Trees. Gorgeous and calming, providing homes for birds and other life, they also help clean the air of carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. And, if planted in a city or in your backyard, will cool during the summer and warm in the winter.
So here’s a brief list of tips to consider about helping save the planet with trees. I’ve been putting them together for the Earth Hero app (Version 2 with actions coming soon.), and thought I would share them with you here as well. Because I love trees and the life they harbor.

Tips (see references at the end):
–Deciduous trees planted where they will shade your house in the summer can cool your house by as much as 35%, says the Arbor Day foundation, thus requiring less electricity to cool your house – and less emissions.
–Plan how your plant your trees – if you’re lucky, you can shade your air-conditioning unit, which goes a long way to saving on your electric bill. See the Arbor Day website (below) for how to plan your landscape.
–If in the north (or very south) of the planet, you can also plant trees for winter warmth – conifers especially can block cold wind but, if planted a bit away from the house, can leave the sunshine radiating onto your house to warm it. Deciduous trees can be planted closer to your house as they will lose their leaves during winter and let the sun through.
–Planting trees 8-20 feet from your house (depending on the size of the tree) keeps roots from ruining your foundation.
–Consider planting a fruit tree to provide further carbon benefit – in a tasty form, but keep it back from your house to keep pests from being interested in building a shelter nearby.
–Volunteer to plant a tree (how about trees, plural?) in your community. There are often community or national organizations that arrange tree-planting days. It’s a great way to get to know like-minded people.
–Large trees can absorb up to 48 pounds of carbon dioxide a year, and they live for decades, so it adds up!
–Tree roots help control erosion.
–Finally, we’ve heard about the urban heat island effect. Trees and other green infrastructure markedly reduce the higher temperatures in a city that result from the sun radiating onto the concrete buildings and tar roads. Temperatures can be reduced by 2-15 degrees Celsius.
–Do some research online and see if your city or community provides trees at low cost for planting – they have often already determined which trees work best in your neighborhood. And, if not, they may provide other incentives.
–The presence, or lack thereof, of trees in a city also can be a climate justice issue, as wealthier neighborhoods tend to plant and maintain a lot of trees, whereas poor neighborhoods don’t have those upfront resources, and instead individuals have to pay higher utility costs or endure higher heat.
So volunteer – plant a tree(s)! Or volunteer to help your city in tree-planning and other similar activities.
Sources:
- https://www.arborday.org/trees/climatechange/summershade.cfm;
- https://homeguides.sfgate.com/close-house-can-plant-tree-96222.html;
- https://extension2.missouri.edu/g6900;
- https://projects.ncsu.edu/project/treesofstrength/treefact.htm;
- https://www.npr.org/2019/09/04/755349748/trees-are-key-to-fighting-urban-heat-but-cities-keep-losing-them
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S221067071630066X;
- https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/full/10.1175/JAMC-D-11-0228.1

-Carpools have lost popularity.
-Some more electrical uses can be put on a timer.
-Some areas (not all) could develop a service like they had in the 50’s with milk. Similar to the water services. Also, does the water have to come in those big plastic containers.
-There are cars trashing areas, kind of everywhere. Maybe the corporations could make a deal with the owners to handle that.
-I know I’m a bit biased on this one but if people could accept others differences alot more people would be able to work without getting in trouble for making grown men cry. 🙄
Anyway…..
-More community gardens can be a thing, with fruit trees.
-Stop coming out with brand new equipment/cords for the same devices. And some of those devices could also be turned back into the company, instead of trashing places.
-Any recreation type craft made out of plastics has to last the owner a certain amount of time before getting more. Actually, alot of stuff could be given that condition.
-Left over paints can be taken to the recycling center for others to possibly use so it’s not wasted or poured out (some areas already offer this).
– Repurpose tires and things into walls, in some areas. So, they’re not being burned or discarded in a wrong way.
– Encourage the kids to craft and repurpose now so they’ll be alot better at it when they’re older.
– Every phone should be bought back by the company, no matter how broken. They need to start getting penalized for making things so fragile.
– Scientists could maybe donate an hour or 3 to educate people on their specialties. Just visiting schools every so often isn’t working.
– Also, you genius’s at NASA. Stop shooting crap in the sky, it keeps breaking down and there’s too much junk up there to begin with. If you could figure out how to bring that stuff back….. that’ll be great 😉
– Stop making/ buying plastic clothes
– No more tvs. I mean, are they really still ‘needed’. You can usually do everything on a computer now.
Not saying there aren’t potential problems with any of these. I was just able to copy and paste my ideas from a Tedtalk thread (that I shared a month ago). Somebody ‘called me out’ for not having any ideas 😉
Does anybody else have any?