PLANT
A TREE
The average American uses the
equivalerit of 7 trees every year. That's over 1 1/2 billionn trees used
annually in the U.S.
BACKGROUND.
Trees can, over time, remove
large quantities of carbon dioxide (the main "greenhouse gas") from
the atmosphere. This makes planting a tree an effective way to fight the
greenhouse effect. And it's easier than you might think.
TREE TALK
10,000 years ago, before
agriculture, more than 15 billion acres worldwide were covered by forest. Today
barely 10 billion acres are forested. Between mid,century and 1980, the
forested surface of the earth was reduced by roughly 25%.
In some places deforestation
is proceeding at a runaway rate. In California, urban trees are dying or being
removed at four times the replacement rate. Each year, 28 million acres of
tropical forest are destroyed; some countries, like Nigeria, which once were
large lumber exporters, havc become net importers.
The interdependence between
trees and human and animal life couldn't be more fundamental: We require oxygen
and produce carbon dioxide (C02) ; trees and other plants require C02 and pro
duce oxygen. Any significant loss in forested land directly affects the Earth's
atmosphere for other forms of life.
By consuming C02, trees
mitigate the "greenhouse effect" It's estimated that each mature tree
consumes, on average, about 13 lbs. of C02 per year.
When trees in a forest die
naturally or are responsibly harvested, the trees are replaced and there is no
net loss of C02 to the atmosphere. But when a forest is burned or
clearcut, much of the C02 is lost and not recaptured. So on balance, the
forests we lose (net loss) account for about 25% of global C02 emissions.
By providing shade and evaporative cooling, trees also
affect local temperature‑again, urban trees even more than rural
ones. Clusters of urban trees shading a home can cool ambient air temperature
by 10 degrees, reducing local energy demand (for air condi tioning) by 10
to 50%. Moreover, the energy saved reduces global warming by about 15 times the
amount of C02 absorbed by those trees.
SIMPLE THINGS TO DO
If you'd like to plant a tree, but
don't know how to begin: Call or visit a local nursery, horticultural society,
arboretum or botanical garden. Tree‑planting is a lot easier than you
think, and many peo ple will be not only helpful, but enthusiastic.
Consider talking with neighbors to
see if you can begin a neigh borhood‑ or community‑wide
planting effort. You'll be surprised at how much "native intelligence' you
can uncover.
Don't just stick a tree in the
ground and ignore it. Like other growing plants, trees need a little care for
the first two years including water, vertical support, and mulch. RESULTS 0 Planting 75 million urban trees would reduce C02
emissions in the U.S. by 18 million tons, and energy consumption by 25 billion
kilowatt‑hours (worth $2 billion), annually, after 10 years.
Planting trees has a cumulative
effect; each tree you plant will provide benefits for years to come. For
example: If only 100,000 people each plant a tree this year, the trees will
still be absorbing over a million pounds of C02 annually in the year 2010. But
if the same people plant a tree every year from now until 2010, the trees will
absorb over 20 million pounds of C02 in that year.