Harehills ❤️ Love

This year has been the year where it felt like environmentalism and climate change finally came to the fore of public consciousness. With COP26, Insulate Britain even more in the news than Extinction Rebellion. There is a ground swelling, that is gradually growing, (a little too gradually), and something needs to be done.

A major way we can help the climate, and our own well-being is with more trees.

Fortunately, in Harehills as well as around Leeds, there has been a consistent pattern of tree planting events in our parks and green spaces. This year has been no different, so on the 27th of November, the Leeds City Council Woodland Creation team organised a tree planting day for volunteers in our own Harehills Park.

Despite the freezing conditions, the sleet and the snow, volunteers gathered to plant 4,000 saplings. A tremendous effort and success by everyone involved. The event was led by experienced park rangers, with councillor Salma Arif and volunteers from the local area and across Leeds joining the hard work on a cold day.

The Woodland Creation team was set up as part of Leeds City Council’s efforts to become carbon neutral by 2030. The goal is to plant 5.8 million trees over the next 25 years, trees being the number one method for capturing carbon from the air and storing it. More trees mean cleaner air, but also means happier people, and more beauty spots all around Leeds.

Don’t worry if you missed out on this one, there are more tree plantings planned over the winter months. If you’re interested, you can be included in notifications to future events by emailing Woodland Creation at woodlandcreation@leeds.gov.uk.

You can find out more about the plans and goals of tree planning at Leeds, find education about the benefits, and education packs to support teaching from a Woodland Creation on the Leeds City Council website, and the Arium Leeds website.

And if you’d like to donate towards tree planting, you can do it through Love Leeds Parks.

You can find all the released Advent Posts here: Harehills Good News Advent Calendar 2021