It's been great to see outdoor brands turning Black Friday green this year. Lake District based running, hiking and fitness brand, Inov-8, has donated £9,600 towards the planting of new trees and the restoration of peat habitats in the battle against climate change. All the money was raised through a Green Friday sales initiative on its website.
Inov-8's donation has been made to Cumbria Wildlife Trust, a local voluntary organisation devoted to the conservation of wildlife and wild places in the county. It will be spent on the trust’s carbon reduction projects, which include planting trees and restoring peatbogs.
Michelle Waller, Senior Development Officer for Cumbria Wildlife Trust, said, “It was brilliant to get the phone call from Inov-8 saying they wanted to help us do more conservation work and improve our environment. This donation will contribute towards planting over 2,000 trees at Staveley Woodlands (in the Lake District, Cumbria, UK) over the next year. It will also help to keep Foulshaw Moss Nature Reserve (also in the Lake District) a healthy functioning peat bog. The 350-hectare site at Foulshaw alone locks away over 5,300 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.
“Restoring peatbogs is our best weapon against climate change because they lock away harmful CO2, so that it doesn’t leak back into the atmosphere. Healthy peatlands full of bogs are actually the UK’s largest carbon store – they lock away 28.5 million tonnes of CO2 in the Lake District alone.”
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This week, Inov-8 COO Michael Price joined both Michelle Waller and Danni Chalmers, Staveley Woodlands Officer for Cumbria Wildlife Trust, and to plant trees. The Trust is working with the local community to ensure that Staveley Woodlands become an even better place for wildlife and people.
Price said, “I’m very proud of our team, whose idea to turn the Black Friday sale period into Green Friday and donate a percentage of sales to the planting of trees was an inspired one. I’m equally proud of our brand fans, both old and new, who supported us during the Green Friday initiative and played their part in helping us protect the planet. Thank you all.
“Working with Cumbria Wildlife Trust, we will continue to get a grip on climate change and run more initiatives together.”
In fact, the first new initiative will launch later this month. Inov-8 will host a ‘Run For The Hills’ challenge on Strava. The initiative will encourage people to get out and run over the Christmas period, whilst helping to raise money for the trust’s carbon reduction projects
