Our Trees: Exploring Church Land with Citizen Science
“Our Trees: Exploring Church Land with Citizen Science” is a project developed jointly between the Church of Scotland and two Edinburgh Napier University MSc students (Maddy Richards and Victoria Cochrane). Trees in sacred spaces are seldom studied, yet they provide incredible benefits including, but not limited to, mental and physical health, regulating air quality and carbon storage, and providing safe havens for humans and wildlife. Currently there is no existing database recording the trees in our Scottish sacred spaces and we are hoping that with your help we can create one. This would be particularly beneficial to congregations when looking at how to make your church carbon neutral, which the Church of Scotland is looking to achieve by 2030.
We are inviting congregations throughout Scotland to take part in this citizen science project, could you be one of the first congregations to be part of the database of trees? You will also help us learn more about your community's relationships with nature and the impact of environmental education. Taking part is quite simple, you will be asked to visit the land owned by your church to identify and measure trees and return the data to us. Before and after data collection, we ask that you also complete a short survey. Don't worry if you are brand new to identifying trees - we will give you all the tools you need.
‘Our Trees’ is expected to launch in late April and will run until mid-July. If you have any questions or want to participate and would like to be kept in touch with developments, please contact Maddy and Victoria at [email protected].
“Our Trees: Exploring Church Land with Citizen Science” is a project developed jointly between the Church of Scotland and two Edinburgh Napier University MSc students (Maddy Richards and Victoria Cochrane). Trees in sacred spaces are seldom studied, yet they provide incredible benefits including, but not limited to, mental and physical health, regulating air quality and carbon storage, and providing safe havens for humans and wildlife. Currently there is no existing database recording the trees in our Scottish sacred spaces and we are hoping that with your help we can create one. This would be particularly beneficial to congregations when looking at how to make your church carbon neutral, which the Church of Scotland is looking to achieve by 2030.
We are inviting congregations throughout Scotland to take part in this citizen science project, could you be one of the first congregations to be part of the database of trees? You will also help us learn more about your community's relationships with nature and the impact of environmental education. Taking part is quite simple, you will be asked to visit the land owned by your church to identify and measure trees and return the data to us. Before and after data collection, we ask that you also complete a short survey. Don't worry if you are brand new to identifying trees - we will give you all the tools you need.
‘Our Trees’ is expected to launch in late April and will run until mid-July. If you have any questions or want to participate and would like to be kept in touch with developments, please contact Maddy and Victoria at [email protected].