A tree is just a tree?

How important to the environment are trees really?

Air pollution destroys the atmosphere which protects the Earth. Trees "eat" pollution by taking the carbon dioxide out of the air, and then they "exhale" oxygen. Planting a tree can help prevent pollution as well.

What is atmosphere, and why is it important?

The atmosphere is composed of mostly nitrogen and oxygen. It acts like a security blanket around the Earth. The ratio of nitrogen to oxygen is the tightly woven fabric of the blanket.

The atmosphere traps radiant warmth from the sun's rays. It keeps the temperature of the planet stable and warm enough to support plant and animal life, yet cool enough to maintain water in the oceans.

How is the atmosphere damaged?

Many everyday activities produce air emissions: pollution. Even human breathing produces pollutants. Humans exhale carbon dioxide, after taking oxygen from the air. These pollutants damage the atmosphere.

Energy consumption, the burning of fuels such as coal, gasoline and diesel, removes oxygen to burn and replaces it with pollutants which collect beneath the atmosphere. The effect of this pollution is adding another blanket to the Earth. It increases the planet temperature and destroying the delicate nitrogen to oxygen balance.

Use of electricity causes air emissions which strip away portions of the atmosphere, essentially tearing holes the security blanket.

Why is planting trees great for the atmosphere?

By removing the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, trees remove the extra layers in the atmosphere which threaten Earth's temperature. By replacing the carbon dioxide with oxygen, trees restore the nitrogen to oxygen balance and ensure enough oxygen for animal breathing.

Where should trees be planted?

Trees planted along the Interstate highways help absorb the pollution of the traffic, but they help the atmosphere another way as well. Trees need to have their roots protected. The ring of mulch around the trees reduces the amount of grass that needs to be cut. Less fuel burned and less pollution result from less area being mowed with tractors, whose exhaust systems are not regulated for emissions.

Sidewalk trees are planted to beautify streets, but they are doing triple duty. They reduce the need to run pollution coughing lawn mowers and the pollution caused by the trucks which transport them. Add to that, sidewalk trees pull cigarette pollution out of the air from the sidewalk denizens.

Landscaping a yard with small trees and shrubs trims yard size. Trees make great shade for your home, reducing the need for cooling. Less energy used equals less air pollution produced.

Manufacturing and transporting fertilizer uses many forms of energy and produces many different air emissions and pollutants. Recycling the leaves which fall from trees in autumn into mulch makes the landscaped and native shrubs healthier. Healthy, flowering plants "eat" more pollution and "exhale" more oxygen.

Planting plots of trees helps regulate not only the amount of oxygen produced in an area, but also the wind pattern. By creating a large area to vacuum carbon dioxide and making a wind block, wind patterns change to accommodate the new obstacle and distribute the gases of the atmosphere equally.

Changing wind patterns can ease weather conditions, such as drought, or promote different weather conditions, like rain, which require nearly exact chemical balance to exist.

Planting trees is great for the atmosphere not only because they reduce existing pollution, but also because they prevent pollution.

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What does ethanol really cost?

When everyone is looking for better fuel efficiency and cleaner burning energy, biofuel is quick to the attention of eco-conscious consumers. So how expensive is ethanol?

Bio-fuels seem to present a renewable resource alternate to fossil fuel. A closer examination of the costs of producing ethanol and biodiesel shows the true economic and ethical costs involved in choosing bio-fuel as a long term solution.

All of the following depend on fossil fuel to produce bio-fuel:

Hybridization of crops
Planting and irrigation
Fertilizer and pesticide
Harvesting
Grinding biomass
Transporting the crop
Production facility machinery

To gauge how efficient the bio-fuel alternative truly is, a joint study by Cornell and University of California -Berkeley determined that the energy output of both ethanol and biodiesel were not worth the effort of producing them.

Ethanol production from switch grass required 45 percent more energy than the resultant ethanol produced. This is the equivalent of spending $1.45 to buy a dollar.

Biodiesel produced from sunflower plants required 118 percent more energy than the biodiesel could produce. Would you spend $2.18 to buy a dollar?

These pitfalls are considered short-term shortfalls. As bio-fuel machinery becomes more widely available, the production costs will go down. Yet, the research into such machines is not likely to begin for more than another decade and only when the United States government decides which bio-fuel to endorse.

The long term pitfalls are more ominous. Ethanol and biodiesel do not burn as cleanly as burning biomass, pure wood or switch grass waste. The air emissions contribute to the greenhouse effect and further global warming.

Bio-fuels need a constant agricultural supply. To meet the United States need for liquid fuel, one of two scenarios present: 1. Residential property will be regulated to upward growth only (apartment dwelling). 2. Rural residential lands will be relegated to subsidized agriculture of biomass producing farms.

Both scenarios result in larger air pollutant emissions. The transportation of food contributes the second largest air pollutant emission in the United States. Multi-level housing creates traffic congestion and household emissions in higher concentration.

Additionally, the choice to use wood biomass to produce ethanol would result in fewer trees to protect the atmosphere, higher fossil fuel demand than even switch grass (12 percent) and increase prices of common wood based products. This price increase would impact industries that produce or use paper, cardboard, furniture, building supplies and wood as a fuel source.

So what does that mean for food prices, water and soil pollution, sustainability and fertility?

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Your car's carbon footprint=Big Foot?

You recycle. You conserve water. You adjust your thermostat. You get in your car and go to work. There are five main areas where you can lower your car's carbon footprint: Shopping, errands, work, maintenance and driving. It starts with you.

If the number one way to reduce your impact on global warming was to drive less, how many excuses could you supply why you cannot drive less? How about some practical tips to help you not only drive less, but reduce your emissions when you have to drive?

Even if you cannot afford to trade your car for a more efficient, electric or hybrid model, you can do a lot to reduce the impact your vehicle has on the environment.

Shopping

1. Shop for frozen and dry groceries and household supplies once per month. Limit shopping for perishables to once per week, and then only on your way home from somewhere else. Save gas and money by planning ahead.

2. Shop for clothing, shoes, items for children, gifts and other items quarterly or bimonthly. These non-essentials should be planned to avoid prolonged or frequent driving.

3. Shop locally. This is more than going to the neighborhood market. Buy items produced locally as well. You have direct control over pollution caused by transporting goods over very long distances to get to you.

Errands

1. Go to the bank, post office, doctor's office and pharmacy on the same day. By plotting your itinerary to include at least three stops, you save gasoline, money and time while reducing your carbon emissions by as much as 70%.

2. Go with a friend. While not as efficient as carpooling, you can choose who has the most efficient vehicle and completely eliminate the emissions from the other. Best practice is to go everywhere with at least two other people.

3. Go on time. Schedule your errands so you will not rush. This leads to more considerate driving, better braking and less stress.

Work

1. Telecommute. Many companies offer choices in telecommuting. More offices are closing an additional day each week to save on overhead. Work from home one day, or more, per week.

2. Carpool. It is cool to carpool. Schedule meetings during your commute. Again, choose the most efficient car to get you and your colleagues to work on time.

3. Transfer. If you are commuting more than fifteen miles to work, consider a position closer to your home. When possible, work within walking distance of your home.

4. Move. If you are commuting more than fifty miles to work, you are losing money, time and breathable air. If you cannot move, transfer to a position closer to home.

5. Detour. If your commute is spent sitting in traffic, find a new route to work. If there is only one way, change your work hours to avoid standstills.

Grab ten more tips on how to reduce your car's impact on global warming.

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Still looking for proof?

Ten convincing signs show global warming is affecting today's Earth. The "gloom and doom" is not something of concern for great-grandchildren as yet unborn. These major changes are the proverbial "tip of the iceberg".

10. Increased allergies. Lifestyle change and pollution leave more people vulnerable to seasonal allergies and asthma. Global warming temperature rises in combination with higher carbon dioxide levels trigger plants to bloom earlier. This increase in the amount of pollen, and its lingering longer in the air, aggravates allergies.

9. Wildlife migration. Beginning in the early 1900s, species have begun to move to higher elevations seeking their premium habitat. Global warming trends have sent chipmunks, mice and squirrels to higher elevations. Polar bears are moving closer and closer to the poles as their ice shelves melt due to the global increase in temperature.

8. Blooming Arctic? Ice, which normally holds tightly to Arctic plants, is melting earlier. Eager plants are enjoying longer growing seasons. Chlorophyll levels in today's Arctic are far higher than that of ancient Arctic soils.

7. Draining the lakes. Permafrost is frozen ground that makes the floor supporting Arctic lakes. As global temperatures rise, the permafrost melts. The lake water seeps through the ground, effectively draining the lake. Ecosystems based on the 125 already drained lakes are disappearing along with the water.

6. Sinks and slides As permafrost melts at higher altitudes, the ground shrinks unevenly based on its elemental make up. This leads to sink holes and damage to human structures, such as rail tracks, houses and roads. On the side of mountains, melted permafrost becomes rock and mud slides.

5. Evolution. With spring beginning earlier, hibernating animals face extinction faster than those who can reset their biological clocks. Migrating animals can move earlier, eat more food and reproduce earlier. Sleepy heads may miss out on the early food and their adolescents may not be mature enough to move come the cold of winter.

4. Speeding tickets? Carbon dioxide gives off heat when molecules collide in dense air near the Earth. Increased carbon dioxide molecules from emissions in the upper atmosphere, where the satellites live, radiate this heat away because they cannot collide as often because they force air lower into the atmosphere. This creates a cooling effect and erases the air's drag effect on the satellites. Less drag means the satellites speed up.

3. Taller mountains. Glaciers on the tops of mountains, like the Alps and the Himalayas, are heavy and push the mountains down. Global warming is melting these glaciers. Without the excess baggage, the mountains are growing faster, and the soil is springing back.

2. Lost wonders. Global warming's extreme weather and floods have already damaged some of the world's oldest artifacts that have stood the test of time, until recently. Ancient temples and settlements cannot survive these new changes. The original architects never could have planned for these changes in water levels and temperatures. 600 year old Sukhothai, the once capital of a Thai kingdom, has already fallen prey to a global warming flood.

1. Wildfire. Earlier snowmelt and warmer temperatures mean that drier areas, like the western United States, stay drier for longer. This long dry period increases the chances that a forest fire will break out and burn for longer.

These are only ten ways that global warming is effecting the Earth today. Without change in the current carbon dioxide emissions, these patterns will not only continue, but also intensify.

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