The Sycamore Gap

A Moment For Business To Galvanise Action Not Despair

I find a story about 1, always cuts through far more, than a story about billions.

The deliberate chopping down of a national treasure this week - an icon I even saw myself when I lived in Carlisle - is devastating. Even more devastating though, it's just 1 of the 15,000,000,000 trees that will be cut down in 2023! Learn more about deforestation in this WWF article.

The iconic sycamore tree before it was felled in September 2023.

But so much good can still come from this senseless act of vandalism.

⭐️ This story has got us talking about trees

⭐️ This story has reminded us that you can’t replace something that’s hundreds of years old instantly.

⭐️ This story even got national media attention unlike the State of Nature Report which was also published in the very same week.

SO

🌳 Let’s use this moment to talk about nature

🌳 Let’s use this moment to get engaged with protecting it

🌳 Let’s use this moment to galvanise action not despair

And here are few places to start:

🇬🇧 Read the highlights from the 2023 State of Nature Report - The TL;DR version is that the UK is one of the most nature-depleted nations in the world with one in 6 species at risk of extinction.

🇬🇧 Keep informed about and pressure on the ‘legal’ vandalism that is taking place right now with the weakening of environmental protection (which does not get the same media attention) directly from the Office for Environmental Protection.

🇬🇧 Businesses can respond by measuring their nature-related risk and creating a nature strategy. Check out Nature Metrics who offer an end-to-end biodiversity reporting tool to help businesses prepare for upcoming legislation forcing large organisations to disclose their nature-related risks and impact. They are launching the World first biodiversity SaaS platform in October 2023.

While protecting nature gives us so much more than just beautiful things, the fact that it is so beautiful can be reason enough to talk about it.