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The Value of Trees

  

The Value of Trees

I'd planned to write about hot water systems this month but over the past few days I've been considering the value of trees and wanted to share them with you.

This topic seems appropriate as we head into the warmer months of the year and the buds start budding and those of us with trees in our yards hear the mating calls of the birds.

I have a pair of brown honeyeaters in my garden. They arrived last year and began nesting. They are a joy to watch and hear. The call of the male changes dramatically during the year and as spring nears becomes the most melodic sound.

Sadly, their chosen tree died over winter but as I was removing it to make way for another I found the gift of a small cup shaped nest in the leafless branches. A gift I passed onto a young girl whose face shone brightly with pleasure at the joy the birds had shared with her.

I used to love to lie in bed early in the morning and hear nothing more than the sounds of the birds. It was such a beautiful way to awaken.

As we lose many of our trees to concrete roads, driveways, footpaths, houses, and other buildings, I hear a lot more noise as I awaken each day. Noises made not by bird but by man. Noises made by motors of air conditioners, appliances, cars, trains, planes, petrol blowers and so on.

We often blame trees for those odd occasions when we feel they threaten our secure, concrete world yet forget to thank them for the many good and often free things they offer to us. Some things are apparent like manufactured items of paper and timber.

Other things we are often unaware of and take for granted. Here's just a few….

It is because of trees that we drive our cars, plug in our toasters, carry home shopping and turn on our computers. I wonder how many of us realise that oil, fossil fuels and other resources that we so heavily value and rely upon for things like energy and plastic are created largely by the long term breakdown of plant and animal matter.

Then, as we burn more of those very same fossil fuels, it is trees that provide us with oxygen and help us breathe cleaner air by removing carbon dioxide and other pollutants.

Trees help to maintain our climate by holding moisture in the atmosphere. Notice that most places in Australia with high rainfall such as northern NSW are usually well forested.

Trees hold water in the ground for us, building the water table and preventing flash flooding or wastage of stormwater down the street gutters to sea.

Funny then, that as we create negative affects upon our own water supply the trees that could help us maintain our climate patterns are the first things we remove or apply water restrictions to.

Trees are fantastic protectors. They provide sound barriers to soften harsh noises, shade to help cool our homes in the heat of the day and shields that offer shelter during periods of high winds.

Trees give us a sense of ambience that concrete just doesn't offer. They make us feel good – softer somehow.

Trees also provide homes for others – birds, insects, possums, koalas, lizards and other plants. They create an ecological environment that helps us reduce our reliance on chemicals to synthetically manage those little things we call pests.

Trees also help us maintain a balance of different species. Notice the places where we find those birds that we most whinge about - ibises, indian mynahs and crows - in our cleared spaces.

Trees often create good environments to grow many of the healing type plants from which we manufacture drugs. I wonder as we remove more of these trees how much more of that manufactured healing we will rely upon.

I thoroughly recommend that, if you get a chance, to read a small book entitled 'The Man Who Planted Trees' by Jean Giono.

And if you can take time to plant some suitable trees in your garden or nearby park, I know you won't regret it.