WHY WE PLANT TREES

TREES

by: Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918)

THINK that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

 

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

 

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

 

A tree that may in Summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

 

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

 

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

1.      Trees help clean the air.  Trees produce the oxygen we breathe, and remove pollution by lowering air temperature, through respiration and by retaining particulates.

2.      Trees help clean our rivers and streams. Trees hold the soil in place and reduce polluted runoff into our waterways.

3.      Trees bring songbirds close by. Birdsong will fill the air as trees provide nesting sites, food and cover for countless species.

4.      Trees conserve energy in the summer and save you money. Properly planted trees can cut your air-conditioning costs by 15 to 30 percent.

5.      Trees around your home can increase its value by up to 15 % or more. Studies of comparable houses with and without trees place a markedly higher value on those whose yards are sheltered by trees.

6.      Trees conserve energy in the cold/winter. Trees can slow cold winter winds, and can cut heating costs by 10 to 20%.

7.      Trees make your home, and your neighborhood, more beautiful. Trees mark the changing seasons, and add grace and seasonal color. Trees make a house feel like a home.

8.      Trees are fun. Planting and caring for trees can be a great family and community building activity.

9.      Trees fight global warming. They remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the major contributor to the threat of global warming. Trees planted near our homes and in our communities moderate temperatures and reduce the need for air conditioning and heating produced by burning fossil fuels, a major source of excess atmospheric carbon dioxide.

10.  Trees vastly improve the natural beauty of our countryside and parks. They complement our building development and they adorn our gardens for our children to climb and shelter under. Could you possibly imagine our landscape barren of these magnificent organisms?

11.  Trees provide habitats to a wide array of plants, flowers, birds, mammals and insects. Without these vital habitats and the means to propagate and pollinate, many more of our valuable wildlife and plants would suffer as a direct consequence.

12.  Trees are the longest lived organisms on our planet and they lock up approximately 730kg of carbon over a one hundred year period. By planting trees you can make a very real contribution to the environment and take a positive step toward offsetting your carbon footprint.   

TREES and US!

(People and trees are mainly made of water and carbon)

Planting trees proves that you care about the future.

Trees are solar powered, self-repairing, protectors of landscapes and lifestyles.

Planting the right trees in the right place is real cool.

Above ground they provide:

Shade from the heat of the sun

Shelter, from the wind

Green leaf Air conditioning

Screens from atmospheric pollution

Homes, habitats and food, for plants and animals

Hold carbon dioxide in living store

Below ground they:

Build, protect and stabilize healthy soils.

Reduce and reuse natural waste

Recycle all useful nutrients

Sustain an incredible diversity of living things

Store carbon ready for recycling

Trees provide around half the human 
population with energy for heating and cooking.

Plant trees and do your bit to stitch our world back into more sustainable working order.

“The planting of the right native trees in the right ecological setting not only enhances the natural process of soil formation and stabilization but increases the native biodiversity of the area. It is also generally recognized that an average tree throughout its growing lifetime sequesters something in the region of 730kg of carbon dioxide.”