Letterfest is a small company based in the beautiful UNESCO biosphere reserve of North Devon. The earth's changing climate has the power to fundamentally change the way we all live and work. And nowhere are these impacts felt more strongly than in coastal regions, regions that have a close relationship with nature and the climate. Those impacts are both economical, through farming and tourism but also emotional. Climate change and the effect of the earths changing climate threatens us all.

Deforestation is one of the main contributors to climate change. It comes in many forms: wildfire, agricultural clearcutting, livestock ranching, and logging for timber, among others. Forests cover 31% of the land area on Earth and annually 75,700 square kilometers (18.7 million acres) of forest is lost. Mass deforestation continues to threaten tropical forests, their biodiversity and the ecosystem services they provide.

Deforestation is the second largest anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, after fossil fuel combustion. Deforestation and forest degradation contribute to atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions through combustion of forest biomass and decomposition of remaining plant material and soil carbon.

("Deforestation and climate change," n.d. Wikipedia)

Trees can be part of the solution

Trees aren’t just great for sitting under to keep cool in the summer, they also help to keep the earth cool and help to provide the water you drink and the food you eat.

In a single day just one tree can absorb up to 370 litres of water through its roots in the ground and release this into the atmosphere, contributing to the earth’s water cycle. A tree’s leaves also have an important job; by capturing raindrops, water is evaporated back into the sky and helps to form clouds. These clouds then turn back into rain, snow, sleet and hail in other places and countries. This is called precipitation. Precipitation is essential as without it, the earth would be one giant desert. If there was no rain, farmers wouldn’t be able to grow the crops we eat, and we wouldn’t have any fresh water to drink.

When trees work together in a forest, they release a special hydrocarbon called an isoprene. Once the isoprene is in the atmosphere it helps in the formation of a special type of cloud. These clouds help to keep the earth cool by reflecting solar radiation away from the earth.

Trees are also essential to producing the oxygen we breathe as well as keeping the air we inhale in clean and safe. A single tree can absorb many harmful gases including carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide. A single tree can produce up to 130kg of oxygen and absorb and store up to 5kgs of harmful gases every year. The great thing about trees is that they are easily to plant, and with a bit of love and care they can live anywhere from 100 years to 5000 years,  helping to keep the earth cool and the air safe for generations to come. If we planted a trillion new trees, this would help the reduce the man-made c02 emissions by between 25-50%, which in turn would help to reduce the temperature of the earth and the devastating affects of global warming.

Our production

At Letterfest we rely on paper to create our bespoke products, however we are determined to only use paper which has been sourced and produced in an environmentally friendly way, no matter the cost.

All of the paper we use Is FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified, therefore the paper has been made from wood sourced responsibly from a forest which is managed in an environmentally friendly and socially beneficial way or made from recycled consumer waste.

All of the paper we use can be recycled, including the paper used for our personalised books. But we didn’t stop there. We have teamed up with a printer which is a member of Woodland Carbon, a scheme set up by the Woodland Trust, dedicated to removing carbon emissions from the atmosphere by planting trees across the UK. Our printer is just as keen as we are to reduce their carbon footprint and by printing on demand using digital printers, they reduce waste as well as using a digital printing process which emits little or no VOC’s (Volatile Organic Chemicals) removing the need of toxic chemicals. Hooray!

As well as using only FSC certified paper, we have aimed to significantly reduce our carbon footprint by replacing plastic packaging inserts with recyclable cardboard, ensuring that all waste is separated and recycled where possible and only turning on the lights we need.

The Tree Project

For 2020 our aim is to do more than be carbon neutral. We will improve our local environment by planting a tree for every sale of our special tree book which aims to teach children and parents all about the amazing things trees do to help us and the planet. We are always on the look out for new products and types of packing which are made from, resourced and produced in an environmentally beneficial way.