Phil SturgeonAnother 600 trees in the ground in Northamptonshire with amazing volunteers from Acer and Google.
At the end a dog walker stopped for a chat. They’ve got about three acres of unused land they’d like to plant nearby, so were gonna do it. 🙌🏻
Vincent Biret@Philsturgeon I'm curious about why all those plots haven't regrown trees naturally? When left alone, isn't a piece of land supposed to get back to its defaults based on what usually grows in the area?
@vincentbiret natural regeneration requires is brilliant and we use it where it’s got a chance of working over a relevant time period.
If there’s a good seed source, you can just fence it off to exclude stock and it’ll do it’s thing.
The seeds have to come from somewhere, and I’d they’re not in the ground already (they’d have germinated and been eaten already here) or aren’t nearby then it’s not gonna happen.
@Philsturgeon ah so you're effectively trying to fast track the process then? Thanks a lot for the explanation!
@vincentbiret yeah “it’s quicker” I’d a bit of a simplification but sure we’re trying to get an effective ecosystem going on a timeframe relevant to the crises going on. Sometimes nature has been too knackered to be able to recover this century so getting a canopy up will let it do it’s thing from there.
Sometimes we do both. Plant some. Leave gaps for nature to fill in. Make sure we’re adding species that would arrive on their own, or aren’t in the area but should be. 🙌🏻
@Philsturgeon thanks for taking the time to explain. Do you also work with other organizations to reintroduce animal species as well?
@vincentbiret for these smaller patches of unused farmland there’s no point. We plant in a way that will welcome wildlife, but there’s no reason to introduce anything into an acre.
For larger sites, especially the ones we own, that are 60 acres and above, there’s stuff we can do. Starting with bird/bat boxes, adding more fruit trees, ponds, etc.
On sites even bigger than that and we can start talking about beavers and pine martins.
First we build the structure, then we see what happens.
@Philsturgeon thanks! I do have plenty of other questions for you, but they are more related to your lifestyle and I'd perfectly understand if you don't want to answer. I've followed you for a couple of years now, my understanding is you used to bike and sleep in nature, and you've "upgraded" to EV. I'm under the impression you're not staying in a specific area and you're doing it alone. With that in mind, how easy is it for you to maintain friendships with sedentary people?
@vincentbiret leaving the bike behind has been sad but I had a few serious injuries and had to keep working. Cycling a bag of spades through the Welsh mountains is hard enough in winter but if you add a hernia to that… well, e-van helps a lot. Got more of a team now but still need a lot of help.
People who only worry a bit in passing about the climate crisis confuse me so much I cannot sit around and listen to their trivial nonsense.
My best friends plant trees with me when we’re near.
@Philsturgeon yeah and taking about climate policy with most people bores then to death at best...
What made you choose the planting trees Nomad life vs homestead low carbon or farming for short farm to table cycles or advocating for better urbanism or anything else really?
@Philsturgeon ah so would it be fair to say that cycling was already a passion before the transition to tree planting and that what had influenced your current lifestyle choice?
@vincentbiret absolutely. I was bike touring in the states in 2014, racing from 2016, then cycling around Europe/Africa as a nomad by 2019. The tree planting was a result of what I saw out there.
The van was a sweet upgrade. If you’re used to a tent then a van is luxury. Now I’m healthy it’ll be a mixture going forwards. https://phil.tech/2020/bike-nomad/
I advocate for better transportation planning, in the U.K. I’m fighting for better bike lanes, less giant road building, and more electric trains. You’ll see more of all that on twitter.
twitter.com/StopRIS2
twitter.com/greens4hs2
I’m keeping all that on the bird site for now. For you all.
@Philsturgeon thanks it was a great read! So now that you spend more time planting trees, was that time taken from riding or from building software?
@vincentbiret we plant trees November - March, which are less exciting for cycling anyway. In the past I would have cycled down Spain or Morocco, somewhere warm, but doing that every year would get boring anyway.
I definitely write less code, but I've got a few clients. I help tech companies reduce their carbon footprint, and write software for tree planting orgs. greenturtle.io
@Philsturgeon thanks. And I'm guessing your revenue is spilt between code, donations, grants and maybe events you run for companies. I had questions in that space too but I know now everyone is comfortable talking about those things and I want to respect your privacy.
Switching gears a little: how do you make peace with the fact that you might be planting trees in one village and a promoter might be cutting them in the other village to build sprawling suburbs?
@vincentbiret I only take money from tech work, I don’t take a penny from charity other than covering some travel/equipment expenses.
I campaign against a lot of dumb developments (car dependent green belt housing, airport expansion, road building, etc), but cannot be in control of it all.
In the U.K. those projects have biodiversity net gains requirements anyway, so they will do their own mitigation elsewhere (I don’t touch that stuff. They can pay full price).
@Philsturgeon have you ever thought about running for elections to get better influence over those topics?
What were the deterrents? I'm guessing it wouldn't go well with a nomad life.
What were the deterrents? I'm guessing it wouldn't go well with a nomad life.
@vincentbiret ahh yes, more unpaid work. That’s what my work life balance needs.
I am instead supporting The Green Party by helping them get their head straight on transportation policy, and trying to get more greens elected in general.
We can’t expect one person to do it all. This is a team effort.
@Philsturgeon how did you get involved with that to start with? Showed up at a "meetup"? Reached out online? Some other way?
When you don't already know people it does feel opaque and hard to provide some help.
@vincentbiret talk to people who seem interesting. 🙌🏻
@Philsturgeon thanks for all the answers on this thread. I learnt a lot and it was really interesting. I owe you a drink if we ever meet in person 🍻