We walk past them all day long…but when is the last time you really stopped to appreciate a tree?
Trees are a basic, essential ingredient in the recipe we call life. They give shelter and shade. Many trees also provide food such as nuts and fruit, along with paper, medicines, and fuel. Not only that, but you can climb a tree (carefully) when you need a quiet, peaceful place to think, read, or relax.
Trees lower air temperature by evaporating water in their leaves, stabilize the soil, and prevent erosion. They improve water quality by slowing and filtering rain water as well as protecting aquifers and watersheds. In addition, they reduce noise pollution by acting as sound barriers.
Most importantly, however, trees serve as air-purifiers and oxygen-providers. A single tree produces nearly 260 pounds of oxygen each year! Trees clean the air by filtering out dust and pollutants—and with large amounts of carbon dioxide, methane, and other toxic gasses pouring into the atmosphere every day, trees are more important than ever in helping to keep this planet habitable for humans. In one year’s time, an acre of trees can absorb as much carbon as it produced by a car driven 8,700 miles (according to the International Society of Arboriculture).
Trees are a basic, essential ingredient in the recipe we call life. They give shelter and shade. Many trees also provide food such as nuts and fruit, along with paper, medicines, and fuel. Not only that, but you can climb a tree (carefully) when you need a quiet, peaceful place to think, read, or relax.
Trees lower air temperature by evaporating water in their leaves, stabilize the soil, and prevent erosion. They improve water quality by slowing and filtering rain water as well as protecting aquifers and watersheds. In addition, they reduce noise pollution by acting as sound barriers.
Most importantly, however, trees serve as air-purifiers and oxygen-providers. A single tree produces nearly 260 pounds of oxygen each year! Trees clean the air by filtering out dust and pollutants—and with large amounts of carbon dioxide, methane, and other toxic gasses pouring into the atmosphere every day, trees are more important than ever in helping to keep this planet habitable for humans. In one year’s time, an acre of trees can absorb as much carbon as it produced by a car driven 8,700 miles (according to the International Society of Arboriculture).
Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees in order to use the land for something else—parking lots, agriculture, housing tracts, or mini-malls. This “urban sprawl” has cost us precious habitat and biodiversity, while increasing aridity and soil erosion. Unfortunately, every year, one million acres of forest are lost to city growth.
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