Metro Mayor Dan Norris' latest column for The Journal encourages residents to plant trees: 'It’s time to put down roots, help me replant the West of England'.

I love planting trees. It goes with being a politician and I’ve probably put hundreds in the ground.

Trees are terrific. They are a magic tonic for me and many others.

They’re crucial for wildlife, including our precious pollinators; they’re great for our mental health; they protect against flooding and help cool us down by casting shade.

And when it comes to the climate crisis, if someone invented a machine that stored tonnes of carbon and cleaned up the air’s toxins, governments would line up to buy it - at any price.

But we already have such miracle machines - trees.

The problem is, we don’t have nearly enough. In fact, if trees defined the state of a nation, we’d be in poor shape - we’re one of the least wooded nations in Europe, and our region has fewer trees than many other parts of the UK.

I’m determined to do something about this. That’s why I’m so proud a brand-new 100-plus-acred woodland called the Great Avon Wood is coming to our very own Chew Valley thanks to a bumper £700,000 cash injection from my West of England Mayoral Authority.

But I need your help. Yes, You - Midsomer Norton and Radstock Journal reader. Over the next three years, we need as many volunteers as we can to help to plant and nurture 40,000 climate emergency fighters over three linked areas near Pensford which will form Great Avon Wood.

So I am calling on everyone to grab a trowel, pick up an acorn and get planting. After all, as the Chinese proverb tells us, the best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second-best time is now. To become a volunteer superhero, locals can sign up here.

And let’s not stop there. Because if we’re going to stay on track to reach our really ambitious net-zero targets locally, we have to plant a lot more than 40,000 trees - more like 1.1 million! We need to dig and fast.

But here’s the thing. It would not take much to green up the West of England. There are more than 40,000 primary school pupils and if all our youngsters went out, collected a bag of acorns and germinated 50 to pot up, they could create up to two million splendid saplings.

So my message is - you can really help. Go into your local park, collect the trees’ seeds off the ground and create your very own green shoots. And while you’re there, why not plant flowers that support our pollinator heroes? Build an insect hotel? Let the grass grow on your lawn?

If everyone took just one of these planet-saving actions, we could make a real difference. Because each action that adds to our natural world - every bulb, sowing and sapling - is a step toward beating climate change and making our region an even happier, healthier and more beautiful place to call home. Our planet is in trouble, but we really can dig ourselves out of this crisis - together.