There are many things you can do to mitigate your impact on the environment and climate change: cycling to work, consuming less, avoiding airplanes, sharing car rides, removing meat from the diet, saving electricity, recycling, buying organic produce etc. The list goes on. In my last blog I wrote about the departure of the Brazilian ministry of environment, which was considered by the international community a dangerous blow to the preservation of the Amazon, currently being destroyed by cattle ranchers and soya plantations (soya to feed farm animals, that is).
The Amazon basin is home to one in 10 of the world’s mammals and 15 per cent of its land-based plant species. It holds more than half of the world’s fresh water and its vast forests act as the largest carbon sink on the planet, providing a vital check on the greenhouse effect. We desperately need it and we must put pressure on our governments to take action.
Meanwhile, you can also support a Thailand-based organization called Plant a Tree Today, whose portfolio includes projects in several parts of the world. These may be for the purpose of forest restoration, community forestry to provide sustainable development, urban forestry for carbon sequestration, aesthetics and shading, and research projects for education purposes. The organizations says “trees are green machines that act as natural filters of our air. Through the process of photosynthesis they absorb carbon dioxide (a key GHG and principle contributor to global warming) from the atmosphere and store it in their trunk, branches, leaves, roots, soil and foliage, while releasing oxygen back out.”
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation stated in 2006 that global carbon retention resulting from reduced deforestation, increased forest regrowth and more agro-forestry and plantations could make up for about 15% of carbon emissions from fossil fuels over the next 50 years.
So there you go, here’s another suggestion on how to reduce your carbon footprint. And of course, if you have the space, you can always plant trees in your garden, in your community and all over town with the help of the local administration. Besides all the environmental benefits, trees look gorgeous and make the urban landscape much more pleasant.
