Did you know that one tree keeps a family of four alive for one year? Many of us do appreciate trees, but sometimes we can forget just how important they are in our lives. 20 million new trees would provide us with 260 million tons of oxygen and remove 10 million tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. When we cut down our trees, we are removing the air we breathe.
Not only do trees help us breathe but they also help us to relax, lower our heart rates, and reduce stress. Interestingly, hospital patients with a view of trees from their hospital beds, spend 8% fewer days in hospital.
In urban areas, people are particularly vulnerable to a poor quality of air because of the lack of trees, and this can have an extremely detrimental effect on our health. Moreover, cities by their nature are noisy and trees can block urban noise almost as effectively as stone walls and provide cooling and shading on hot days. Trees can even absorb pollutants and turn them into less harmful forms.
Many important products come from trees including vitamins, toothpaste, and certain medicines but it’s important to ensure that trees are not cut down without careful consideration. Trees live for a long time and the oldest tree in the world is in Sweden and is 9,558 years. The tallest tree in the world stands at a magnificent 397.7 ft. while the smallest tree is only between 1-6 cm in height but, of course, still produces plenty of oxygen for us. Neat, right? It’s important to remember just how unique and powerful every tree we cut down is.
Benefits of Trees
Check out this infographic from Capital Garden Services for more information on the importance of trees in the environment. I hope you find it as interesting as I do. It’s also a great infographic to share with your kids for an impromtu science lesson or just for an educational discussion!
