Why (and how) Fourth Floor planted a new woodland - and why you should too
Fourth Forest? Fourth Flora? Woody McTreeface? Engelbirch Lumberdink? We still haven’t worked out what we’re going to call it, but Fourth Floor have now successfully reforested a quarter-acre of south-west countryside, working alongside the brilliant Co-forest woodland regeneration project.
Agreed last April, with the actual digging, planting, and egregious disturbing of worms happening just before Christmas, the initiative is a projection of a few of Fourth Floor’s core, cultural tenets. Namely, a care for holistic wellbeing, a drive to support diverse ways to nurture that, and the desire to give back to the world around us in a way that extends beyond our client services.
Why Co-forest? The project has multiple benefits and unique points of appeal. Aside from providing the obvious reforestation results of, well, reforesting, Co-forest is - surprisingly - one of the only carbon offsetting projects in the UK, and thus very much deserving of support. Co-forest also buy the land they use - rather than renting it - thus ensuring long-term security for the woodland they cultivate, meaning that all work done there has a permanent impact. Co-forest are also intent on creating genuine, natural habitats rather than just collections of trees, using diverse mixes in order to create varied, thriving ecosystems that will join up ecological corridors and create homes for all kinds of life for decades to come.
Thus, firmly ensconced within jumper, glove, and hat, we clambered into the minibus for a somehow both long and blink-and-you-miss-it December day, over the course of which we planted 240 brand new trees. Those trees will now spend the next few years growing, developing, and collectively evolving themselves into a bona fide woodland.
At Fourth Floor, we’re very much concerned with driving long-term, sustainable, and purposeful success in everything we do. That’s why reforestation felt like such a good fit for an outside-office project, and one that we got strenuously stuck into when the time came around. It turned out those jumpers were only necessary for a grand total of 14 minutes.
If you’d like to get involved in your own reforesting project - and we’d strongly recommend the experience - get in touch with the lovely people at Co-forest right here. As for us, we’re going back to plant a whole bunch more next month…