By Bisola Adeyemo with agency reports
The best way to inspire a love for nature is to start teaching it at a young age by having kids learn every aspect of tree planting and care.
As a parent who understands what trees do for all, probably also understand the importance of trees for kids. You have a healthy respect for Mother Nature to impact on children as they grow up.
Teaching kids about trees is a step in an Earth-friendly direction.
Children are passionate and often highly knowledgeable, they care for the planet if they get involved in Nature and the process of tree-planting activities
The benefits a child gets from planting a tree as they grow connect them to the environment and lead to an increase in environmental awareness and care.
Planting a tree is often a child’s first act of volunteering for their community which provides fun outdoor learning and helps impact knowledge about climate change.
Planting trees is one way that can protect the environment to get cleaner and fresher air and make the surroundings pleasing to the eye. It is crucial to educate children about the significance of planting trees in a more approaching way that could bring the lessons or activities to their level.
Children should have the knowledge that trees combat climate change by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and improve air quality by absorbing a range of gases and filtering particulates from the air; they prevent soil erosion, especially around river banks. They reduce the risk of flooding and produce oxygen.
Other benefits of planting trees.
1. Trees save water: There are vessels within trees that conduct and store some amount of water. While the conduction of water within these vessels is mainly for the nourishment of the tree, significant proportions of water are left unused by the tree’s cells. Therefore, trees could be seen as stores of useful water.
2: Trees provide food: Trees are a major source of food and fruits on Earth. They provide oranges, apples, pineapples, and other nutritious fruits.
3: Trees combat erosion: The root of various trees known on Earth reduces erosion by holding on to the soil particles. Also, during rainfall, they cause water to flow down their trunk rather than just running off the soil surface. Therefore, trees reduce the amount of soil that runs off with water and preserve soil integrity. This eventually strengthens the soil structure and makes the landform intact and undisturbed.
4: Trees help people to stay healthy: According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), trees remove about 53 tons of Carbon dioxide (contained mostly in the gas we exhale) and 430 pounds of air pollutants (harmful car exhaust, industrial gases, chemicals released by burning synthetic materials e.g rubber).
5: Trees provide wood for building: Since shelter is a basic necessity of every man, trees play a major part in helping man to establish an appropriate shelter for himself. They are used as a basic structure in roofing and casting processes during the construction of buildings or houses.
6: Trees provide shelter for insects, birds, and other animals: Many insects, birds, lizards as well as other animals live entirely in trees. A typical example of an animal that breeds and nests in trees are a bird. Other animals include squirrels and deer mice (which store food in trees); insects include ants and termites; trees and frog beetles (which live under a snag’s bark) as well as Chickadees which nest in cavities created by woodpeckers.
7: They give useful products: As part of their normal metabolic processes, trees (like other normal plants) give products (which to them are metabolic wastes). A significant proportion of this product is useful. A typical example of such includes the sap of trees which is very good food for insects.
8: They combat climate change: Trees are very friendly to the environment. They reduce the impact of the various harmful chemicals (usual gases) released on earth on the various protective structures in the Earth’s atmosphere. Excess CO2 is absorbed by the leaves of the trees as they respire, while they give off O2 (Oxygen) which is very essential for man’s respiration. Since harmful gases are kept at a minimum in the atmosphere through the activities of these trees, climate change is considerably reduced.
9: Trees conserve energy: Different forms of energy are stored within trees and their products. Such include Chemical energy in the fruit (which functions in nurturing our body on consumption), Potential, and Kinetic energy amongst many other forms of energy. In addition, they reduce the cost of air conditioning, thereby saving considerable amounts of energy.
