In Defense of Trees

"Stop blowing holes in my ship!" Captain Jack Sparrow

"I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees, which you seem to be chopping as fast as you please..." Dr Seuss

"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to

everything else in the Universe.” John Muir

There has been an increase in the number of Tree "Care" businesses in our area.

There has been an increase in the number of trees being cut down in my neighborhood and in the   surrounding area.

The above two things are correlated but I don't know which is cause and which is effect. I am also not sure what propaganda is being spread, but I feel a need to share some facts about trees and why we should save them (or replant a young one if the mature ones are causing danger to our houses):

1. Trees help us fight climate change by "inhaling carbon dioxide" and storing it in themselves and the soil around them. They also provide shade for our houses, reducing the cost (and thus the use of climate damaging fuels) to cool our houses. They cool our cities too.

2. Trees provide oxygen necessary for all aerobic life (including humans). They were a necessary prerequisite for the evolution of our species.

3. Trees help prevent the erosion of the soil and contribute to healthy soil both when they are alive through the fungi and other microorganisms living with them as well as after their deaths when they decay and return to the soil.

4. Trees provide homes and protection for wildlife and increase the area's biodiversity.

5. Trees provide privacy.

6. Trees emit volatile organic compounds (phytoncides) that reduce anxiety and depression in humans as well as enhancing our immune systems when we spend time around them.

7. Trees are aesthetically pleasing- even seeing trees out your window lowers cortisol levels (stress hormone) and increases productivity.

8. Trees provide food for animals including humans: (maple syrup, apples, peaches, oranges etc, etc).

9. Trees provide healing remedies (birch bark has salicylates for example). There are many tree species lost before we can even learn what they were contributing to our health and to their ecosystems.

10. Trees reduce pollution from the air and water.

11. Groups of trees are superorganisms that communicate and assist each other. 

12. Children NEED trees. (see separate post for details).

13. Trees increase property values.

14. When trees fall or need to be taken down they can be used for firewood, tables, or even little free library bases:)

15. Trees can be harvested responsibly to be used for furniture, as building supplies, for paper, and even for Christmas trees. (Wood can also be "reclaimed" for some of these purposes.) Responsible harvesting is the opposite of  clear cutting them from the wilderness with no regard for the rest of the ecosystem that depends on them and with no plan to replace them -as was/is  done in much of Europe, Asia and North America since "there were so many we could never use them all," or replacing them with a monoculture of trees- as is done in much of South America to feed our desire for palm oil- check your ingredients list on many processed foods.

16. Add your own facts, references and songs:)

Peace out...

For references and further reading please see the following links:

https://www.treehugger.com/facts-about-trees-4868798  (I especially like fact 8).

https://www.arborday.org/trees/treefacts/

Spotify playlist at smknerr: "Tree hugger- Wordknerrd blog #3"