Has Helping the Environment Gone Corporate?

Environmental Charities still charitable?

It is an unknown fact that for each ton of growing wood, more then a ton of oxygen is released into the atmosphere. An even less known fact is that this only happens in growing forests. Forests where growth rates have stagnated due to age and decay actually use up more oxygen than it produces. When taking this into consideration, the use of renewable plantations for our furniture makes very good sense. Every tree we grow in our plantations produces more oxygen than an existing growth-stagnated tree in the forest. And every time we cut one plantation tree down, we replace it with several new ones to continue the cycle.

So, when people ask me about the damage our garden furniture inflicts on our environment I can't resist but to set them straight with the facts.

Recently however, with all of the news reports of strange and unusual weather phenomena's all around the world, I could not avoid asking myself if there is anything more we can do. Having an already tiny environmental damage footprint does not mean we are not able to do more. Don't get me wrong; I am not wholly convinced that the recent weather changes are not just a natural cycle of our earth, but what if it is not? The problem is that when we eventually find out the real cause, it might be too late to do anything about it. So, being a pro-active sort of company, we decided to look into more ways of helping the environment.

I began my search for a recognised worthy charity that I could trust to help us in our quest. We decided that it would be a good idea to get involved with some sort of tree planting schemes for the same reasons we described earlier. So, our first call was the Woodland Trust UK. I called them up explaining that we would like to plant a tree for every customer and dedicate it to them or a person of their choice. On their site they charge £10 for this service for which you also get an attractive card, a window sticker, a certificate bearing your dedication and a map of the area your tree will be planted at. What a good idea I thought! So, you can imagine my surprise and to be frank, disappointment when I was told that as a business, unless I 'donate' to them at least £20,000 worth of dedications (yes £20k!!!!) we would not be able to display their logo as a show of support; we would not be able to mention the fact that we will dedicate a tree for every customer anywhere on the site. If I did not have it in black and white right in front of me, I would not have believed it. An organisation, claiming to be a charity is refusing help from a company such as ours because we are not as rich or powerful as their other corporate partners. They quote the following for the reason why; " ?Unfortunately due to the time and resources we have to put into commercial partnerships we have to set a minimum amount of £20,000 which I understand is too high for Faraway Furniture? " now, forgive me if I am wrong, but what is the difference between me sending them a monthly lump sum from all of our sales compared to each of my customers individually sending them the money? Surely our way is easier for them to manage as they receive the funds in one lump sum, and only have to send the dedications out in one go to one address? Yes, I admit, I wanted to place their logo on our site to encourage more people to buy from us. But what is so wrong with that? Surely the majority of people asked on the street would prefer knowing their hard earned cash is going to an environmentally responsible company such as ours and not to the less ethical retailers that are springing up all over the internet whose only care is to shift boxes regardless of where the wood comes from?

It is plainly obvious to me that the Woodland Trust UK decision is purely a monetary one. I saw no evidence of an investigation into the way the company conducts their business and how it compares with the trust\'s own ethos and guidelines. It seems that unless you can afford to splash out £20K, you are an unwelcome partner for such charities. Maybe, just maybe, they should ask themselves which company is less likely to be in a position to pay such an amount. Company A which does not care about the damage they cause to the environment and are therefore able to take many shortcuts and less than ethical (but cheaper) business decisions or company B which strives to reduce its carbon emission footprint, whether it is by starting initiatives such as Plant a Tree, using more expensive plantation wood only and implementing a comprehensive recycling campaign throughout the business.

Not allowing this bad experience to deter me, I continued my search. It was then that I found the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP). Without any fuss, I was able to log onto their site, fill out a form and pledge my yearly tree allocation directly on their site. So, during 2007-2008, Faraway Furniture will be responsible for 1000 new trees planted where they are needed most. So, no fancy certificates or stickers for our customers, but I?ll just have to learn to live with that.

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