Green shoots take root at Granite City school
Aberdeen primary students, with help from local shipowner, get a hands-on lesson in sustainability
A woodland is taking root in UK energy capital Aberdeen, where North Star Renewables and pupils from Seaton Primary School have planted a 1.5-hectare forest next door.
The renewable-energy arm of the venerable Aberdeen-based shipowner provided 2500 mixed trees for the woodland, which will act as a natural carbon dioxide sink.
North Star said the project will also be used to attract and reintroduce various species of endangered animals — including Scotland’s beloved red squirrels — to the area.
More than a dozen pupils helped plant the trees, which when fully grown will each capture about 21 kilograms of CO2 per year.
The initiative grew out of North Star Group’s sustainability council, established last year to develop, as group accountant Anita Campbell put it, “activities and solutions which can make a positive impact on climate change” and support the company to become net zero by 2040.
Campbell, who led the tree-planting team, said: “[The] tree planting has been a lot of fun, mainly thanks to the enthusiasm and superb help of our new green-fingered friends at Seaton Primary School.
"The new woodland we have planted will help to offset CO2 emissions and benefit the local community and future generations to come with a beautiful landscape and wildlife to enjoy.”
North Star has three offshore service vessels and associated daughter craft under construction that will support offshore wind installations in the North Sea. The company — established in 1886 to support the fishing industry — now operates 44 OSVs and 63 daughter craft vessels out of its north-east UK bases in Aberdeen, Newcastle and Lowestoft.
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