Trees Need Love, Too

By Diana Martinez

There are many important issues going on in our world right now like poverty, terrorism, and human rights, but one issue I feel that is not discussed enough is our home, Planet Earth. Little by little, we are destroying it, and the most harmful act we are doing is cutting down trees. Trees create the air that we breathe, purify our water and clean our pollution. Trees do so much to help us and what do we do? We destroy them and for what? For more land to build on? For money?

According to the United Nations’ food and agriculture organization, an estimated 18 million acres of forest are lost each year. That is roughly the size of the country of Panama. Deforestation happens all around the world. Tropical rainforests are cut down the most. Trees clean our pollution by absorbing carbon dioxide. With more forests getting cut down, there is more carbon being trapped in the atmosphere. It can also create acid rain, which does some serious damage to the forests. http://www.livescience.com/27692-deforestation.html

Trees are not only beautiful but also extremely important. They filter out toxins, sediment and other substances from water.  According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, non-point pollution from urban and suburban developments cause more than 60 percent of damage to the U.S. waterways, including many drinking water sources. We wouldn’t be able to survive without trees. The air and water would be so filthy it would be unsuitable to intake. https://www.epa.gov/nps/what-nonpoint-source

So how do we fix this problem? We can reduce the amount of energy and fossil fuels we use. Recycling is also a good way to save many trees. You could go to https://standfortrees.org/en/, buy a certificate, and the money goes towards trying to stop more deforestation from happening. There are also many groups you can join that offer volunteer work to plant more trees and do many other types of environmental work. A local group in Nashville that I am also a part of is The Nashville Tree Foundation. 

The Nashville Tree Foundation hosts many events to educate the community about trees, as a matter of fact, they have a work shop coming up on Oct. 29, 2016. If you are interested in the work shop, you can go to their website http://www.nashvilletreefoundation.org/. Their website is full of information and ways to get involved. The foundation also has booths set up at local festivals. For example, I helped sell cherry blossom trees at this year’s Cherry Blossom Festival and we even made it on the news! It’s a great feeling when you become a part of something bigger than yourself, so get involved and make a difference!

Now that you’ve read some facts what do you think? Is cutting down trees for land, money, or any other need worth risking our health and well being? Earth is our only home it is our job to protect it. Yes, there are many other issues going on around the world and I’m not saying that one is more important than another, but something a musician named Prince Era said really stuck with me: “Whatever you’re fighting for racism or poverty, feminism, gay rights or any type of equality it won’t matter in the least, because if we don’t all work together to save the environment we will be equally extinct.”

My name is Diana, and I’m just like everyone else. I don’t calculate my footprint as much as I should or do everything I can possibly do to help the environment. I’m not saying you have to completely change your lifestyle, but just by recycling you could make a huge difference. You might wonder why I volunteer or how I have time to. Well I never imagined that I would be a “tree huger”, but once I educated myself on the facts of what we are doing to our only home, how could I not try to play a small roll on trying to save it. There is no planet B! My hope is that at least one person starts getting more involved in this cause after reading this blog. 

“When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, one the will we realize that one cannot eat money.” –Native American Saying