Arbor Day- Save a
Life and Plant a Tree
doesn't have to be as elaborate as this, the main thing is to dig a hole bigger than the roots, stick it in the ground, cover the roots, and firm the soil leave it alone for 40 or 50 years.
Kind of a bold
claim to make but currently in South Korea pollution is so bad that people are
being warned to stay inside, and avoid going out without a mask. This has also
been true for Beijing, China, as they are also grappling with a pollution
problem as they modernize their workforce and have very little value in
environmental concerns like air pollution. Let alone places with traditional smog
problems like Hong Kong , San Francisco and of course Los Angeles.
Air pollution
alone is killing people off at an alarming rate as smog and dust pollution that
arises from dirt roads, farming, construction , and erosion of our soils, as
well as smokestack emissions from
factories and power plants, and mix in auto emissions, along with a host of
other factors which are causing emphysema, bronchitis, black lung disease,
silicosis, and may be a contributing
problem to a host of other air born problems we normally associate with lack of
immunity to allergies and so forth. It is easy to see how trees can play a big
part in reducing a lot of these factors and a lot of them man made, and some natural,
that are fouling the air we breathe from the time we are born till we die. This
death we face would undoubtedly be extended in most cases if we had clean air
to breathe.
Nature had in
mind a balance to the program of living and it involves humans and other
vertebrates in nature that use oxygen on one side of the spectrum and expel
carbon dioxide on the other side of the spectrum. Plants flourish in a rich
carbon dioxide or greenhouse atmosphere utilizing and storing the excess carbon
in their trunks or stems, and then further decaying over a long period of time
locking up the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This helps moderate the effects
of our climate and yielding oxygen which animals can use as a means of our own survival.
Ebbs and flows
of carbon dioxide levels have been seen throughout history in terms of the ice
age when glaciers swept over North America, as evidenced by geology. This could
have been preceded by volcanic activity as the earth crusts was settling or
rising in spots creating more volcanoes that spew among other things carbon
dioxide as part of its activity of erupting as it also no doubt expelled huge
volumes of dust and ash while decimating forests in its path. And as well the earth itself,
plants and animals are constantly evolving to meet the rigors of our
environment. As the planet heats up and the polar ice caps melt, global patterns
of weather also change and cause problems like snow where you have never saw it
before or a massive die off of a species due to poor weather conditions.
Trees and
vegetation , all of it in general , and as well the oceans lock up a lot of
that carbon dioxide and cool a planet down as growth of all vegetation
increases due to higher carbon dioxide. Trees and woody sediments washing down
rivers and streams, as well as algae, seaweed, and plankton all serve to help
the oceans also reduce the carbon dioxide, and this is effectively cooling the planet. We have
interrupted the normal process of natural means of controlling our planets
temperatures due to our use of fossil fuels. It has been since the beginning of
the industrial revolution and the use of coal primarily to heat our homes and
fuel our factories, and then later with oil and gas being a major contributor
of releasing carbon dioxide into our atmosphere, that we have seen a gradual
spike, or a change in our weather patterns since we have been taking weather
recordings or have seen through ice samples or tree rings evidence of major environmental
changes that are in correlation to our recordings.
planting chestnut trees in Wayne National Forest
A byproduct of
both forms of burning or altering the form of the oil and gas results in the same
emission and that is carbon dioxide. What Mother Nature worked so hard at,
thousands and millions of years ago is undone in an instant the moment you turn
your car on, or turn up the thermostat. This is a proven effect of technology
and an effort to increase the efficiency of our vehicles has little to do with
the amount of carbon dioxide in a ton of coal, or a gallon of gas. As long as
we use either, or as far as that goes, using natural gas, diesel or any fossil
fuel base , we can expect to constantly increase the amount of carbon dioxide
in our environment effectively heating up our planet.
Technology wants
to build a machine that effectively scrubs the air, and pumps the carbon dioxide
back underground into old mines, effectively locking it up. As well they talk
about pumping it into old oil wells which is also being considered. But again
there are cost factors and where is the energy going to come from to run the
huge machinery it would require to effectively scrub our air. Our air comprises
a larger volume proportionately than our oceans which covers two thirds of our
planet. That is a lot of hot air to take care of and do we want to be dependent
on the same people who destroyed our environment to be in control of the air we
breathe. We have only on planet and if they want to experiment I suggest they
head to Mars, as I want a proven means of eliminating part of the problem we
have created and that is to plant trees and reduce our land use to what we have
already tore up.
I propose that
every citizen of earth go out and plant a tree as soon as they are old enough
and continue planting a tree a year until they die. 5 billion trees in 100
years would result in 500 billion trees and just may equal what we have taken
out in hydrocarbons since we have started utilizing fossil fuels for our convenience.
There is now way you are ever going to achieve those numbers, but even if we
live to be 80 a tree a year hardly represents what we have used currently in
our personal needs as well represent the hydrocarbons we have spent to keep us
warm or wipe our nose or other things. There again we have to have 100 percent
of the people doing the same thing.
fancy smancy tree hauler wasn't necessary, as we had enough help that day to more than carry the trees to the location we were planting. government at work-if it isnt a huge project to start with it will be when they are done.
Trees will
propagate themselves and make up the difference if left alone. They are a major
influence on removing carbon dioxide from our air as their branches sweep the
sky trapping the carbon dioxide and dust that lands on its leaves. The morning
dew washes that dust off and it lands on the ground and encases a seed pod and
generates another tree. This is how it is supposed to be. It won’t happen in a Walmart
parking lot or even in your living room. But we need to make space for it to
happen. Part of the difference in what we plant versus what we use can be made
up from utilization of natural resources , solar, geo thermal, water , and
other technologies not dependent on fossil fuels.
We need to
return a balance to nature and it is going to be hard to justify feeding
another 2 billion people by 2050 as well, reduce our use of hydrocarbons and
fossil fuels without some impending shortages of food and famine as we are
going along. 35 years from now it is going to be someone else’s problem and not
mine , but I am just trying to do my part now as well we all need to get in the
mindset to make amends for our abuse of nature and to try and set the record straight
by planting just one tree per year per person. If you live in a family and they
don’t feel your views, plant for them and hopefully somewhere down the road
they may understand what you were trying to do. Especially when they see after
you are gone, all that you have accomplished. Plant them in your yard, along
the interstates, in a park somewhere, ask if you can, and if you can’t find an
answer then just go ahead and plant anyhow. Your effort will be your knowledge
that you have tried to make a difference. The satisfaction of returning to a
location where you planted years later and seeing the trees growing will be
just as good as any other reward you can have in life. Plant a tree today.
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