By Obiabin Onukwugha
Trees add beauty and create an environment beneficial to our mental health. Besides adding natural character to our cities and towns, trees provide us with colors, flowers, and beautiful shapes, forms and textures, thereby contributing to the aesthetics of the city.
Screens harsh scenery.
When trees are lined up in our streets, highways or roads, they help reduce flooding and improve water quality. Trees intercept rain on their leaf, branch and stem surfaces and by absorbing water through their roots.
Trees can provide shelter for both humans and birds and when planted in our compounds, trees besides adding beauty, provides cool breeze and fresh air. It is therefore a source for recreation.
Besides, trees play an important role in improving air quality by absorbing greenhouses gasses thereby reducing air pollution. Trees release clean oxygen for us to breathe, absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and use it to build their leaves, branches, trunks, roots, and the soil.
Keeping people in cities and communities especially in poorer neighbourhoods healthy is challenging. One simple, effective and scientifically proven prescription for better health is planting more trees.
Tree planting has also been identified as one of the simplest and most effective ways of tackling climate change caused by greenhouse gas. It is said that as trees grow they absorb carbon dioxide (CO2), a major greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. When communities plant trees they can help to reduce the impacts of climate change in their local area and around the world.
Trees can contribute to reducing air pollution which has been linked to a range of human health conditions including bronchitic symptoms, increased risk for glaucoma, heart attacks, changes in vascular function, autism, high blood pressure, cognitive development problems in children, heart failure, and increased mortality.
According to reports, one tree can sequester (or take in) more than one ton of carbon dioxide in its lifetime. It is reported that in the United States alone, urban trees remove an estimated 711,000 metric tons of air pollution every year.
By encouraging our youths to imbibe the spirit of planting trees, we are not only improving our health, we are preserving the environment for future generations.
