Doughty Street and Dream for Trees come together to plant pollution-beating plants at Camden’s UCL Academy

As delegates from around the world head to Montreal to kick off COP15, delegates from Doughty Street and Dream for Trees headed somewhere decidedly more local: UCL Academy Secondary School in Camden, to kick off their own pollution solution.

Today, pupils of UCL Academy took tackling the climate crisis into their own hands having drawn up their own, detailed garden design. With planting advice from Dream for Trees and Camden Climate Alliance, funded by Doughty Street Chambers, children from the UCL Academy, along with Doughty Street volunteers, planted 200 ‘whips’ which will create a hedgerow. They also planted 12 trees, including fruit trees along with creeping jasmine and ivy to create natural visual and pollution barriers. The team also planted a Bushy, which is a hairy-leafed cotoneaster; this “super plant” can help soak up pollution on busy roads.

Hedgerows and trees will help reduce pollution, increase biodiversity, improve the air quality that the kids play in and teach them about the environment. This is especially important at UCL Academy which is surrounded by the Swiss Cottage gyratory, one of the most polluted roads in London.

Dream for Trees, co-founded by Ben Cooper KC, leader of the Doughty Street Green Team, focuses on improving the lives of children by planting anywhere from a few trees to a mini forest in their schools. By planting on school sites, the children grow with the trees they plant. And by helping with the maintenance, they learn key skills for the future, as well as the importance of plants and trees in the fight against climate change.

Dream for Trees has collaborated with 3 schools so far this year in Camden and planted over 10,000 trees in its first year. They partner schools with local businesses who fund the purchase of the trees and other plants and the charity then advises schools on the planting itself.

Microforests can be planted in smaller spaces than you may think, so be sure to check out your local school to see if they have any space to plant one.

Do get in touch through the website and propose your school for the next Dream for Trees collaboration!

Or, if you are a business, let us know if you’d like to get involved and you can see in which local school you can help plant a mini forest!

Visit Doughty Street Chambers Social Responsibility page here. 

Visit the Dream for Trees page here.