save the trees, quote the lorax, i mean the fraggle

[Guest guest]

WHY TREES MATTER

It is now well understood that the world’s forests are one of the most important

‘sinks’ for the harmful greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Trees are especially

efficient at removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during the early,

fast-growing part of their existence - and therefore sapling planting programs

are a valuable means of helping to control greenhouse gas emissions. By

inhibiting these gasses, less of the sun’s warmth is trapped in the atmosphere

and this reduces the global warming effect.

 

Global warming is fuelled when trees are felled

 

It is well recognised that the Amazon rainforest is by far the world’s most

important carbon sink, and it processes a vast proportion of the ‘free radical’

carbon emissions that modern civilisation produces on a day-to-day basis. The

Amazon is under threat, and with each acre of trees lopped down, harmful

greenhouse gasses are allowed back into the atmosphere, and global warming is

further fuelled. This is a process that must be reversed if we care about the

future of the Planet and the health and welfare of future generations.

 

Tree planting programs help to combat salinity

 

While the role of vegetation in absorbing carbon is generally acknowledged, it

is less well understood that trees have a vital part to play in regenerating and

protecting the soil - and in combating salinity. Trees are, in effect, the major

tool in building and restoring soil. They produce a mat of perennial roots below

ground level and these explore the soil for nutrients. Once they have extracted

the nutrients from a particular area they die - which leaves the root debris in

the soil. This is a hummus material and as that rots and decays it leaves

cavities in the soil that aerates it and allows the entrance of all sorts of

soil dwelling creatures. These creatures create soil clusters (aggregates) with

the waste they produce, and this becomes the real living soil which is full of

bacteria. Without it the soil is dead - it’s just sand!

 

Potentially agricultural land can become a desert. It only needs something else

to happen - such as inundation through rising water tables - and compaction

drives out all the air from the soil and suddenly it becomes anaerobic. At that

point it becomes just like a septic tank where nothing will grow! Somebody once

said ‘Forests came before civilization and deserts came after’ and that’s been

true for many thousands of years.

 

Trees are the key to the Future

 

At the present time, more trees are lopped down worldwide than planted, and as

this process continues unabated, the temperature of Planet Earth may continue to

rise. GreenPlanet International’s sapling planting and forestation programs are

vital initiatives and, through their contribution, each member is playing his or

her part in helping to reverse the terrible damage caused elsewhere.