Sunday Sweetness #13: Trees

After our trip to Yosemite earlier this summer, I have a new found adoration and appreciation for trees (Silver Lining). Not only are they are truly magnificent…but they are profoundly important to our lives.

The importance of trees cannot be overstated. It’s likely that if not for trees, human life on earth would not even be possible. Isn’t that amazing?!?

Here are the top 10 reasons why I think that trees are so valuable:

1. Trees produce oxygen (scientists believe trees are the largest single source of breathable oxygen in the atmosphere)
2. Trees clean the soil (by storing harmful pollutants or actually change the pollutant into less harmful forms
3. Trees clean the air (by intercepting airborne particles, reducing heat, and absorbing such pollutants as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide)
4. Trees muffle noise pollution
5. Trees fight soil erosion (which is a big concern this summer after all of the wildfires)
6. Trees break the wind (which can lower heating bills in the winter)
7. Trees shade and cool (which is REALLY needed this summer!)
8. Trees absorb carbon dioxide (a suspect in global warming)
9. Trees are a source of food (e.g., apples, oranges, lemons, figs, avocados, olives, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts…)
10. They are beautiful!

Do you have a favorite tree?  I don’t think I do. I seem to appreciate and adore them all (though perhaps the REAL reason is that I don’t yet know the names of the gazillion types of trees!)