Trees are among my first memories. We lived next to a pasture when I was six. I remember “skinning a cat” down limber pines that seemed gigantic. We never broke or even bent one. I’m sure I could’ve reached the top with a stepladder in actuality.
Later we moved into a brand new Jim Walter home across the highway. We had trees in the front yard, a backyard forest, and nothing but woods across the street. It was like Tarzan’s jungle.
Two years later we moved deep into the River Bend community to property my father was born on. He showed me land grants for distant relatives signed by President James Buchanon. Eighty acres of Heaven was ours for a year before we moved away again.
I’d like to credit the old Cox home place for my love of trees, but I can’t. Anyone who’s ever stepped under the shade of a giant oak in an Alabama August felt the spring wind rustling through limbs on monstrous elms. Those who’ve traveled somewhere better while staring at fall leaf colors while leaning against an ancient cedar while listening to a murmuring creek also loves trees—passionately. And we rarely consider what else they do for us.
Trees turn CO2 into oxygen, cool any surrounding area, create homes for entire ecosystems, and medicate anyone willing to just stop and stare. Tree networks form forests and actually communicate not only with other trees but with the entire surrounding space. And we are razing millions of them for money with no thought of replacing a single one.
Sadly, humans began abusing trees as soon as we quit using them for protection. When we climbed down from them, they became unnecessary for our safety, so we chopped them down. They formed shelters when caves weren’t available, fuel when we discovered fire, and clear cut debris so all the scary animals in the woods could be seen from far away.
Recently, scientists have begun documenting how important trees, and especially forests, are to this planet. Yet they continue disappearing at an alarming rate. And no one is stopping this. Money is too important. There are legitimate ways to reduce tree removal, but it cuts into profit margin—Oh well.
As summer settled into the Midlands, while driving home one afternoon, I noticed a large pile of bulldozed trees. There were literally hundreds. Every time I passed the area the pile grew. Construction is going on. I still don’t know what they’re building, but they aren’t thinking about how important trees are. If someone were to replace each one tomorrow, it would be four generations before anyone could enjoy their presence again.
There are folks doing something to reverse this. Trees are being given away to anyone willing to plant them in his or her yard and protect them. A group called Smart Surfaces is showing a growing number of communities how dangerous bare, naked concrete is for our health. And the group is showing us simple, effective ways to reverse that.
But Smart Surfaces and similar groups need funding, and the federal government thinks paying for Jeff Bezos’s wedding is more important than replacing trees.
And billionaires get more people elected than tree huggers.
NOTE: Two charitable organizations are willing to help. For more information, visit smartsurfacescoalition.org or columbiagreen.org.
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