Planting Hope
3 years, 11 month, 19 days, 21 hours
1 August 2025
Perhaps if we care enough, we can.
Heartwood Forest lies about 25 miles north of central London. It is quite large, in the context of the UK, covering 347 hectares, and with more than 600,000 trees. It is a beautiful oasis of life, full of bluebells in spring and home to 87 recorded species of bird and 27 of butterflies. On a day out there a few months ago, I walked for a couple of hours without crossing let alone retracing my route.
But the most remarkable thing about Heartwood Forest is that less than 20 years ago, it didn't exist.
It was the brainchild of The Woodland Trust who in 2008 purchased the agricultural land to fulfil the dream of creating England's largest new native forest. And then to convert farmland to woodland they enlisted the help of thousands of volunteers. Weekend after weekend, for 10 years, the area was planted with trees, until the main project was completed, in 2018. Seven years on, if you didn't know the story, you would believe the wood had been there for centuries.
Standing in the middle of the forest you feel the power of nature, so quickly to re-establish when given a chance. And you feel the tranquillity which spaces like these offer to so many. But the most powerful story of Heartwood Forest, for me, is how something of such scale was accomplished so quickly, thanks to the vision, ambition and leadership of the Woodland Trust, and their ability to harness the contribution of so many people.
Just imagine if such a project was repeated thousands of times all over the world, how much those trees would contribute to tackling climate change, providing shade in hot climates and enhancing the quality of life of communities.
And if only we could mobilise a similar level of aligned, citizen action on decarbonisation, on tackling the world's terrible inequalities, and stopping the hideous, pointless, inhumane, unjustifiable wars that a small number of individuals seem determined and able to inflict on entire populations, from Ukraine to Gaza.
Perhaps if we care enough, we can?