A couple of days ago two mature Ash tree's were felled in our neighbours garden. These trees had been a host to numerous wildlife species that I had seen throughout the 8 years that we'd lived here; countless amounts of Moths (including a hawkmoth which we once saw), Butterflies, Birds, Beetles and even Bats. It happened on a day that I had woken up to the news of what is happening to the jet stream right now and the effects it's having to weather patterns in the Northern hemisphere. These events coupled together gave me a heavy bout of climate anxiety with an intense feeling of impending doom and helplessness. I had been planning on doing my first long distance walk this summer, but I felt like this could be the opportunity to take some control, and focus on doing something positive. So I am walking The South Downs Way, a trail which spans 100 miles from Eastbourne to Winchester in about 6 days, to raise money for a charity which I have admired for a while: City of Trees.

City of Trees are a charity based in Manchester, where I had lived for the last 5 years, who focus on forest maintenance, tree planting and community gardening in all Greater Manchester boroughs. They have numerous projects to get local communities involved in planting and maintaining orchards, protecting local green spaces (especially trees, hedgerows and woodlands), reducing pollution in Manchesters rivers and canals, and bringing more green to the city centre to offset air pollution. They continue to work on a staggering amount of projects and I'd love to raise money to aid in continuing their amazing work. You can read about their project portfolio here: https://www.cityoftrees.org.uk/project-portfolio .

Greater Manchester is particularly under threat from the climate emergency, as yearly rainfall continues to increase, the risk of flooding is becoming the norm. City of Trees are working together with other organisations to create a Northern Forest which will span from Liverpool to Hull and will act as a flood defence, wildlife habitat, to offset air pollution and protect ancient woodlands which already exist in this area. It's costs £10 to buy a tree on their website, and their goal is to plant 3 million by 5 years, one for every person in Manchester.

So I'd love if you could donate whatever you can to help their work continue :)