The article by Benji Jones, which is called “The surprising downsides to planting trillions of trees” connects to the outrageous situation happening in daily life. The article describes the issue of many trees being planted in the wrong conditions – not enough rain, wrong season, or an environment where animals eat saplings. People think that if they just continue to plant more trees, then global warming can be stopped. The reason people think this is because trees reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. However, humans don’t consider the conditions that trees need to survive – enough sunlight, rainfall, nutrients, etc. Also, conserving trees which are already grown is helpful for the environment. Yet, people fail to do this because they want to cut down the grown trees to make buildings and businesses. There is a store that was built at a nearby city, and there were many huge trees being cut down to make space for the new store. Then after the new store got built, there were little saplings planted to make it look like the business cared about nature. However, it was wrong to cut down the trees which were originally in the land by the store – those grown trees should’ve been conserved.
Many trees get planted without considering the season (or the weather conditions). People don’t think about the scientific aspect of tree growth: Saplings can’t survive in the freezing cold weather, the windy days, or the times when barely any rain falls. Saplings are weak, they’re still in the growing phase. Most saplings are so thin that windy days or no rain (dry days) have the negative effect of destroying the saplings. People wear scarves and hats when it’s cold or windy, yet they don’t think saplings need warmth.
Conserving trees which are already grown is an action that many humans don’t do. Consider the following: Humans remember to drink water to stay hydrated, they also remember to not stay out in the sun too long to avoid their skin from drying up. Humans wear raincoats to protect themselves from heavy rain, and they also remember to eat beneficial nutrients to grow up healthy. It can be seen in daily life that humans really take care of themselves, and they demonstrate a high level of care when it comes to themselves. To build new houses or businesses, humans also cut down trees. Then after cutting down all those trees, people show the desire of planting millions of new ones to decrease carbon dioxide. However, the idea of conserving the trees which are already grown is a concept that many humans haven’t considered. Trees take many years to grow, yet they get cut down in minutes.
People go to the doctor because they care about their own health. Medicine, nutrients, water, and shade – humans love to give themselves the proper lifestyle so they can grow to their maximum potential. Most humans fail to give this high amount of consideration and thoughtfulness when interacting with trees. When growing saplings, there are many solutions to help them be safe when growing: Putting a barrier around saplings to prevent animals from eating them, only planting seeds when the season supports plant growth, and providing enough water to each sapling. Remember, there are also already trees which took many years to grow. The main 2 lessons that should be learned: Conserve the trees which are already grown, and make sure to give new saplings the proper conditions to grow.
Reference cited below:
Jones, Benji. “The surprising downsides to planting trillions of trees.” Vox, 22 Sept. 2021, https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/22679378/tree-planting-forest-restoration-climate-solutions.