Here is some information from 'YOGA, Joyful Living'
November 2007 issue:

Forests harbor much of the world's biodiversity. They soak up water and seed rainclouds; they inhale carbon dioxide; they exhale oxygen for us to breathe. They are essential to life, but sadly, despite the growing consciousness about the importance of forests, we continue to lose around 13-million hectares per year (an area the size of Greece).

Forests are lost to logging for timber and consumer products, to land clearing for agriculture, and increasingly, to palm oil and other biofuel plantations.

As concern about global warming grows, the roles of forests in combating it is becoming better understood. Here is what we know:


About one fifth of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide come from land clearing and deforestation-more than from the entire transportation sector.

Immediately when forests are logged, disturbed soils release carbon dioxide and methane. Then more gases are released over time as leaves and twigs decay.

Different types of forests store carbon in different ways.Tropical forests cover the most acerage and store more of their carbon in the mass of their living vegetation than in soils.

The northern forests surrounding the pole, known as boreal forests, comprise the largest single reservoir of carbon on the planet. Most of this carbon is buried in deep layers of permafrost,frozen peat accumulated ofer thousands of years.

Temperate forests of the mid-latitudes contain about a third as much carbon as found in tropical forests and less than one sixth of the amount stored in boreal forests and their soils.

As the climate warms and dries out, some forests are starting to release more carbon than they absorb in their annual growth cycles. At the same time, there is an increase in the number and severity of forest fires. Although the exact climate impact of forest fires is disputed, the loss of carbon storing adds significantly to global warming.


We really have no choice: We are drowning in carbon and must save the trees, because trees are the arc that holds our climate together.


Try hugging a tree sometimes. It doesn't have to be a big tree. Take a walk in the woods and press your heart against a tree and see how it makes you feel.


An ancient cedar in Olympic national Park in Washington State, USA

Thank you for this very important information.

The Amazon rainforest is also very important in controlling the world's climate, even far up to the north, but unfortunately we lose a lot of this forest every year.

Let us hope that the nations all over the world will start to save our forests before it is too late.



Love,
yoko

Thank you for this post. It is very sad to see all the trees cut down, and our weather is getting more unpredictable from day to day. I hope that we will stop cutting down trees before the weather conditions get even more catastrophic all over the world.

Love,
Vicky

Thank you for this information.
Cutting down as many trees is very disturbing.
Humans are destroying the balance of the earth that has taken thousands of years to develope. Whatever we do now is not going to reverse all the weather problems soon enough.

Let us just hug the trees while we can.

Sincerely,
Gisele

Plant a tree whenever you find a spot for one. I like bonsai trees. They can outlive their un-potted cousins.

Of course they don't produce as much oxygen and you have to water them and water them and water them.

My favorite trees include pines oaks elms chesnuts walnuts filberts firs cedars redwoods maples beeches myrtles anything in the prunus family and just about any tree you can name. Ginkgos are as old as the dinosaurs and they haven't gone out of style. The magnolias have even started flowering here in February.

If you're lucky, you might even spot a monkey puzzle tree. Trees are the greatest. If I could hug a giant sequoia I would, but I can't, alas.

Don't hug a Hercules Club.

See what I mean?

Thank you for the post.

I see yogionefromobie about not hugging certain trees. I would have to wear my iron armour.

But on a more serous note, I agree:

We really have no choice: We are drowning in carbon and must save the trees, because trees are the arc that holds our climate together.

Sue

Thank you for your replies.

Like Sue, I have to put on my armour to hug this tree



I think I will forget about hugging this tree; but then again, it might be a challenge hahaha....

Some of the best things are spikey. Raindrops on roses are favored, but you have to watch thos thorns. In defense of Hercules' Club. It is quite an elegant tree. I lived with one once and never had to prune it or dared to try. I'm sure it contributes to the Tao of the Gaia principle.

I'm told that before colonization that a squirrel could cross the north American continent without touching the ground. Not so today - but maybe if we keep working on it. . .

Thank you yogionefromobie.
I will be very careful to hug Hercules Club tree, unless I am Hercules

You are right, but maybe if we keep working on it, we can still repair some of the damage that has been done.

Love,
Vicky

The importance of trees

Trees are the largest and longest living organisms on earth. To grow tall the tree has become a miracle of engineering and a complex chemical factory. It is able to take water and salts out of the earth and lift them up to the leaves, sometimes over 400 ft above. By means of photosynthesis the leaves combine the water and salts with carbon dioxide from the air to produce the nutrients which feed the tree. In this process, as well as wood, trees create many chemicals, seeds and fruit of great utility to man. Trees also remove carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, from the air.

Trees are of continued importance to the environment. Tropical rain forests have of particular significance; although they now occupy less than 6 per cent of the land surface of the earth they probable sustain more than half of the biological species on the planet.

Notwithstanding the debt we owe to trees, their emotive power, and their importance to other forms of life, the forested area of the earth is steadily being depleted. This is leading to the degradation of the environment and the extinction of many species. There is now a real danger that in the not very distant future man will destroy a large proportion of the present population of species on earth, create an uninhabitable environment, and then die out himself. If this happens it will not be the first time that a large proportion of the species on the earth have been extinguished.

http://www.turningtools.co.uk/trees/trees2.html

From Encyclopedia Britannica


Forests are of immense importance in soil stabilization and erosion control, especially in mountainous and hilly regions; they also protect and conserve water supplies and prevent floods. Small groups of trees and even single trees have a similar role locally in preventing washouts and in holding stream banks.

Many of my favorite trees are so much older than I am that I figure I have to respect them simply because they are my elders.

http://www.treehelp.com/features/features-benefits.asp



Trees and the Environment

"The very air we breathe is improved by the presence of trees."

A book by Dr. Seuss illustrates the impact trees have on our environment. In his tale The Lorax, The disappearance of trees bears dire environmental consequences. At the onset of the story the landscape is beautiful and lush with shady groves, clean water, and ample home for wildlife. As the tale progresses and trees are cut down, the environment starts to sour. Animals flee for lack of food and shelter, the air becomes dark and dirty, and the water supply grows stale.

So too, would our environment suffer if we uprooted our own trees. Trees provide shade in summer and shelter in winter. In fact, trees planted around our homes help reduce heating and cooling costs. During summer, trees can block the sun and have a refrigerating effect on us and our homes, and during the winter months, trees can keep us warmer by shielding us from wind and snow.

The very air we breathe is improved by the presence of trees. In order to feed themselves, trees absorb harmful chemicals such as carbon monoxide and in turn give off oxygen. As well, they filter and trap pollutants such as smoke, dust, and ash making our air cleaner.

Where water is concerned, trees not only absorb water - preventing flooding, but also help disperse rainfall over a more even area. As well, by retaining water, trees help reduce the amount of topsoil the runs off into our sewers and streams. Leaves on the ground, keep moisture close to the ground aiding growth and traps chemicals keeping them out of lakes and rivers.

On a larger scale, trees maintain our global environment in ways that we are just beginning to understand. By acting as enormous carbon sinks, trees absorb massive amounts of carbon dioxide from our atmosphere. If trees did not perform this vital function, there would be little to mitigate the effects of global warming caused by the Greenhouse Effect.

Of course trees benefit us not only our physical environment, but also attract birds and other wildlife, making our urban centers a more pleasant place to live. Picture the eerie silence that would befall a city were the song of birds entirely absent.

What a wonderful post! Especially.. all the..

Trees-ease! he he...

quote:

Originally posted by dear yoko:
...

Of course trees benefit us not only our physical environment, but also attract birds and other wildlife, making our urban centers a more pleasant place to live. Picture the eerie silence that would befall a city were the song of birds entirely absent.

I would be...

OUT OF MY TREE!





Lovin' light beams, Teo Do (re, mi, far...)

Thank you everyone for your replies and images.



The seeming timelessness of trees has created a sense of wonder in generations of people. Year after year, they continue to grow and provide us with both necessities and awe-inspiring beauty. Much of the life on earth owes its existence to trees.