3 reasons why we plant native NZ trees

Planting trees is one of the most effective ways we can all help to tackle climate change. Each time you shop with us, you contribute to planting native New Zealand trees, right here in New Zealand. 

So, why is planting trees so important?

1. Trees help to combat global warming by absorbing carbon dioxide, removing carbon and releasing oxygen back into the air. We need the oxygen from air to breathe, sooo trees are pretty important, right? They’re like big, beautiful air purifiers keeping us all alive. 

Not only is carbon released into the atmosphere when trees are cut down, but there are less and less trees and forests in New Zealand. 

If you were to describe our country to someone who’s never been, you’d probably mention our beautiful landscape and how green it is, right? Well, protecting our trees, forests and landscape has never been more important. The area of natural forest in New Zealand has reduced from approximately 85% of total land area before human arrival to 29%, only partly offset by the planting of exotic forests which currently cover 7% of land area.

2. Planting native trees in coastal areas helps prevent bank erosion and cleans up our ocean and waterways.

By planting strong native trees such as Tī kōuka and Harakeke alongside river banks and in coastal areas, it can help prevent too much sediment and pollutants flowing into streams. If sediment levels get too high, it can disrupt ecosystems and kill our fish. 

These strong rooted trees also moderate stream flow to reduce flooding and will keep the water temperature down. This improves the water quality and makes for a healthy habitat for our fish, insects and birds. 

We all rely on clean water as part of our way of life; whether it’s for drinking, for gathering freshwater food or swimming. How different would summer be if we didn’t have clean beaches, oceans and streams to swim in, right?

3. Being surrounded by trees in nature improves our mental wellbeing. 

We’ve all felt it. That feeling when you’re lying outside on green grass, glaring up at the sun with your eyes closed, soaking in that vitamin D and not thinking about anything else but the warm sun on your face. Pure happiness.

This feeling transfers into other areas of our lives and often we’re much kinder to ourselves and others, we’re calmer, we eat better, we’re more focused and we make better choices. Overall we have better days.

Many studies have shown that people who have a close connection to our landscape are generally happier on the inside - they indulge themselves in positive thinking and have a greater appreciation for themselves and their surroundings.

We get it. Life's busy and there’s so much to fit into a day but we believe it’s prioritising those little moments to slow down, so we can make better choices and begin to change our everyday habits which ultimately shape our lives. 

So, now you understand why we plant native NZ trees and by choosing to simply shop with purpose, you truly can make a difference to our environment.