Why Trees Are Valuable and Important

Trees are important, valuable and necessary to our very existence. It's not too hard to believe that, without trees we humans would not exist on this beautiful planet. Trees are essential to life as we know it and are the ground troops on an environmental frontline. Our existing forest and the trees we plant work in tandem to make a better world. 1. Trees Produce Oxygen Let's face it, we could not exist as we do if there were no trees. A mature leafy tree produces as much oxygen in a season as 10 people inhale in a year. What many people don't realize is the forest also acts as a giant filter that cleans the air we breath. 2. Trees Clean the Soil The term phytoremediation is a fancy word for the absorption of dangerous chemicals and other pollutants that have entered the soil. Trees can either store harmful pollutants or actually change the pollutant into less harmful forms. Trees filter sewage and farm chemicals, reduce the effects of animal wastes, clean roadside spills and clean water runoff into streams. 3. Trees Control Noise Pollution Trees muffle urban noise almost as effectively as stone walls. Trees, planted at strategic points in a neighborhood or around your house, can abate major noises from freeways and airports. 4. Trees Slow Down Speed Of Water Flash flooding can be dramatically reduced by a forest or by planting trees. One Colorado blue spruce, either planted or growing wild, can intercept more than 1000 gallons of water annually when fully grown. Underground water-holding aquifers are recharged with this slowing down of water runoff. 5. Trees Are Carbon Sinks To produce its food, a tree absorbs and locks away carbon dioxide in the wood, roots and leaves. One acre of trees removes up to 2.6 tons of carbon dioxide each year.Carbon dioxide is a global warming

suspect. A forest is a carbon storage area or a "sink" that can lock up as much carbon as it produces. This locking-up process "stores" carbon as wood and not as an available "greenhouse" gas. 6. Trees Clean the Air Trees help cleanse the air by intercepting airborne particles, reducing heat, and absorbing such pollutants as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. Trees remove this air pollution by lowering air temperature, through respiration, and by retaining particulates. 7. Trees Shade and Cool Shade resulting in cooling is what a tree is best known for. Shade from trees reduces the need for air conditioning in summer. In winter, trees break the force of winter winds, lowering heating costs. Studies have shown that parts of cities without cooling shade from trees can literally be "heat islands" with temperatures as much as 12 degrees Fahrenheit higher than surrounding areas. 8. Trees Act as Windbreaks During windy and cold seasons, trees located on the windward side act as windbreaks. A windbreak can lower home heating bills up to 30% and have a significant effect on reducing snow drifts. A reduction in wind can also reduce the drying effect on soil and vegetation behind the windbreak and help keep precious topsoil in place. 9. Trees Fight Soil Erosion Erosion control has always started with tree and grass planting projects. Tree roots bind the soil and their leaves break the force of wind and rain on soil. Trees fight soil erosion, conserve rainwater and reduce water runoff and sediment deposit after storms. 10. Trees Provide Food Trees offer food like nuts and fruits for humans and other creatures. Many animals eat leaves for nourishment. Flowers are eaten, and the nectar is a favourite of birds, bats, and many insects. Animals also eat much of the same fruit that we enjoy. This process helps disperse seeds over great distances.

11. Trees Provide Habitat From nearly microscopic insects to camouflaged reptiles to our fine feathered friends to wily primates and beyond, each tree is a vast, thriving eco-system in and of itself. The destruction of even a single small tree not only disrupts natural cycles, it also sentences countless creatures to death. 12. Trees Provide Medicine For 5.1 billion people, 85% of the world's population; herbs as the primary source for medicines. Even in a modern society like Canada and the U.S, plants are the original source materials for as many as 40% of the pharmaceuticals in use. Many medicines (over 7000) contain ingredients made from plants. Herbal remedies are a common example of how plants are used to prevent illness. Plant medicines include: tea (made from white spruce and hemlock) to prevent scurvy white willow bark - is used to ease pain kinnikinick (buffalo berry) was used to treat kidney problems opium poppy's seed pod - thick milky fluid provides a powerful pain medication - morphine codeine is also found in the poppy - it is used in cough medicines quinine - which comes from the cinchona tree - is used to prevent malaria.

13. Trees provide Soil Enrichment Fallen leaves make excellent compost that enriches soil. When needles and leaves fall they do not need to be wasted. They can decompose and restock the soil with nutrients and make up part of the spongy soft layer of the forest floor, that absorbs and holds rainfall. Fallen leaves and needles also become food for numerous soil organisms vital to the forest ecosystem.

14. Trees Provide Natural Beauty and Health Some folks look at trees and see only lumber and profits, while people who love trees see the natural beauty and the vast amount of wisdom from which we have so much more to learn. Ornamental plants like Rose are used for decoration purposes worldwide. 15.Trees Reduce Water Runoff The tree canopy breaks the fall of rain to minimize runoff, and less runoff is better for water quality. 16.Trees Provide Us With Wood Wood is one of the most all-around versatile materials that we find in our everyday activities. Wood also contributes to our intellectual lives by providing cheap and abundant materials for printing books,magazines, and newspapers. As per industry estimates, over all paper consumption (including newsprint) has now touched 8.86 million tons and per capita consumption is pegged at 8.3 kg. About 93 percent of today's paper comes from trees, and about a fifth of the total wood harvest worldwide is used to make paper. Researchers are also developing sheet materials for wood, plywood and plastics. They are inventing new ways of using cellulose to make products such as nitrates, acetates, pulp products, textiles, transparent films, artificial silks, lacquers, and many others. Wood is also used in energy production. 17. Wood As Energy Generator Paper mills have used sawdust to generate power for decades, and now rising energy prices have driven up the demand for woody biomass. Wood fuel can be used for cooking, heating, and generating electricity. Wood fuel is available as firewood (e.g., logs, bolts, and blocks), chips, pellets, and sawdust. Some people would say we are outgrowing the age of wood. In fact, we are only growing into it, as scientists develop more and better uses of wood. In some countries like Africa, for example, 70 percent or more of the total energy used is provided by wood. In India 33 percent of the total energy produced is provided by wood. 18. Plants Provide Us With Fibre

Plants also provide fibre, which is the tissue of plants from the stem, leaves, seeds or roots. Plants provide fibres for clothing, paper and shelter. The aboriginal people from the west coast wove cloth from the bark of the western red cedar tree. Much of our clothing today comes from synthetic (manufactured) material, such as polyester and nylon. Natural fibres also provide resources for cloth. 19. Trees Are Religious Symbols Trees also serve as cultural and religious symbols. For example the sacred forests and tree species that are found in India (like Neem, Peepal, Bargad, Tulsi etc) and other Asian countries.