Why Plant Trees? / JUST ONE Tree

Trees are carbon sinks, absorbing the pollutants we humans put into the atmosphere.
They clean the air we breathe, filter the water we drink, prevent soil erosion and flooding, give life to the world's wildlife, house complex ecosystems, supply us with medicine and provide jobs to over 1.6 billion people.
They really are the superheroes of the planet and we need them in order to survive.

AIR

Trees are referred to as the lungs of the planet and for good reason. They filter our air, removing harmful pollutants such as carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. In return, they replenish the atmosphere with oxygen for
us to breathe.
A mature tree can produce enough oxygen in a season for ten people to inhale in a year.

WATER

Trees catch rainwater with their leaves, allowing the water to trickle down the trunk into the earth below where their roots absorb the pollutants. This slows down the water's absorption into the ground, which in turn prevents over saturation, flooding and prevents stormwaters from carrying pollutants into the ocean.
One Colorado Blue Spruce can
capture over 1000 gallons of water per year when fully grown.

LAND

Trees absorb dangerous chemicals and harmful pollutants that have entered the soil and either store them or turn them into less harmful forms.

Far reaching roots hold the soil
in place binding it together and preventing soil erosion.
Mangrove estuaries prevent
the coastline simply washing
away into the sea.

CLIMATE

Trees are big climate regulators
on a global scale.
They lock greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, into their structure removing them from the atmosphere and slowing down Global Warming.
They control climate by absorbing and filtering the sun's radiant energy, reducing wind speeds and cooling the air as they lose moisture.
It's estimated that trees can reduce the temperature in cities by up to
7 degrees Celsius.

BIODIVERSITY

Hundreds of living creatures call trees their home and each tree plays host to complex microhabitats.

In fact, one single tree in a tropical rainforest can house up to 2000 species of insects, birds, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, fungi, mosses
and epiphytic plants.

SOCIAL IMPACT

1.6 billion people earn their living from working with trees. But the social impact goes much further than this - the trees themselves supply timber for construction, fuel for heating and cooking, soil enrichment for farming and produce food that feeds both
humans and animals alike.

BUT IT'S NOT ALL ABOUT PLANTING TREES,

IT'S ALSO ABOUT THE PEOPLE.

Another incredible aspect of the reforestation process is the ability
to improve the lives of those living in challenging conditions.
We are so lucky to be able to help two major causes with one simple act.

The communities which we support face a variety of serious issues, including extreme poverty, reduced crop yield, water issues, climate change, resource depletion and ever changing weather patterns.

These struggling families often have no choice
except to turn to the local environment in order to feed themselves.

They chop down trees to grow crops on the land or for charcoal production - which is then sold
on the side of the road.
This creates a short term solution but sadly a long term problem.

Without the trees, the nutrients are removed from the soil, the water tables deplete, the soil erodes, the wildlife disappears and the landscape changes, until the land is no longer productive and turns into desert.

Through planting trees we're able to help provide training, agricultural education and sustainable incomes to these families whilst they plant, grow and protect the trees.

Most importantly we enable the community members to lift themselves out of poverty.

PLANT A TREE