Save Trees

Trees clean the air, soil and water, making the earth a livable place. They are so integral to human well being that just living close to trees makes us healthier and happier. If you want to save trees, you can help by protecting those that grow in your own neighborhood, and planting more when you see trees cut down. Consuming fewer paper products is important, too. If you’re truly passionate about saving trees, consider getting involved in an organization working to save the world’s remaining forests.

Steps

Saving Trees Where You Live

  1. Learn how trees affect your home. Aside from desert regions, most areas benefit from having plenty of large, shady trees in every neighborhood. They improve air quality, reduce erosion and absorb noise. Big trees protect cities from getting too hot by cooling the environment through shade and evaporation.[1] Without trees, urban areas experience what's called a heat island effect, with streets and buildings retaining heat and forcing people to use extra power to cool their homes. No matter where you live, you can start helping your town right away by saving trees.
    • As a general rule, large, mature trees (like oak or maple) provide more benefits than small, young trees. That's why it's important to save as many older trees as possible.[2]
    • Learning about proper tree maintenance will help you become a better advocate for trees. There's a right way and a wrong way to prune trees and take care of them over the years, and if you know the difference you can educate people around you.
  2. Find out about local ordinances regarding tree protection. Every town and city has laws dictating which tree species need to be protected and when and how it's OK to cut down trees. In some areas, trees that are delicate, rare or extremely beneficial are protected by law. Knowing the laws in your area will help you be a better advocate for the trees there.[2]
    • Check https://www.municode.com/library to see which local municipal codes apply to the trees in your area.
    • Get in touch with the city department in charge of tree removal. The department is usually called urban or community forestry. See if they have information on policies they use to determine which trees to cut down.[3]
  3. Get involved when you see a tree coming down. As you become more aware of the specific trees that are beneficial in your area, start noticing when you see them being pruned or cut down. Whether the tree in question is on public or private property, there may be something you can do to save it. Pay special attention to the large, shady trees in your area, since they provide the most benefits and should be preserved if at all possible.
    • When you see a tree getting cut down, the first thing to do is talk to the person removing the tree and find out why they are removing it. Sometimes trees are damaged or diseased, so they legitimately need to be cut down. In other cases they get cut down simply for aesthetic reasons.
    • Do research to find out if the tree is being cut down legally. Some species are protected even if they're on private property. If you're concerned that the tree should be preserved, it's time to take action.
  4. Do what you can to save the tree. Speak up to save the tree, rather than just letting it get cut down. Get together with other people who care about saving trees in your area and make it clear that you object to cutting down healthy trees. Even if there's no law against cutting down the tree, if enough people think trees are important and need to be protected, you might be able to create change. Even if it's too late for this particular tree, you'll set a precedent for next time. Here are a few things you can do:
    • Write a letter of objection to your city forester or city council member.
    • Start a petition to change policies or protect certain trees. Rally neighbors to get involved in saving the neighborhood trees.
    • Get the media involved by sending a letter to the editor or contacting a local TV station.
  5. Participate in planting days. As important as it is to protect mature trees, it's also essential to think ahead and plant new trees that will eventually get tall enough to contribute to the canopy, clean the air and help keep temperatures cool. Many towns and cities have organizations like Portland, Oregon's Friends of Trees[4] working to plant trees in areas that have too few. If your town or city doesn't have a similar organization, why not start one yourself? Tree by tree, you can make a difference.
    • The type of tree you plant matters. Talk with an arborist about which species are native to your area and will eventually get big enough to clean the air and water. Small, ornamental trees won't contribute much.
    • Buying trees can get expensive. See if there's a nursery nearby that shares your views on trees and could give your group a discount on baby trees.

Changing Your Consumption Habits

  1. Stop using paper towels, napkins and tissues. Reducing your use of paper products in order to save trees can seem abstract, since you never see the trees that get turned into items like paper towels and napkins. But it's important to start seeing the connection between the trees you love and the products you use, since somewhere trees where cut down, processed into pulp, bleached and pressed into the shape of tissues you can use to blow your nose on. If you're passionate about saving trees, look for ways to use fewer paper products in your daily life.[5]
    • Use cloth towels instead of paper towels. It's a simple change that can reduce a lot of unnecessary waste.
    • Use cloth napkins instead of paper napkins. They're more elegant, anyway.
    • Use handkerchiefs instead of tissues. It might take some getting used to, but handkerchiefs are actually softer on your skin than tissues, so you might like them better.
    • Use reusable containers instead of paper lunch bags.
    • If you must use a paper product, always buy the recycled version. At least you'll know it's not made from virgin pulp.
  2. Buy recycled toilet paper. Going completely toilet paper free is not in the cards for most people, since it would require a significant lifestyle change. However, just making the choice to buy recycled toilet paper, even though it costs a few cents more, can make a difference. Here are a few other things you can do to cut back on toilet paper use:
    • Use only as much as you need, rather than using whirls of toilet paper each time you use the bathroom.
    • If you're really hardcore, consider using a bidet or washing rather than using toilet paper.
    • Some people have even made the switch to using cloth toilet paper.[6]
  3. Buy a reusable coffee mug. If you're a daily coffee drinker, and every morning you buy your latte in a disposable cardboard cup (usually with a disposable cardboard sleeve) there's a more tree-friendly system you can start using. Get a plastic or ceramic reusable coffee container and start bringing it with you each morning. As a bonus, most coffee shops offer a slight discount when you bring in your own container.
  4. Choose the paperless options for bills. This simple switch will make your life less cluttered and reduce the number of dead trees on your conscience. If you still get paper bills sent to your house, go online and make the switch to the paperless option. You can opt to receive notifications that a bill is due via email, rather than having to check the mail.
  5. Buy sustainable sourced wood products. If you're in the market for new furniture or building materials, think twice before buying lumber at your local big box home improvement store. Take the time to track down wood products that have the Forest Stewardship Alliance seal, which indicates that they were sourced in a sustainable way with minimal impact on the forest.[7]
    • If you're buying furniture, another option is to buy antique furniture instead of brand new wooden furniture. Antique furniture is often made with strong, durable wood that will last many years, so it's a good investment.
  6. Eat less beef. The production of meat in general requires tons of resources. Factory farms need space, water and food for animals they raise for food. Beef products are particularly hard on trees, since Amazonian rain forests are being cut down to make way for cattle ranches.[8]
    • Avoid ordering beef in restaurants if you don't know where it came from. When you do eat beef, buy it from a local farmer or a source you know and trust.

Defending Earth’s Remaining Forests

  1. Learn about the state of forests. Forests in Brazil, Russia, Canada and other parts of the world are being cut down or burned by forest fires every day. 78 million acres of rainforest are lost every single year.[9] Scientists posit that if forest destruction continues at this rate, 80 to 90 percent of rain forests will by gone by 2020. Since forests play an essential part in keeping our planet healthy, stopping their destruction can't happen soon enough.
    • Most forests are destroyed to provide space for agriculture or developments, to provide wood for paper products, or by forest fires that have increased in severity since the advent of global warming.
    • Saving forests must be a global effort, but there are things you can do to contribute, even if you live nowhere near a rain forest.[10]
  2. Share your love for trees and forests with other people. Showing those in your life that you care about trees is a good way to help other people start taking action, too. Many people simply don't realize how important old growth forests are to the health of the planet, including its human population. The more people who understand and care, the more likely destructive practices will be brought to a halt.[8]
    • Spread the word on social media. When you see a story related to the state of the earth's forest, share what you think about it and encourage others to comment.
    • Show that standing up for trees is something you believe in. Since saving trees will require a change in lifestyle, some people oppose the idea. By making it clear that saving trees is something you believe is valuable, you'll be acting as a role model to others.
  3. Donate to a nonprofit working to protect forests. There are many nonprofits dedicated to saving forests across the world, and they are all in need of donations. Find one you trust and consider making a donation.
    • For example, Greenpeace is working to stop deforestation. It has projects around the world aimed at saving forests that are under threat.[11]
    • The Rain forest Action Network aims to educate people and help everyone find a way to play a part in saving forests.[12]
  4. Join a group working to save trees. Changing your consumption habits and helping local trees are both admirable ways to make a difference, but if saving trees and forests is something you're passionate about, you might be looking for a way to do more. Volunteering or working with a nonprofit working on this vital issue is a hands-on way to take action.
    • You can start by looking at http://arbordaynow.volunteermatch.org/ to find a group in your area where you can volunteer your time. Volunteering with a local group geared toward saving trees is a good way to get familiar with the issues surrounding deforestation.[8]
    • The desire to save trees has inspired heartfelt activism around the world for decades. Look into groups using creative ways to save trees and protest the destruction of forests, like by tree-sitting and blocking logging equipment. Learn as much as you can about what has been done to save trees, and decide how you can contribute.[13]

Tips

  • Use scrap paper whenever you can. When writing down phone messages, instead of writing them on a new sheet, pull out a piece of scrap paper from the recycling (provided it's not stained or dirty).

Related wiki Hows


Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.epa.gov/heatisland/mitigation/trees.htm
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 http://actrees.org/resources/local-resources/save-a-tree/
  3. ↑ http://actrees.org/resources/local-resources/whos-who-in-your-state/
  4. ↑ http://www.friendsoftrees.org/
  5. ↑ http://www.ecology.com/2011/09/10/paper-chase
  6. ↑ http://www.revivedkitchen.com/2013/06/no-more-toilet-paper-switching-to-cloth/
  7. ↑ https://us.fsc.org/
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 http://www.earthfuture.com/earth/10ways_forests.asp
  9. ↑ http://www.thinkglobalgreen.org/deforestation.html
  10. ↑ http://www.earth-policy.org/indicators/C56
  11. ↑ http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/forests/
  12. ↑ http://www.ran.org/
  13. ↑ http://wford1nonviolence.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/andrea-bowers-nonviolent-civil-disobedience-training-tree-sitting-forest-defense-2009/

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