It’s Earth day. I think it is appropriate that (here , at least) Earth Day comes just as Spring is really getting her groove on and the leaves are unfurling in triumphant little explosions and the first flowers are warming their faces in the sun. There is more daylight each day; there is hope and high expectations for the warm months ahead.

We are marking the day in several ways. The first is a renewed commitment to Being the Solution (hence this blog). We are re-examining the amount and kinds of waste we produce and looking for better strategies in our yard. We are trying to seriously face the reality that we need to do something about our car.

The second thing we’ve done is plant a tree.
I was thinking about this - it is so automatic. Plant a tree. Plant a tree in memory of a loved one and to commemorate the birth of a child. Plant a tree to beautify a city neighbourhood and to create habitat for wildlife. Plant a tree to reduce soil erosion and to mitigate the destruction of clear cutting. And now, plant a tree to offset your carbon output.

I’ve been poking around on-line and working from memory (what little there is of mine left) and have come up with this list of some of the tangible benefits of (sub)urban trees:

• Wildlife habitat. Shelter, nesting and food for critters.
• Noise abatement. Like that omnipresent traffic noise. Or my neighbour’s pool pump.
• Reduced air temperature, which in turn can cause a reduction in the emission of certain temperature-dependent pollutants, and reduces water evaporation from the soil.
• Reduced erosion and runoff … which protect our soil and water.
• By offering shade and wind break, carefully placed trees can reduce heating and air conditioning requirements in buildings (by 30%!), which in turn reduces the amount of pollution from energy production and saves you money.
• Beauty. Trees are beautiful. Beautiful things are good for us.
• Air pollution removal: certain gaseous pollutants are absorbed by trees. Trees also lower particulate loads by intercepting (but not destroying) airborne particles.

Relatively new, is the idea of planting trees to offset the carbon pollution produced by one’s lifestyle. Basically, you calculate how much pollution you produce, divide that by how much pollution a single tree can absorb and voila! You know how many trees you have to plant (or have planted for you) in order for you to live guilt free.
Or does it really work that way? It depends who you ask, it seems. In a nutshell, this is the issue: Yes, trees reduce atmospheric pollution. Yes, more trees is a good thing. However, planting trees to offset lifestyle doesn’t address the need to consume less across the board. How much carbon we spew into the atmosphere matters a whole lot, but the picture is bigger than that and people worry about the message this sends. In the end, it’s better than nothing, but alone, it isn’t enough.

We didn’t plant a zillion trees. We planted one. We have plans for more, but I can only get one tree home from the nursery at a time, so one it was for now. The main benefit we’ll get from this tree is shade. It is on the side of our house that gets sun from about noon to sunset, making it too hot in summer to sit in the living room or out on the porch. Since the thermostat is in the living room, the AC can go a little over the top when the sun is beating in those windows. In winter, without leaves, it’ll allow the meagre sun in, offering some warmth and maybe enough incentive for us to make it to Spring. It will also provide some shade to the garden out there. It is too hot for most things in that garden and it needs a lot of water. I chose a kind of tree that doesn’t live a long time (a birch - one of my favourites!) because the street is lined with trees and by the time this one has run it’s course, the other trees will be big enough to take over the job, and some of that garden space can be reclaimed. I love birch trees for their colouring (white bark - seriously, that’s cool) and because they are one of the first trees to get leaves in the Spring (this is an important mental health concern way up here where the Winters are so long). But mostly I love them because their leaves make a wonderful rustling sound in the slightest breeze (that would be your noise abatement right there) and when they twist in the wind, they flash green and silver, green and silver.

So, soon we’ll be able to use the living room in Summer and my garden will be much happier. And I’ll sit on the porch listening to the rustle of the leaves and watching them twist green and silver, green and silver. Of course, right now, it is a spindly thing with very few leaves and it isn’t offering much shade at all, but that will change and it’s worth waiting for :)

“The planting of trees is the least self-centered of all that we can do. It is a purer act of faith than the procreation of children.” - Thornton Wilder

Additional sources:

http://www.epa.gov/hiri/strategies/level3_vegairquality.html
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/environment/2007-05-27-trees-suv_N.htm
http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/envirohort/426-702/426-702.html
http://www.fs.fed.us/ne/syracuse/gif/trees.pdf

Visit Carbonify.com to estimate how many trees you’d have to plant to offset your lifestyle.