Orchard Equestrian Ltd
Details
Our work is to establish and conserve permanent native woodland in Ireland, encouraging land regeneration and biodiversity. What inspired you to work with Hometree?
As a vegetarian since childhood, director Aiden Devine was always aware of the environment and the negative effect meat production has on forests worldwide. Seeing the charity Hometree on RTE recently gave him the idea of Orchard Equestrian helping Hometree and trying to do our bit. For every €100 spent on our recent Black Friday weekend we pledged to plant one Tree on our customers behalf. We were delighted that we were able to support the planting of 100’s of trees.
You will not see some of the trees you are planting reach maturity, what has inspired such a long term vision?
We have to think of our children’s and grandchildren’s future and not be selfish to live in the moment and only think of our own lives. Trees, nature and biodiversity are key to all our survival for future generations and it is up to us all to do our bit.
Have there been any key moments you can share about how you or your organisation decided to support a more abundant and healthier world?
We have always been aware of the climate crisis for many years and in the business, we try to do things as sustainable as possible. We have installed solar panels on our warehouse generating up to 80% of our annual electricity needs. We re-use all our cardboard boxes for shipping our online orders, use recycled shredded paper as packing material and try to reduce plastics whenever possible.
Would you like to share any key lessons life has taught you?
There is a lot of doom and gloom around at present. The climate change challenge may seem daunting, but all small things make a difference – try not to be thinking about the negatives and try to on focus on the positives. Hometree is a great example of the inspiration that can be given to us all. Everything out there is not all bad. Other people might not be doing their bit, but you can inspire others to change for the best. Cutting down on meat consumption, using re-chargeable batteries, buying wine from Europe instead of the other side of the world make a difference. With a little bit of imagination you can make small changes for a better cleaner planet.
