How sustainable video is saving Greater Manchester’s peatlands
Above: Little Woolden Moss drone still Photo credit: Standby Productions
Above: Standby Productions Managing Director, Simon Owen, and Producer, Ellen Bounds, visit Little Woolden Moss - Photo credit: Lancashire Wildlife Trust
Commercial video shoots; hundreds of disposable plastic water bottles, left over props heading straight for the bin. Peatlands; drained, damaged and leaking carbon into the atmosphere. But one company is aiming to change all of this...
S
tandby Productions, an ethically minded, environmentally forward looking, Manchesterbased video production company has teamed up with The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside (LWT) to help save our precious peatlands. Standby Productions will be donating one per cent of their turnover to LWT’s peatlands project, to support our work restoring these precious habitats and fighting climate change. Peatlands are the unsung superheroes of our natural world, not only providing homes for lots of rare and specialised plants and animals, but also being able to absorb and 108
store huge amounts of carbon from the atmosphere. In fact, peatlands are able to store twice as much carbon as forests, making them a vital natural resource in the fight against climate change. However, as soon as a peatland is drained or damaged in any way that carbon gets released, contributing to harmful greenhouse gas emissions. And that is where LWT’s partnership with Standby Productions comes in. By supporting our peatland restoration projects, Standby Productions can help to make a real difference in carbon emissions. Simon Owen, founder and managing director of Standby Productions, said: “We’re really
LANCASHIRE & NORTH WEST MAGAZINE
passionate about nature and the environment and this past year has highlighted how important it is for us to do our bit to protect it. We initially approached Lancashire Wildlife Trust to donate trees, but they informed us that conserving peatland was in fact far more crucial due to the vital role it plays in the ecosystem - something I knew nothing about until now. “On top of the financial donation, we’re going to be producing video content for LWT to use in awareness campaigns to help support its mission and make people aware of something I also didn’t know was so important” Check out their video at https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Dd0cg4zhFv0&t=3s Standby’s team of directors, producers and creatives will also be volunteering for LWT helping with restoration and conservation work in the region. Sarah Johnson, Lancashire Peatlands Initiative Project Manager said, “We are absolutely delighted to be working with Standby Productions. A large part of Greater Manchester was once a huge peatland called Chat Moss, but sadly now only fragments of it remain. By working to restore these we are not only recreating helping to boost biodiversity, but also helping to halt the release of huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. However, this crucial www.lancmag.com
