his solar panels kick in, also charging up the cells.

We do get a few mechanical problems. At the moment, the Hydro is down. Could be a frog stuck in the pipe, could be the electrics, could be a dozen things. You need to be resourceful and enthusiastic to keep overcoming all the problems!

Of course you can just throw money at it, but where's the challenge in that?

I like the idea of not throwing all your money away on corporate fossil fuels, when sunlight, rain and wind can provide all your needs. Not to mention all the other new technologies- Combined heat and power, Ground Source Heat Pump systems ect. If you grow your own fruit and veg as well, your on the way to stepping lightly.

Tomo

Saturday, July 29, 2006

What happens to trees as the earth gets hotter?

We see how the recent hot, dry summers in the south east of the U.K favours certain species of trees, ie; those from hotter, drier climes (suprise!)
Because we islanders love trees and can grow a wider range of plants than virtually any other country in the world, we are well placed to see which trees we should be planting in the future. Our native trees, and the fauna that depend on them, will be pushed north as tempratures rise. This may happen too quickly for some species, whilst others will move from the continent to colonize us. We have to adapt, just as we always have. The question is-how quickly will it happen. If it's too rapid, we're in trouble.

A few Trees That Thrive in Heat

The Honey Locust - from the eastern USA - will tolerate soils too dry, hot and poor for almost any other tree. It's feathery light green foliage comes late in the season, and flowers only infrequently. The wood is brittle and of no timber value.


















Tree of heaven hails from northern China, and grows rapidly in London, though not as quickly as in Atlanta, USA where it grows like a weed. Loves a hot summer! The bark is a beautiful pewter-grey with shallow fissures marked with streaks of white.
N.B. It appears that Tree of Heaven SHOULD NOT BE PLANTED or encouraged. It is so successful that it is likely to 'push out' more desirable natives, with its habit of poisoning the soil around it, stopping native tree competeing with it.

Yet another reason to choose drought tolerant tree species extremely carefully! Ideally, they should feed wildlife as well as providing habitats. Ie; with pollen producing flowers.

















Pride of India- Actually a Chinese tree- is better known as 'Golden rain tree' because of its great open panicles of yellow flowers which can ripen into bright pink fruits in autumn. These are dependent on a hot summer.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

'Relatives of Ape in Gasoline Crack of History'



The quote above is from William Burroughs
(pic right- Cheerful aint he?)

Here at Treeflights we say-
The human race has been able to access vast reserves of stored energy laid down by plants and animals over billions of years.

We're taking billions of tons of carbon from deep in the earth and pumping it into the atmosphere- REALLY quickly. Faster than the earth has seen for millions of years.

And we need to stop. Even though the oceans and its plants and animals absorb huge quantities of CO2, we're producing too much. Deforestation has also reduced the Earths ability to cope with CO2.

Make it a Treeflight!

Tom

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Hot nursery action



The heatwave continues up at Treeflights H.Q and it's all hands to the nursery. It's roasting in the Mega-Polytunnel and we're having to give the trees more room- They're all growing away like mad-oh yes! We find a couple of frogs among the pots, enjoying the slugs and the damp, for the drought may even have made it's way to Wales. Hard to believe.

Our water comes from a local stream, now our well is low-The stream can dry up in exceptional years, like '76.

Lets hope not.

Make it a Treeflight!

tom o

A few salient facts from Ru



Hello People. Just a quick word to say – We really appreciate the feedback we’ve had to this project. It’s pretty scary putting your own idea out to the world – you never know how it’s going to be received and we’ve been touched (and relieved) by the way everybody has responded.

As Treeflights has only been going for a month now, we’re still feeling our way thru a lot of the issues and the feedback really helps us chart the way forward, so keep it coming please.

Some facts for ya.
Us humans made 8 billion individual passenger flights last year, while we lost 7 million hectares of forest. The worlds trees currently absorb 20-25% of all human CO2 emissions and the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is higher now than at any time for 650,000 years.
What does this mean for us?

Because we only have one atmosphere which we all share, climate change will provide a learning for each and everyone of us. Some of the lessons ahead will be painful but for humans acting in concert, nothing is impossible.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

maiden flight


Treeflights went live on the summer solstice- hopefully an auspicious date for a maiden flight!

Visit us here

We're based up in the Cambrian mountains of Mid-Wales, one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world! So OK, after a few billion years they've been worn down into gentle slopes, but we're still 1100 feet up, catching all the wind and rain the Irish sea has to offer.

Treeflights is Ru's idea, and I've draughted myself in as geek/nurseryman/graphics consultant. There's no pay of course- everything has to go on an endless list of bills, land costs, solicitors fees, etc. Like planting a Tree from seed, and nurturing and watering it, same as the 20,000 seedling trees in our nursery.

When we get an order Ru perks up, shouts 'treeeFLIGHT!!' so I'll know he'll be in a good mood for the day. Why not 'make it a Treeflight' just to make my life easier? huh? We're really excited that people feel they can trust us, so we'll be emailing everyone who buys trees from us a picture of their tree- once planting starts in autumn.

Tom