It’s time to start cleaning the air with trees. One of the best ways to improve the environment is to work on restoring it. Mankind has done much to harm the air we breathe. With toxic emissions, factory runoff, and pollution that is worse than we’ve ever seen it, it’s fair to say that we’ve put mother Earth through the wringer.
But perhaps one of the worst things we’ve done is to strip the planet of its natural air purifier.
The more forests that fall, the worse things will be.
Today we look at how to clean the air with trees.
How Trees Improve the Environment
Trees Improve Temperature
Your average tree will lower the temperature of its direct environment by around two degrees. This microclimate may go unnoticed to the unobservant human, but the surrounding air quality will be impacted.
Why? Air pollutants thrive under high temperatures. If you want to mitigate the risk of poor air quality, a nice tree is one easy way to get the job done.
Carbon Filters
Carbon emissions are one of the primary factors currently rotting out the atmosphere. These can happen in a wide variety of ways, but are most prominently the result of manmade factors.
Trees naturally sequester and mitigate carbon emissions, making them a natural way to clean the atmosphere. One acre of densely planted trees are able to absorb about two tons of carbon a year.
Reduce Energy Use
Trees are also able to reduce energy use by virtue of the microclimates they produce. In the same way that a tree will lower the temperature of a yard that it is in, it can also reduce the temperature of a building.
For one thing, large trees offer a buffer between the sun and a building, thus helping to naturally maintain natural temperatures. The effect of trees on air quality in this instance is due to the fact that energy factories responsible for heating and cooling do not need to work as hard.
However, the use of trees for controlling building temperature is something of a catch-22. For instance, a tree placed too close to a building will be able to reduce energy use in the summer, but it may actually increase it in the winter as the building will have a harder time storing heat.
The solution is to be strategic about tree placement. A well-situated tree in a parking lot can have a similar cooling effect without increasing power use in the winter. As an added bonus, it will also mitigate carbon emissions from incoming and outgoing cars.
Conclusion
Cleaning the air with trees is one of the best and most sustainable ways to mitigate climate change, offset carbon emissions, and improve the overall sustainability of our planet. Every tree counts so start on the home front and branch outwards.
References:
Air What trees got to do with it? Retrieved From: http://www.ecology.com/2011/09/02/air-and-trees/
Trees Improve our Air Quality Retrieved From: http://urbanforestrynetwork.org/benefits/air%20quality.htm
Nowak, David THE EFFECTS OF URBAN TREES ON AIR QUALITY Retrieved From https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/units/urban/local-resources/downloads/Tree_Air_Qual.pdf
