Buy a brighter future
TREEGENERATION is a revolutionary way of shopping, that supports independent retailers and local businesses whilst generating much needed income for wildlife projects in the area.
Our Local Programme is underway in Aberystwyth in West Wales, and as it expands we plan to move into other towns in the area, and further afield.
At the heart of our Local Programme is a "Wealth Creation Cycle", which connects businesses, everyday people, and groups who are working hard to fight climate change and restore nature.
- The cycle starts when local businesses make a commitment to support nature through the provision of discounted goods and services;
- You are invited to make financial contributions to wildlife projects, and in return get rewarded with Local Credit;
- After making a contribution to wildlife, you can use your credit to get discounted goods and services from participating shops and businesses.
At different stages in the cycle, value is added to the local economy. The financial contributions you give to wildlife projects help to fight climate change and loss of biodiversity, which in turn improves your well-being, and that of future generations. The discount rewards that you receive in return for your contributions are designed to motivate you to shop locally, meaning that more of our collective wealth stays in the local economy, and everybody is healthier and happier.
Because TREEGENERATION LOCAL is still a new idea, there are only a few businesses where you can use your credit discounts, but as time goes on we will be involving many more, meaning that your rewards will become much more valuable.
It's a win-win-win scenario
- For everyday people like you and me, it's a great way to help wildlife without being out of pocket, because the money that you contribute is rewarded with discounts of an equivalent value.
- For participating businesses it is an opportunity to increase brand awareness, and gain new and loyal customers.
- For wildlife organisations, it's a novel source of income to help you with your valuable work.
Buy more local not more stuff ..
When you take part in our Local Programme, you're not paying any less for the goods and services that you buy from participating shops and businesses, but instead a portion of what you pay is directed to a wildlife project of your choosing. It is not our intention to get people buying more stuff, since consumerism is one of the main drivers behind the nature and climate emergency that is endangering us all! Instead our intention is to motivate people to buy more local when you use your credit rewards, and in so doing support independent traders, and the local economy.
Plugging the leaks
The local economy can be thought of as a leaky bucket - money pours in from different sources, but drains out just as fast when we spend our income elsewhere.
Internet shopping currently accounts for 27% of UK retail, compared to a decade or two ago when there was virtually none of this. Almost all online purchases are made outside of the local economy, at websites like eBay, Amazon and Temu, in the hunt for bargains.
Even though we are getting the cheapest prices, the long term effect of armchair shopping is that it is whittling away our local economies. We can all help to plug up the leaks, and regenerate our local economy by spending more of our income in our town centres and with independent traders.
We estimate that if just 1% of retail trade could be reclaimed from internet shopping, and spent back in the local economy, a town the size of Aberystwyth would benefit from £1.37 million extra income per year!
The Climate and Nature Emergencies combined are the greatest challenges of our time.
Nature in crises
The UK is one of the most nature depleted countries in the World, and in Wales, nearly 1 in 5 species are facing local extinction, which is really bad news! According to the Ceredigion Public Service Board, "The Climate and Nature Emergencies combined are the greatest challenges of our time."
"Enough is enough" call out the farmers, in protest to Government plans for broad scale tree planting on farmland. They tell us that without farms there is no food, yet it is equally true that without biodiversity there is no food! Food does not grow in a vacuum, it grows in an ecosystem, and the weaker this is the more fragile our food systems become. What people aren't talking about, is that supermarkets have been driving down farm income for decades, and forcing them to destroy natural habitat to intensify production and keep on top of overheads.
Since 90% of Wales is agricultural land, it is clear that broad scale solutions that enable farmers to maintain their livelihoods, whilst supporting nature, are essential if we are to solve the greatest challenges of our time.
One of the best ways to "Stand with the farmers" is to support initiatives that enable them to sell their produce within the local economy, rather than through supermarkets, which will result in the ongoing erosion of nature.
Together we make things better
We may not be able to do much about these large scale problems on our own, but through collective action we can begin to turn things around. Businesses that are participating in our Local Programme are making an effort to support wildlife, and in return you can make an effort to support them. A leaky local economy that is in short supply of money, does not have much capacity to adapt to the big challenges that effect the well-being of current and future generations. If we all spend a bit more of our income locally though, we can generate a surplus and use it to protect our local biodiversity, and enhance the resilience and well-being of our communities.
Does Treegeneration support rewilding?
The UK has a target to plant in excess of 2 billion trees by 2050, in order to achieve carbon neutrality, and Wales has an important role to play in this. Since most of Wales is farmland, our priority is to support farmers to diversify and plant trees and small woodlands. By planting the right trees in the right places, it is possible to increase the overall prosperity of farms, through improving the health and well-being of stock, and the land that sustains them. Also by working on a bigger scale with clusters of farmers, we can create joined-up woodlands, providing habitat corridors, or other ecological services such as watershed improvements, or flood alleviation.
How do woodlands provide value to the local economy?
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), woodlands provide around £1,000 / hectare / year of value to the local economy. This is provided mostly in the form of "ecosystem services", including carbon sequestration (tackling climate change), air pollution removal, flood mitigation, temperature regulation, noise reduction, recreation, and education. Many of these services have a positive impact on our health and well-being, and their value on the economy can be measured in terms like reduced days off work, and cost to the NHS. Carbon sequestration is one of the most important ecosystem services that a woodland provides. In actual fact the figure of £1,000 / ha / yr reported by the ONS is probably too low, since the price of carbon has tripled since their report was written in 2020. Another important aspect of woodland is that it provides habitat for wildlife. Although the provision of natural habitat is obviously very important, this "service" is not included in the ONS value, since there is currently no clear way to measure the impact within the economy.