Thank you for taking the time to visit my Fundraising page.

I am running the Bristol Half Marathon on September 25th, and a week later the London Marathon on October 2nd, to raise funds for Rainforest Concern, a charity local to me in Bath, that has a global impact and is close to my heart.

As you may know I am passionate about sustainability, to the point of anxiety, and I am deeply concerned about what we are doing to our planet. While I do my best to live in a sustainable way, from what I eat to how I travel, I have never really fundraised, or campaigned, to make a positive change. So there isn't a bigger event to do this in than the London Marathon!

Our world is reliant on rainforests and their biodiversity, and all of our futures depend on protecting them. Sadly, over half of the tropical forests worldwide have been destroyed since the 1960s, and it is estimated that every second, more than one hectare of tropical forests is destroyed or drastically degraded. At this rate we could see them vanish altogether in our lifetime! So it's not just about the rainforest, it's about us humans too...

It's not just all about the trees, I just think of all the animals that are losing their homes every single day to deforestation, including beautiful animals like sloths (my personal favourite), jaguars, birds of paradise, orangutans and all kinds of monkeys. The list is almost endless and I really find it genuinely distressing.

For background, there are many factors that drive deforestation but the biggest factors are the demand for beef (accounts for 41% of deforestation) and oilseeds such as soy (18.4%). For example: beef and soy production are driving more than two-thirds of the recorded habitat loss in Brazil’s Amazon and Cerrado regions and Argentina and Paraguay’s Gran Chaco region. Demand for soy is closely connected to demand for beef and other animal proteins. Between 70% and 75% of all soy becomes 'livestock' feed—for chickens, pigs, and farmed fish, as well as for cows including dairy. Other significant factors include oilseeds for human consumption (principally palm oil), paper/wood production (13%), and other crops.

For more information there are some quick summaries and stats here if you're interested: https://ourworldindata.org/what-are-drivers-deforestation

To find out more about the amazing projects that Rainforest Concern are involved in.
https://www.rainforestconcern.org/about-us 

If you've got this far down, thank you so much for taking the time to read my page! :)

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.