Trees for Life (plant trees in the Scottish Highlands)
For memorials, Trees for Life is a Scottish non-profit that lets you donate, to plant a tree in memory of a loved one (human or animal) in the Highlands. This is a great idea if you don’t want to plant a tree in your own garden, say you’re no good at planting trees, illness or pet-toxic trees.
This helps to reduce climate change, and provide essential homes for birds and native wildlife like red squirrels (planting pine trees helps far more than unkindly culling grey squirrels).
If planting trees yourself in memory of a loved one, read our post on pet-friendly gardens (many trees are unsafe near livestock – and some like yew, oak and sycamore are unsafe near horses).
Why choose balloon alternatives?
Balloon releases may look like fun, but they cause incredible harm to marine creatures (sea turtles think they are their favourite food of jellyfish, once they land in the sea). And eat them, which causes choking and death, to them and many other species.
On land, cattle eat them (resulting in belly ulcers). And one horse recently died in Yorkshire, after choking on balloon string. Even children can choke (you can’t do CPR on a child, as the balloon would expand in the throat).
Most balloon companies will tell you that latex balloons biodegrade. They do, but it takes 6 months. And meanwhile, those released burst into thousands of pieces, and fall to the ground (or more usually sea, as 70% of our ocean is covered in water). And most balloon string is not biodegradable.
