Trees Make a Difference...Including Helping to Sustain Life on Earth!
Trees are a living organism and like the bees pollinating our plants, Trees make an important contribution that help sustain life on Earth. Trees make a difference to our daily lives by providing us with oxygen to help us breathe. They are beautiful plants that live for years and grow to large heights. They are diverse in appearance and lifespan but there is something all trees have in common - their existence is helping to keep us alive.
A Tree generates oxygen when they pull in energy from the sun to make glucose from carbon dioxide and water. In a 24 hour period, Trees produce more oxygen than they use up. There are many numbers associated with the amount oxygen produced by one tree. A mature tree has been said to produce enough oxygen for a family of four to breathe. According to the Arbor Day Foundation, a mature green and leafy tree produces as much oxygen as 10 people inhale in a year. The amount of oxygen produced depends on the maturity and species of the tree. A leafy tree is going to produce more oxygen than a pine tree. While a large tree is going to produce more oxygen than a small tree that hasn’t reached maturity. No matter how big or small the tree, the tree matters, and its contribution is important to this planet.
Trees keep us cool by evaporating water in their leaves. They improve water quality by slowing and filtering rainwater. More than half of the world’s estimated 10 million species of plants, animals, and insects live in the tropical rain forests and one-fifth of the world’s freshwater is in the Amazon Basin. Trees help the life of other plants growing alongside them and this is proven in the relationships between plants in the Rain Forest. Many natural medicines can be produced in the Rain Forest yet very little of those have been tested by scientists. Many of our food sources come from the Rain Forest. Certain nuts, fruits, and veggies grow on Trees and Plants in the area. The most popular currently being the avocado that is a good source of healthy fats and protein.
Trees are a natural medicine and their existence is tied to our own. They provide us oxygen to breathe, foods of nutritional value, cool us down, conserve energy and save water. They provide shelter, have acted as educators to people over the years and have reduced symptoms of ADHD. Take your children out for a walk, have a picnic under a tree and give yourself more time in nature. Believe in the power of healing through Trees and you will realize the importance of these marvelous plants. Their existence is futile to our own. If it were not for trees, we would not be here today.