Hive19 is pleased to announce that it’s partnering with GreenTheUK, a London-based environmental conservation and restoration organisation that’s committed to preserving the UK’s green spaces, and helping sustainable businesses like ours to channel their profits into positive climate initiatives.
This year, Hive19 will contribute to plant one hectare (10,000 square metres) of wildflowers in depleted British meadows, and we plan to do much more over the coming months and years. This is part of GreenTheUK’s Wildflower Pathways initiative, which seeks to replenish meadows across the country and create a more hospitable environment for Britain’s native pollinators and wildlife.
Why meadows matter
A staggering 97% of British wildflower meadows have disappeared since the Second World War, and the impact on the climate has been severe. The UK’s wildflower meadows provide shelter and food sources to pollinators which are essential to the local ecosystem. Bees, in particular, are in decline in the UK, and the diverse array of flowers that exist in UK meadows represent an essential food source for them.
When wildflower meadows are depleted and these pollinators go into decline, this also lowers essential food sources for other UK wildlife, such as hedgehogs, birds, and bats.
Though land development for construction projects continues to deplete meadows across the nation, GreenTheUK is working to reverse the devastating effects of this trend by replenishing wildflower meadows with the increasingly rare species of flowers that call these meadows home.
By doing this, GreenTheUK makes it easier for pollinators to move around meadows and provide their essential service to the ecosystem, proliferates plantlife that’s essential to absorbing CO2, and provides a habitat for countless insects, small animals, and other species that are in decline.
Through our contribution to GreenTheUK’s Wildflower Pathways projects, we are aiming to make Britain’s meadows more diverse, continue our pledge to be a sustainable business, and support bees and our planet too.
About GreenTheUK
GreenTheUK was started from a simple belief: “If we were all just a little bit greener then local communities, businesses and the country would benefit”.
Outside of its meadow restoration initiatives, GreenTheUK is engaged in a variety of other projects aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change, including its sister company Trainhugger, which empowers people to plant trees while they book train tickets, and a partnership with the Royal Forestry Society, which facilitates the planting of trees to reduce environmentally damaging practices in the UK timber trade.
GreenTheUK offers a number of partnerships that any sustainable business can use to offset their environmental impact and give back to the planet. Outside of Wildflower Pathways, businesses can contribute to:
Planting climate resilient forests
A tree planting initiative specifically aimed at boosting UK wildlife biodiversity, sequestering carbon, improving the air quality of the UK, and making forest habitats more resilient in the face of future climate challenges.
Help our kelp
A project aimed at restoring the kelp forests of Sussex, which have decreased by 96% over the past 4 decades. This initiative helps to sequester carbon and reverse localised climate change, and maintain a habitat for commercial shellfish and over 80,000 aquatic animals.
Restore native oysters
Aimed at replenishing the populations of native oysters to The Solent waters, thereby sequestering carbon, and maintaining the natural habitat for hundreds of aquatic species, including spider crabs, seahorses, and European eels.
We aim to be an environmentally responsible green business, and we’re always looking to support climate-friendly initiatives. So far, we have adopted a bee hive, joined Ecologi to plant trees both worldwide and locally, and partnered with GreenTheUK as part of our commitment to being a responsible and sustainable agency.
