'We Recycle Your Air.'

Forestry, says Morrell, is an efficient way to absorb CO2 emissions that cannot be reduced at their source. As a rough average, five trees can, through photosynthesis, absorb 1 ton of carbon from the atmosphere over a period of 100 years. And there are other benefits: Forests can filter nitrous oxide, sulphur dioxide, and lead; reduce the spread of dust and noise; and create needed habitats for wildlife. They look good too. Yet the world's forests are being destroyed at a rate of 20 football fields a minute. That deforestation releases approximately 1.8 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year.

But you won't find Morrell rattling a tin cup under your nose, and he doesn't like being mistaken for some hippie eco-warrior. Future Forests, he says, is strictly an ESP -- an environmental-service provider. "We're like the people who collect your newspapers or recycle your tin cans," says Morrell. "We recycle your air."

The simplicity of Morrell's proposition has attracted support from actors, artists, businesses, governments, musicians, and more than 10,000 ordinary CO2-producing citizens around the world. Future Forests has planted some 148,000 indigenous trees in 55 forest sites in India, Mexico, and the UK and anticipates the projected absorption of 29,000 tons of carbon over the trees' growing lifetime. The organization plants long-term natural native species such as ash, beech, hawthorne, oak, rowan, and yew, and its natural forests are planted with local partners on public-access land.

With some help from the University of Edinburgh's Institute of Ecology and Resource Management and from the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management (ECCM), Future Forests has developed a model for calculating the ratio between CO2 emissions and uptake of carbon by tree. Acting as an R&D arm for Future Forests, the ECCM assesses and inspects each planting site to calculate and to monitor levels of carbon sequestration per hectare planted.

"Becoming carbon-neutral by planting trees is no get-out-of-jail-free card in terms of emissions reduction," says Morrell. "If you want to reduce your negative impact on the planet, you need to think about using less energy. But don't underestimate the power of trees."

It's Only Rock and Roll

For traditional environmentalists, Dan Morrell can be a little bit too "rock and roll." It's the evening of January 28, 1986, the day the space shuttle Challenger exploded. Morrell is clambering into the back of a rented Volkswagen Golf with some of his showbiz pals. They've been nightclubbing in Bath and are heading back to Morrell's apartment to continue the fun. With him are a clutch of models and session musicians, including drummer Tony Thompson, who has just finished touring with David Bowie. Robert Plant is trying to hitch a ride too -- he needs a drummer to help with a Led Zeppelin reunion and is keen to talk to Thompson -- but there's no room. He'll have to find a cab.

En route, the driver loses control of the car on an icy bend and crashes. Everyone in the car sustains injuries, though, thankfully, none of the injuries are fatal. Thompson has possibly broken both arms -- so much for the Led Zep revival. Morrell has a fractured skull and will be unconscious for a week.

A three-year period of recuperation in the country followed, allowing Morrell to evaluate his checkered career. His work on a floating nightclub had been a laugh: Ferrying revelers up and down the river from Bristol neatly sidestepped licensing laws and mooring regulations. The video-game business that he had begun as a teenager with his brother had been lucrative, while his clothing factory had been a ticket to catwalks around the world.

"The accident gave me a chance to decide what was important," Morrell says. "Did it matter if someone sold a shed-load of video games? Who gives a dime about going to a nightclub every night? Does anyone need to be convinced that this dress is sexier than that one? I knew I had to make a break to something fundamentally meaningful."

Nursing his wounds in a cottage in the Somerset village of Castle Carey, Morrell used the time to dream -- and to generate a list of ideas for new ways to spend his time. One of those ideas was Future Forests. In 1989, a bleary-eyed Morrell and his girlfriend stumbled into morning after having attended a party the night before. Walking down London's congested Harrow Road, the couple found themselves gasping for air. Yet it struck Morrell as rather odd that the trees lining the route looked so healthy. "Must be something to do with photosynthesis," he mumbled to his girlfriend. "What if . . . "