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Why are trees important to us?

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Why are trees important to us?

Living in a city like Plymouth you may not think that trees have that much relevance to your everyday life. The fact is that trees in Plymouth and around the world have a massive impact on all our lives.

It is true that trees don’t produce all the oxygen that we need to live but without them we wouldn’t be able to enjoy life like we do today. They do all sorts of other clever things like cleansing the air and soil and act as carbon sinks storing carbon dioxide preventing them from becoming greenhouse gases. Planet Earth wouldn’t be able to sustain the abundance of life and the conditions in which we would exist would be unbearable.

Without the number of trees we presently have there would be all sorts of environmental changes making life on earth a much more unpleasant proposition. There would be vast areas of soil erosion and desert wastelands would cover a greater proportion of the world’s surface. Landslides would be a regular occurrence as the rain would wash away the unstable soil from hillsides and the rootless riverbanks.

Wildlife would suffer as it depends on trees whether it’s for somewhere to live or a source of food. Even a dead tree supports an abundance of insects producing a valuable food stock for birds and other creatures.

To put it simply, we depend on trees for our survival and yet the United Kingdom is one of most sparsely wooded areas in Europe. Woodland in Britain accounts for about 12% of the countryside which is less than a third of the average in other European countries.

Always ready to criticise the destruction of the rainforests around the world however it seems we are as guilty as anyone else in destroying vast areas of our own woodland. On average we all need about 500 square metres of tree covered land to produce the oxygen we need to breathe and yet forget the fact when it comes to building a new road or office block.

Individually, many of us are prepared to cut down a tree or two in the garden to make way for a new garage or extension because we don’t think it’ll make that much difference, but collectively we are rapidly condemning future generations to an environmental catastrophe.

What many people don’t realise is that trees can increase the value of your property in Plymouth by up to 18% so that extension you’re thinking of building could be costing you more than you think. Having a tree near a building can also save you money by acting as a shelter saving up to 10% of your energy costs in trying to heat or cool the building.

Trees also muffle urban noise almost as well as a stone wall. Planting trees strategically at various points in a neighbourhood or around your house, can reduce major noises levels from nearby roads and rail tracks and act as a visual barrier. Without the trees lining the route of the Plymouth Parkway noise from the rush-hour Plymouth traffic would be much more of a nuisance than it already is.
Many buildings in Plymouth benefit from having trees around them on purely aesthetic values. A few trees planted in the grounds can enhance an otherwise unattractive building or site. In fact trees can increase employment and create jobs in Plymouth as they improve the environment and encourage inward investment by businesses looking to relocate.

Trees play such an important role in our lives on several levels and it is up to us all to protect the future of the community by looking after existing trees and planting new ones. One organisation prepared to take on such as job in Plymouth is the Plymouth Tree Partnership. You can find out what they are doing to help our community by looking at our article on them or by visiting their website www.plymouthtrees.org


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