“The Orchard in my Village,” by Gao Di, age 12, China. From our September/October 1997 issue. Trees bring so many amazing benefits to our lives. Unfortunately, people often ignore the presence of these tall plants that help us live, learn and so much more. Here are only some of those amazing benefits of trees: 1. Trees Benefit our Health You probably already know that trees produce oxygen for us to breathe in the process of photosynthesis (which converts light energy to chemical energy). Without trees or other plants that perform photosynthesis, humans would not be able to survive on this planet. However, trees have much more to offer relating to health. First of all, they can provide shade on a sweltering hot day. Cities that have no shade from trees can have temperatures up to 12 ℉ higher than areas with many trees! Trees can contain oils that are used as medicines. As an example, the oil from a birch tree has “antiseptic properties,” so it can be used to fight infections and other diseases. Furthermore, research shows being around greenery and trees can calm you down and actually decrease your heart rate! 2. Trees Benefit the Environment In my last blog, I talked about global warming and how it is changing Earth for the worse. But did you know that trees actually reduce the amount of carbon dioxide (a polluting greenhouse gas) in the air? They absorb carbon dioxide in their trunks, and this helps slow global warming. Trees also are home to and provide food for a number of species. In fact, according to The Royal Parks: “One mature oak can be home to as many as 500 different species.” Plus, trees store pollutants from the soil to make it cleaner and help prevent soil erosion, because their roots hold the soil in place. 3. Trees Benefit Homes and Neighborhoods Everyone has probably played on a tree in their life at some point—to climb up the strong, steady branches, to race around its enormous trunk, or to just sit under it and enjoy the calmness of the leaves swaying in the wind. Trees play a big part in helping children develop curious minds and just have fun! Plus, trees planted near neighborhoods can help communities grow by creating a setting for activities like bird-watching, hiking, and even planting new trees. At my school, we got to plant 5 new trees on the campus. This provided a fun experience that helped me learn many new things while improving our school grounds! Another way that trees benefit homes and neighborhoods is that they can diminish city noise from highways or airports near your home almost as well as stone walls. As well as abating unwanted noise, trees also beautify homes and backyards. In fact, having trees on your property can increase its price by 5-15%! I was really surprised at how trees help us so much in our everyday lifestyle. Unfortunately, the number of trees on Earth is slowly decreasing, and humans are the cause of that. Did you know that around 3.5–7 billion trees are cut down each year? Or that 100 trees are cut down every second in the rainforest? We need to be the ones to stop this horrible reality. After all, trees are one of the reasons we are alive today. Everyone, even kids, can make a difference by taking the initiative to protect them. Start by learning more about how you can help trees—just as they have helped us in countless ways.
Be Aware of Global Warming
Land-ocean temperature index, 1880 to present, with base period 1951-1980. Courtesy NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies – http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs/ When you hear the word “Monster,” what do you think of? You might imagine a red, slimy creature with razor-like teeth, or an enormous shadowy figure lurking around. But some monsters are not like the ones you would typically think of. Global warming is one such monster that is really threatening life as we know it today. Global warming, also called climate change, is a slow process in which the Earth is slowly getting hotter and hotter as the years go by. According to the article “Global Warming 101,” 15 of the 16 hottest years in the 134-year record kept by NASA have occurred after the year 2000. I never even knew about global warming and what was slowly happening to our planet until my dad suggested for me to research this topic. Global warming is caused by something called the greenhouse effect. In this effect, carbon dioxide and other gases such as water vapor, methane, and nitrous oxide are collected in the atmosphere. These gases are called “greenhouse gases”, and they trap heat in our atmosphere. This effect has always been happening to the Earth to keep it warm. However, it is now getting faster as more greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere. What made me angry was that humans are causing global warming. We burn tremendous amounts of coal, oil, and natural gases every day. We drive millions of cars, trucks, trains, buses, and other vehicles that release carbon dioxide. Trees actually convert carbon dioxide to oxygen, but we cut them down, releasing more carbon dioxide. All these processes (and more) of emitting greenhouse gases add up and warm our climate faster. After finding out how global warming happened, I wanted to know how it affected our planet. Unfortunately, pretty much everything I found out was a consequence for us on Earth. These are only a fraction of the many problems global warming has caused: The drought in California, 2015 “…has been intensified from 15 to 20 percent because of global warming…” There are also stronger hurricanes, heat waves, monsoons, and blizzards. The Ward Hunt Ice Shelf was the largest sheet of ice in the Arctic, but after being around for 3000 years, it started to crack in 2002. It then split in 2002 and started breaking into smaller pieces. Many Arctic animals are now starving because of their unstable, melting habitat. The coral reef—an ecosystem home to all of these species: fish, jellyfish, crabs, octopuses, sea snakes, clams, anemones, turtles, and algae—is very sensitive to higher ocean temperatures. When the ocean temperatures rise because of global warming, the reefs will die and cause other species that rely on them to die as well. I was shocked at how our planet having higher temperatures by only about 1.8°F (1°C) could affect so many things in such a bad way! This made very sad, and to be honest a little scared. I wondered what would happen to Earth many years from now if global warming kept getting stronger and stronger. My findings about the effects of global warming encouraged me to research ways humans can help stop global warming from “devouring” our planet. What I found was that we should strive to use less energy, such as taking shorter showers, using less light and electricity, and riding bikes or walking when we can instead of driving cars. There were also many more things I learned in this article about what we can all do to stop global warming. Remember, if everyone does one small action a day, we can fight the monster known as global warming.
