Plant a Tree - Save the Planet

Trees can be a lovely accent to any landscape.   Most adults have happy childhood memories that involve trees whether it was climbing one, a tree house, raking leaves or jumping into a pile of bright fall leaves, playing beneath the branches of a tree, or even a Christmas tree.    Trees are much more than decoration.   Trees clean the air and cool our living spaces.  They are one of the most vital living organisms on the planet and by planting more trees, humankind may just save the planet.

In these early years of the 21st century, it's no secret that our planet is in trouble.   Science professionals agree that global warming proves a real threat to Earth with warmer temperatures, wilder and much more severe weather patterns, and changes to the environment.   Greenhouse gases are a major contributing factor to global warming.   Over the past century as more areas of forest have been razed to make way for urban expansion, numbers of trees have diminished while the number of carbon dioxide emitting vehicles has increased.    Where forests once cooled the earth, super highways with pavement now raise temperatures.  Researchers in California have determined that average urban temperatures can be as much as five to nine degrees higher than surrounding suburbs.    Average temperatures in heavily forested areas can be even lower than urban temperatures.

An average tree can absorb up to 48  pounds of carbon dioxide each year and an acre of trees can take in a cumulative 26 tons of carbon dioxide, enough to counter effect a car driving 26,000 miles.   Trees can indeed make a difference in emissions and may be able to slow the rapid global warming that affects the world today to the point that artic glaciers are beginning nto melt.