Sally Phillips, the founder of Cumbrian business Chimney Sheep Ltd, has bought a seven acre piece of land where she plans to plant a wood of around 9,000 trees. The entrepreneur took ownership of the land in January 2019 with the aim of continuing to minimise the environmental impact of her business and is now calling out to other businesses to do the same.
An ecologist and avid environmentalist for most of her life, Sally is well educated on the benefits to the environment that the planting of trees provides and the increased effects deforestation has had on climate change. From absorbing more carbon dioxide than they emit, retaining water, reducing soil erosion and reducing flooding, Sally’s hope is that the trees she will be planting will help to benefit the local environment in a multitude of ways including minimising the CO2 impact Chimney Sheep Ltd has on the environment. The seven acre woodland will sequester approximately 18 tonnes of CO2 per year, with each acre of trees absorbing the same amount of CO2 as that which is produced when driving a car 26,000 miles.
Sally has also developed the wood to ensure a range of native tree varieties will be planted to support the local ecosystem including more unusual varieties such as black poplar, locally cultivated aspen, elm, sweet chestnut, walnut, hornbeam, field maple as well as more well known tree types. The trees will act to accelerate the piece of land from grassland to woodland, working to introduce a bigger range of native species to the area and increasing its biodiversity.
Sally Phillips stated, “The development of the wood has very much been a team effort. I’m grateful to both my staff and customers who have helped me to grow Chimney Sheep to a point where I have been able to achieve
“It is enormously gratifying to have a business that sells environmentally friendly products in order to finance the purchase of land that, in turn, will take direct action to benefit the environment.
“Although seven acres seems like a huge undertaking it’s made me realise that this is just a token effort. We need millions of trees planting in order to mitigate
“I’ve found myself in a situation where I can take positive action myself, so team Chimney Sheep’s mission is to keep at it, keep selling our eco-products, keep buying land, keep planting trees – seven acres is just the start for us…
Aware of the increasing impact of climate change on the environment, Sally added: “I have been passionate about the environment from my teenage years. In those days, it was seen as quite an alternative view but now with the clear evidence of the greenhouse effect and the
“The phrase ‘think globally, act locally’ is relevant to us all. With that in mind, I really want to encourage other businesses to think about ways in which they can do the same and help to minimise their impact on the environment.
“It could be planting trees to help absorb the CO2 emitted by the business
“We don’t have the benefit of time anymore – climate change is happening and it’s happening now. We must, as businesses, take responsibility to minimise its impact.”
To keep customers updated with the progress of the wood, she has created a Sally’s Woodland on the Chimney Sheep Facebook page and will be uploading blog posts onto her website. For more information please visit www.chimneysheep.co.uk.
