Hugged a tree lately?

Trees Are the Lungs of Our Planet

Have you heard about the amazingly ambitious goal of The Nature Conservancy to plant a BILLON trees and restore the forest of the world? From the rainforests in South America to China and even in the Arctic Circle, this hardy group of tree huggers is doing their darndest to recreate the woodlands and rainforests everywhere they can.  I urge you to look at the map to see how far they are getting; it is impressive and gives me so much hope about our future.

I grew up in a deeply forested state, West Virginia and was taught from a child to know and love trees. When I visited last time and drove all around to see relatives in far flung counties, I noticed huge swaths of brown amongst the green and asked what the heck was going on that seemed to be killing trees. That is how I learned about “acid rain,” an unfortunate by-product of coalmining, logging and too many chemical plants. On our 300-acre farm, no trees are cut, only planted so we are doing our part. In the settled of the great prairies and western states, trees were felled to “clean the land.” That is, in part, being rectified by a special effort to protect trees in the “last frontier.” Check out www.americanforest.org to see how you can help. Oh, and start in your own yard. Got room for a couple of trees? Start digging and planting and know you will enjoy years of beauty and leave behind a legacy for generations to come from your own efforts.

With each passing day, as I read in news about 2014 being the hottest year in recorded history, I feel it is incumbent upon each and every one of us to do everything we can to cool down, slow down and give back to the planet.