We plant drinking water
We are not only concerned about keeping our total environmental impact to a minimum, but we also want to give something back to nature and support its protection.
165 trees were planted
Together with Klimapatenschaft Hamburg, we planted 165 trees in a local forest restoration project in 2020. Under normal circumstances, this is a great team event. Last year we had to leave the planting to forestry workers due to Corona restrictions. Happily, this does not change the positive impact these trees are having on the environment.
From now on, each one of them will generate 200 liters of additional groundwater annually, which makes 33,000 liters in total every year.
Trees generally contribute to groundwater formation and ensure that the quality of the groundwater increases. However, the effect is even more pronounced with deciduous trees than with conifers. The Klövensteen forest in the West of Hamburg currently contains a high number of conifers. With the restoration program, those are partially replaced by native deciduous trees.
Groundwater formation occurs mainly in autumn. Thick felted grass and moss under conifers suck the rainwater, which then evaporates again. In contrast, the soil in mixed forests is more permeable, and deciduous trees have already lost their leaves at this time. This way water enters the soil of the forest in larger quantities and turns into groundwater.
Besides, mixed forests are showing a higher resistance to storms and pests and are of great importance for the preservation and development of biodiversity as they offer manifold and more diverse habitats.
While we cannot avoid the usage of water entirely in our production processes, we are currently working on a concept to eventually compensate our water footprint – not only of our office, store, and shipping department but also of our swimwear collections.
In 2021, we initially aimed to plant a further 835 trees in the Klövensteen forest, thus generating 200,000 liters of groundwater locally each year. And then a great opportunity popped that gives us the chance for an exciting project and big achievement. To be continued....
