Good morning, Readers!
I went to my godson's baptism on Sunday. It was a lovely service. I did not burst into flames. I do think, however, that perhaps Rumble by Zayde Wølf was perhaps the wrong choice for the day's anthem. I was not, in fact, 'here to rumble.'
That, however, is not the reason I'm writing this blog post. I'm writing because I have an announcement. First, let me explain. In September, 'round about the middle of the month, I went down a YouTube warren filled with videos about things people were doing to restore their local environments. There was a mad lad from New Zealand, who was returning a privately bought sanctuary to wild forest. The area was, thanks to human meddling, overrun by gorse, making it unusable for either grazing or crops. Since that was the case, and it wasn't being used anyway, why not restore the native forests that once covered those hills. So that's what the folks of Hinewai Nature Reserve did.
There's a great short film on the reserve called Fools and Dreamers. I highly recommend people watch it. It honestly filled my heart.
Further down the warren I went, until I landed on a video that perked my ears up. It was a TedX talk about re-wilding Caledonia. This TedX talk, in fact:
That, however, is not the reason I'm writing this blog post. I'm writing because I have an announcement. First, let me explain. In September, 'round about the middle of the month, I went down a YouTube warren filled with videos about things people were doing to restore their local environments. There was a mad lad from New Zealand, who was returning a privately bought sanctuary to wild forest. The area was, thanks to human meddling, overrun by gorse, making it unusable for either grazing or crops. Since that was the case, and it wasn't being used anyway, why not restore the native forests that once covered those hills. So that's what the folks of Hinewai Nature Reserve did.
There's a great short film on the reserve called Fools and Dreamers. I highly recommend people watch it. It honestly filled my heart.
Further down the warren I went, until I landed on a video that perked my ears up. It was a TedX talk about re-wilding Caledonia. This TedX talk, in fact:
Now, I wrote a book that had the ancient forest of Caledonia as one of the settings. Daughters of Britain begins and ends in Caledonia in the very late Iron Age. I have a vague recollection of there being mention that Caledonia was once heavily forested, and home to not just deer, as it is now, but beaver, lynx, wolf, heron, and brown bear. It was a lot more like Canada, in fact, than the Scotland we know today (I think I learnt this long ago, when I was researching the region for the purposes of academia and not fiction).
I was utterly captivated by this plan and, seeing as how I had a book that was largely set in the area, I decided I can do something to help. So I am. I will be sponsoring a grove with treesforlife.org.uk, and splitting my royalties from Daughters of Britain with them. For every £12.00 I earn in royalties (So... something like $21.00 in Canadian), a tree will be planted in my grove. It costs £6.00 to plant a tree. I'd get the other £6.00.
This does mean that my grove will not be extensive. Something like one tree might get planted every quarter, but hey, it's better than nothing.
Now, I've yet to sponsor the grove for a couple of reasons. The first is to start the grove I will need £106.00. That's roughly $178.00 in Canadian funds. So I'm still saving up for that, but I should have it soon. The second reason is that the groves get to be named. As this is all being done because of Daughters of Britain, I would like to name the grove for Mederei (the main character; a badass Briton I want to be like when I grow up). However, Mederei's Grove sounds boring as hell. I'd like to come up with a much cooler name for it.
So... if you feel you're up for it, I need a cool name for the grove I will be sponsoring with the royalties from Daughters of Britain. If you've read the book, or not, what would you call a grove if you were to name it for the eldest of Boudicca's daughters, who spent her life fighting Rome for the freedom of her people? Let me know.
I should have the grove sponsored in time for my birthday next month, and I'd love to have a good name picked out by then.
Trees, it seems, are having their day in the spotlight, because Trees For Life are not the only folks out there trying to make a difference. For those of you who have been seeing this everywhere for the past couple of days, and might be confused, let me introduce you to #TeamTrees.
I was utterly captivated by this plan and, seeing as how I had a book that was largely set in the area, I decided I can do something to help. So I am. I will be sponsoring a grove with treesforlife.org.uk, and splitting my royalties from Daughters of Britain with them. For every £12.00 I earn in royalties (So... something like $21.00 in Canadian), a tree will be planted in my grove. It costs £6.00 to plant a tree. I'd get the other £6.00.
This does mean that my grove will not be extensive. Something like one tree might get planted every quarter, but hey, it's better than nothing.
Now, I've yet to sponsor the grove for a couple of reasons. The first is to start the grove I will need £106.00. That's roughly $178.00 in Canadian funds. So I'm still saving up for that, but I should have it soon. The second reason is that the groves get to be named. As this is all being done because of Daughters of Britain, I would like to name the grove for Mederei (the main character; a badass Briton I want to be like when I grow up). However, Mederei's Grove sounds boring as hell. I'd like to come up with a much cooler name for it.
So... if you feel you're up for it, I need a cool name for the grove I will be sponsoring with the royalties from Daughters of Britain. If you've read the book, or not, what would you call a grove if you were to name it for the eldest of Boudicca's daughters, who spent her life fighting Rome for the freedom of her people? Let me know.
I should have the grove sponsored in time for my birthday next month, and I'd love to have a good name picked out by then.
Trees, it seems, are having their day in the spotlight, because Trees For Life are not the only folks out there trying to make a difference. For those of you who have been seeing this everywhere for the past couple of days, and might be confused, let me introduce you to #TeamTrees.
This is a pin that is available from Jacksepticeye's merch store to help support #TeamTrees. Every dollar raised plants a tree. Let's get 20 million trees planted by 2020. We can do it.
You see, a popular YouTuber by the name of Mr. Beast recently celebrated the acquisition of 20 million subscribers on his channel. That's an insane number. He asked his viewers what he should do to celebrate, and they came back with 'plant 20 million trees.'
Instead of scoffing, Mr. Beast was just like, "Alright, challenge accepted."
He acquired the help of former NASA employer and fellow YouTuber Mark Rober, partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation, and then enlisted the help of YouTubers everywhere (Jackspeticeye did an eight hour live stream for the cause yesterday. SciShow, Hank Green, Rhett and Link and many others have all joined in the fun) to enlist their viewers for the cause.
With every dollar raised, a tree will be planted - one for one. So the goal is to raise $20 million by the end of 2020. That means if everyone one of his subscribers donated just $1.00, that goal will be easily reached. I'm really excited about this initiative, and I'm so thrilled to see this become a real thing that people are really pushing for.
If you have a dollar to spare, I do hope that you will head on over to teamtrees.org and donate it to plant a tree by the end of 2020.
We only have one planet, my loves. Let's look after it.
Right, I have agents to go and query.
Ciao!
Instead of scoffing, Mr. Beast was just like, "Alright, challenge accepted."
He acquired the help of former NASA employer and fellow YouTuber Mark Rober, partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation, and then enlisted the help of YouTubers everywhere (Jackspeticeye did an eight hour live stream for the cause yesterday. SciShow, Hank Green, Rhett and Link and many others have all joined in the fun) to enlist their viewers for the cause.
With every dollar raised, a tree will be planted - one for one. So the goal is to raise $20 million by the end of 2020. That means if everyone one of his subscribers donated just $1.00, that goal will be easily reached. I'm really excited about this initiative, and I'm so thrilled to see this become a real thing that people are really pushing for.
If you have a dollar to spare, I do hope that you will head on over to teamtrees.org and donate it to plant a tree by the end of 2020.
We only have one planet, my loves. Let's look after it.
Right, I have agents to go and query.
Ciao!
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