Forest to be planted next to Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary as thanks to NHS workers

A forest will be planted next to Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary Hospital this week dedicated to NHS staff as a living monument and gesture of thanks from the general public for their efforts fighting Covid-19.

Green search engine Ecosia partnered with two UK charities, The NHS Forest and Trees for Cities, to bring nature spaces to hospitals across the country - including the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh

The forest has been funded by Ecosia, the search engine that uses advertising revenues to plant trees, as well as two other charities the NHS Forest and Trees for Cities.

The not-for-profit search engine announced its first tree-planting project in Scotland located at Hunters Hall Park, near Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary.

A total of 1,760 trees will be planted across the week, 500 of which are trees funded by Ecosia.

The urban trees and the creation of green spaces are intended to help boost wellbeing for NHS staff in the long-run, as well as contribute to reducing air pollution levels around Edinburgh’s largest hospital.

Ecosia has funded the project by dedicating the revenues from searches UK users made on Thursdays in May last year.

As well as supporting the project by searching with Ecosia, members of the public also made donations directly to the project through the Trees for Cities and The NHS Forest websites.

To help UK users show their appreciation for the incredible efforts of NHS key workers, Ecosia partnered with the NHS Forest and Trees for Cities last May to launch #GrowYourLove, a long-term, forward-looking initiative to plant trees in and surrounding hospitals in the UK.

Founded in 2009, Ecosia now has over 15 million active users and has planted over 122 million trees to date Each search on Ecosia removes an estimated 1kg CO2 from the atmosphere.

Sophie Dembinski, Ecosia’s UK country manager said: “NHS workers across the country have dedicated themselves tirelessly to helping thousands and thousands of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, and we wanted to harness the support of our collective UK users to show our appreciation for key workers and commitment to tree planting in Scotland during this unprecedented time.

“The link between green spaces and improved mental health and wellbeing is well-established, and we hope that generations of NHS workers and their patients will be able to enjoy the trees planted near the Royal Infirmary and other hospital sites across the UK for many years to come.”

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