Architect Frank Lloyd Wright, widely known for designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, said
"The best friend on earth of man is the tree." And rightly so, no other living thing provides as many priceless services to mankind.
Trees provide us with life-saving medicines, for instance quinine from the cinchona tree (once used to treat malaria) and salicylic acid from the white willow (the active compound of our most popular painkiller aspirin). Food and medicines are priceless gifts that trees and forests generously give us. But the services trees and forests provide - often referred to as ecosystem services - are far more significant.
To know more about these services, read on..
Trees improve the quality of air we breathe by absorbing dust and other air pollutants such as ozone, carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide from the atmosphere. They control noise pollution by absorbing and blocking noise from the urban environment. They absorb toxic chemicals from the soil and also fight soil erosion by keeping the soil intact with their roots. In places where webs of tree roots bind the soil and a canopy of leaves breaks downpours of rain into gentle showers rain percolates through the soil into underground aquifers and feeds streams and rivers. By protecting watersheds which feed our rivers, forests conserve fresh water life forms on land depend. the water on which all
Trees provide us shade during summer - especially on roads - and shelter birds, bees, butterflies and many insects and animals. Home to up to 90% of known terrestrial species, forests are the most important repositories of terrestrial biological biodiversity.
From the smallest insect to the largest animal on the planet- all forms of life require oxygen to live. By providing oxygen-rich air, which is indispensable for life, trees help life on earth to continue.
Like human beings, trees too grow, make their food, exchange gases from the atmosphere and require water. And like us, they also need care to live and flourish, In return of the kindness they show to us and the invaluable services they provide us, let us care for them... let us help them live.
1 comment:
Impressive Article!
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