Why Help Cut C02 Emissions | 10 Fun Facts About Trees

What do we know for sure?  
We now know for a fact that CO₂ levels are rising and that human activity is the cause.

How Do we know this?
 Simple math….

Let's start with the year 1750, generally accepted as the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, when the standard measure for CO₂ levels was 278ppmv. We'll begin then, add the known level of human-generated CO₂ for that year, then subtract 2.84% of the excess CO₂ – because that's how fast nature tries to restore the balance. If we do this for 255 years, up to 2005, we get the blue line in the graph below. It fits the black line – the actual CO₂ level – like a glove.

How accurate is this fit?
Considering the difficulties of gathering data from centuries past, amazingly close. We know, for example, that up until 1950, deforestation was putting about as much CO₂ into the atmosphere as burning fossils, but it's not easy to know how many trees were chopped down in, say, 1850, and how much CO₂ this put into the air. In spite of imperfect data, the fact that a simple calculation predicts the extraordinary shape of actual CO₂ so well is clear evidence this can not be a coincidental convergence. Human CO₂ emissions must have caused the upsurge is atmospheric CO₂.

So what?  
The link between human activity and rising CO₂ levels is now clear. The next one is between CO₂ and global warming. That was predicted over 100 years ago, but the evidence has become convincing only very recently.

In early 2006, NASA released data confirming that the 10 warmest years on record have all occurred since 1990, extending the warming trend of recent decades. This trend includes 2005, which NASA confirmed as tied with 1998 for the hottest year on record.

MOST RECENT STUDY
According to a study issued in October, 2006 by the British Government, failure to act to cut global warming could cost the world up to 20 percent a year in lost income, and could cause widespread death,  devastate food sources, and turn hundreds of millions of people into refugees.

Our gasoline-burning cars are the second-largest source of U.S. global warming pollution, and one YOU can do something about.... but Americans will put more than 300 million new cars on the road over the next 20 years – if these gas cars were substituted with electric cars, we could make a major difference.. 

Here’s the Math.  If you drive a gas car that gets 25 miles per gallon, this car will produce approximately 10,000 pounds of CO2. 

If you replace this gas car with an electric, you can prevent  (even after counting power plant emissions to generate the power) up to 90% of these emissions from entering the atmosphere.

Or. . . you can offset this carbon production by planting trees.  This is because the average fast growing tree planted in the tropics removes 50 pounds of C02 per year.  So to offset your car, you need to plant 200 trees.

For a $25.00 donation, or if you agree to add $25.00 on to the purchase of your electric car, we will have 200 trees planted on your behalf.

You can then drive both your electric car and your other gas car CO2 guilt free!

1)   An average size tree produces enough oxygen in one year to keep a family of four breathing.

2)   Three trees planted in the right place around buildings
can cut air-conditioning costs up to 50 percent.

3)   Trees increase the value of property. Houses surrounded by trees sell for 18-25 percent higher than houses with no trees.

4)   Trees generate jobs and contribute raw materials for buildings, newspapers, books and more than 15,000 other forest products. Trees are renewable, biodegradable and recyclable. Wood by-products become such products as vitamins, plastics, vanilla flavoring, photographic film, toothpaste and medicines.

5)   By planting 20 million trees, the earth and its people will be provided with 260 million more tons of oxygen. Those same 20 million trees will remove 10 million tons of CO2.

6)   Trees provide shelter and food for wildlife such as birds, squirrels, and bugs. Groves of trees provide food and cover for larger mammals, such as raccoons and deer.

7)   Trees make people feel good. Workers are more productive when they see trees along their commute routes and from their office windows.

8)   Hospital patients who have a view of trees heal faster, use fewer pain medications, and leave the hospital sooner than patients with a view of a brick wall. Patients with a view of trees spend 8 percent fewer days in the hospital.

9)   Consumers are willing to spend more money in shopping districts with trees.  They are willing to pay more for products purchased in a shopping district with trees.  Those same shoppers also say they are willing to stay longer and rate the products and stores as higher quality in a shopping district with the trees.

10) Trees in the landscape relax us, lower heart rates, and reduce stress.

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