We shall Plant a Tree for every Product Sold

Enjoying rock climbing as a free time activity, I feel close to nature and its sustainability. As a company, we do not wish to simply slide on the ecological wave, we want to actually act.

Minimising one’s own consumption is in my opinion the key to sustainability of the environment we live in. Doing so does not mean losing comfort or the conveniences of our times. A close-tight relationship with nature is also a trait of our company philosophy. The design of our products is inspired by natural lines, we use natural wood combined with modern materials and technologies. The high end focus itself is a step outside the concept of consumerism.

What Are We Going to Do?

With our approach to the environment, we would like to inspire other companies and individuals. For each of our products sold, we will plant one tree. As of now, we are focusing on the renewal of Czech forests in regions recently extensively infested with bark beetle.

Why trees? Trees play an important role in our lives. Via water evaporation and shade, they regulate the climate of our surroundings. They clean the air, they are a habitat of a range of species, their mass holds a large amount of carbon. Woods retain water and therefore allow for its infiltration to groundwater. They provide us with building material, improve the visual impression of the surroundings. They are indispensable for our existence.

For more than twenty years, I have observed the warming of our planet—receding glaciers in the Alps to be concrete. The melting of permafrost in Siberia and the Arctic is now a fact of which all governments of the world powers are aware. Put shortly, with the start of the industrial revolution, we have begun consuming energy which had accumulated on our planet for hundreds of millions of years. First of all, this includes burning wood, coal, oil and natural gas.

In a simplified essence; burning of fossil fuels accounts for most of the redundant carbon dioxide produced. The energy we need is obtained when we burn the fuels, where oxygen bonds with carbon C+O2 = CO2+heat = energy. As part of photosynthesis, plants decompose atmospheric carbon dioxide to oxygen and carbon they further use.

A Few Numbers:

A hundred-year-old beech, 25 metres in height with a crown 14 metres in diameter and leaf area of about 1 600 m² and 9 000 leafs produces up to 1.7 kg of oxygen per a single day; 1 000 litres. An average human individual uses about 350 l of oxygen per day for breathing. Three people could therefore “live” off one such tree. On average, one hectare of a quality mixed forest produces 10 tons of oxygen per year.

However, oxygen from the atmosphere is not consumed by people and animals only, but first and foremost by such processes as heat or electricity production, or cars. The numbers may seem insane at first glance. Do you know how much oxygen a car at a 6 l/100 km consumption uses up to travel a single kilometre? To burn 1 kg of gasoline, 14.7 kg of air is needed (according to the stoichiometric ratio). 1 kg of air is 23 % oxygen and 1 l of gasoline weights 0.75 kg. (6 l*0,75 kg*14,7*0,23 = 15,21 kg O2/100 km)

To ride such a car consumes 0.1521 kg O2/km. Thus, it takes only a 3.7km car trip to consume as much oxygen as an average person uses for breathing an entire day. An average person will produce about 650 g of CO2 per day, some 240 kg per year, as far as breathing is concerned. On the other hand, statistically (with everything included; cars, food, heat and energy consumption), we get up to 2.3 tons CO2 per person per year.

Just one hectare of a beech wood can absorb 64 tons of dust, a hectare of oak 56 tons, pine 36 tons. The good news is that at least in the Czech Republic, the area covered by woods increases in size. Let us hope that this trend will continue in the future, now with our minute contribution.

David Piska, Managing Director, RDacoustic

¹ https://lesycr.cz/casopis-clanek/co-vsechno-umi-les/
Where we planted