A lot of you that know me in this dispensation, know how passionate and protective I am with trees. It’s so intense to the extent that my heart literally aches when I have seen trees being cut down and just like humans would cry over other humans passing, I feel the same.
Then I get the question, why are you so emotional about these trees? Well, I think trees are responsible for the most part of my sanity. Yes! I know you would ask again how? I wish I had enough words to explain what it feels like to hug a tree, breathe in its energy and send it carbon dioxide. I wish I could explain to you the tree’s consciousness. But I have only observed a tiny bit of it through its root system.
See the different green leaf variations in spring and summer reminds me of the diversity we have as humans. Different leaves, but the same color, the growth of the forest, its breeze, and its freshness always gives me a sense of freedom and wellness.
I think about the harmony and the synchronicity trees have and I only think to myself, how I wish humans could be this exemplary.
Well, if you are close to a tree today, hug it, take in its energy, bless it, tell your challenges to it, and watch it do a miracle.
Benefits of Trees
1. Trees boost our mental health while raising our physical health.
A healthy tree can lead to a healthy you and me. A study by a TNC scientist shows that time in nature—like a walk among the trees in a city park—correlates with a drop in anxiety and depression.
The good news: it doesn’t take a lot of time in nature for these soothing powers to kick in. You may have felt the benefits of a short walk or hike in your neighborhood. We’re drawn to green spaces and for good reason.
2. Trees clean the air so we can breathe more easily.
Trees remove the kind of air pollution that is most dangerous to our lungs: particulate matter. This pollution arises from the burning of fossil fuels and can reach dangerous concentrations in the largest cities as well as in neighborhoods near highways and factories.
Tree leaves will filter this dangerous pollution, but only if they’re planted near the people who need them; most of the filtration occurs within 100 feet of a tree. More trees in cities, especially in lower-income neighborhoods close to highways and factories, can reduce ailments like asthma and heart disease which cause 5% of deaths worldwide.
3. Trees give a home to the wildlife we love.
From our windows, many of us can see how much our feathered and furry neighbors enjoy their ‘high-rise apartments.’ Even a single tree can provide vital habitat for countless species.
An intact forest can do even more, creating a home for some of the most diverse and resilient webs of life on the planet. Old-growth forests, the forests that we need to protect most urgently, create habitat at the ground level, at the top of their tree canopies, and everywhere in between. All of these different types of habitats in a single area allow so many diverse species to thrive.
4. Trees cool down your life, and could even save it.
Trees give us all shade—and that’s a good thing! Temperatures are rising and heatwaves are getting longer due to climate change. Some places feel the heat more than others. Neighborhoods with lots of pavement absorb more heat and can be five to eight degrees hotter than surrounding areas. These areas also stay hotter later into the night, which is detrimental to our health.
Enter our branchy, leafy neighbors. A tree’s shade acts like a natural air conditioning and can even keep down the energy costs of our actual air conditioning systems, which are increasingly working overtime.
5. Trees filter your water, making your drinking supply cleaner and more reliable.
Raise a glass to a tree near you! Actually, raise your glass to trees far from you, as your water has traveled on a long journey to your faucet. Trees store and filter more than half of the water supply in the United States.
Forests do this by removing pollutants and sediments from rainfall and then slowly releasing the water back into waterways and underground aquifers. Thanks to trees, this naturally cleaner water is easier and cheaper to treat before it ends up in your tap. The water supply is also steadier because all of the rainwater didn’t end up in a river right away; it seeped through these natural filters over time.
