Trees!🌲

500 trees a second - that's how many trees are cut down (a study from 2020 shows). It's the equivalent of 30,000 a minute, 1.8 million an hour, 43 million a day, to come to an overall 15 billion in a year. All the positive effects they have on people's lives and the entire world, and we cut them down. Crazy.

Yes, they are useful for energy resources because they can be carbon neutral.  But it's only carbon neutral if you replant the trees, because it is estimated that 15-20% of greenhouse gas emissions are produced by deforestation.  This is because trees emit the carbon dioxide they store when they are cut down (see below) - as long as a tree lives, the CO2 it stores stay safely within it.  

There are so many advantages to having trees in our lives, whether that be social, environmental or economic. 

• Socially, there are scientific studies that show that trees have a positive effect on mental health - they can lower stress levels and make people happier.
• Environmentally, they take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen during photosynthesis and so are one of the main factors in lowering man-made greenhouse gasses.

I'd definitely recommend reading The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohllben to learn about trees because he explains the lives of trees so well. 

I got all of this from the video: What if Everyone in the World Planted a Tree? which, as the name says, also gives the impact it would make if everyone planted a tree. It's only three minutes, I'd recommend reading it for even more information.

I'm doing a bit more research on this, as there are some other viewpoints on planting trees that are also important to think about.  Watch out for a future blog! 

Thank you so much for reading!! See you in two weeks.

Violet

         xxx