Trees are vital components on the planet, they support us with oxygen, store carbon, stabilize the soil and give life to the world’s wildlife.
They also provide us the materials for tools and shelter. Trees are essential for life of all living species on earth, they give us a link between the past, present and future.
If you want to know the seasons Is it winter, spring, summer or fall? Look at the trees. It is necessary that woodlands, rainforests and trees, are preserved and sustainably managed across the world.
Therefore, Planting billions of trees across the world is one of the biggest and cheapest ways of taking CO2 out of the atmosphere to tackle the climate crisis.
Additionally, trees benefit health where they act as a physical filter, absorbing odors and pollutant gases (nitrogen oxides, ammonia, sulfur dioxide and ozone) and trapping dust from the air on their leaves and bark.[1]
Trees remove pollution
Each individual tree removes up to 1.7 kilos of pollutant every year. trees also provide shade from solar radiation and reduce noise.
Several trees are known to have medicinal properties. The oil from birch bark, for example, has antiseptic properties.
Researchers reported that within minutes of being surrounded by green space and trees, your blood pressure drops, your heart rate slows, and your stress levels come down.
Trees support wildlife
Trees support wildlife where they host complex microhabitats. trees offer habitation and nourishment to a wide varieties’ communities of birds, insects, lichen, and fungi. their trunks also provide the hollow cover needed by species such as bats, tawny owls, woodpeckers and woodboring beetles. One mature tree can be home to as many as 500 different species.
Wood stores carbon dioxide
Trees also combat climate change through absorbing carbon dioxide as they grow and storing it in their wood helps slow the rate of global warming.
Furthermore, they can reduce wind speeds and cool the air as they lose moisture and reflect heat upwards from their leaves.
It is estimated that trees can reduce the temperature in a city by up to 7°C. Trees also prevent soil erosion and flooding, absorbing thousands of liters of stormwater.
Additionally, Trees act as air conditioners with a local cooling effect. They act as an essential natural filter that absorb dangerous pollutants.
So, they have a big role in reducing air pollution. Particulates that are particularly damaging to lungs are hold over tree surfaces, while leaves act as filters, absorbing polluting gases.
A well-established tree is at its peak of removing carbon dioxide from the air and sequestering surplus carbon as carbohydrates in its woody tissues. so, carbon dioxide removal and carbon banking are affected by a tree’s age, health and species.
Soil conditions also are important factor. Recent evidence indicated that much carbon banking takes place below ground in healthy roots and nearby organic material.[3]
Trees capture greenhouse gasses
Planting new trees remain vital to reverse the current trends of rising greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning and forest destruction and bring them down to zero.
Additionally, the restoration of trees remains among the most effective strategies for climate change mitigation. there is enough suitable land to increase the world’s forest cover by one-third without affecting existing cities or agriculture.
Tree-planting is known as the process of transplanting tree seedlings, generally for forestry, land reclamation, or landscaping purpose.
It differs from the transplantation of larger trees in arboriculture, and from the lower cost but slower and less reliable distribution of tree seeds.
There are several steps for Planting; Locate all underground utilities prior to digging, Identify the trunk flare, dig a shallow, broad planting hole, remove the containers or cut away the wire basket, place the tree at the proper height, straighten the tree in the hole, Fill the hole gently, but firmly, Stake the tree, if necessary, Mulch the base of the tree, and finally provide follow-up care.[5]
Allowing trees to regenerate naturally, using nearby remnants of primary forests and seed banks in the soil of recently cleared forests, is more likely to result in a flexible and diverse forest than planting massive numbers of seedlings. So, Planting trees is good, but Saving existing forests is better.[6]
Let´s plant trees
All the hype about planting trees to save the planet needs to be reevaluated. Planting trees could be an affordable and effective way of combating the climate crisis.
But trees alone are not enough and may give false hope. We must cut back on emissions as well. We are not going to stop climate change with just seedlings and fancy agriculture.
