Let's plant more trees

Small Douglas fir trees now have so much bright green on the end of their branches those look like big pompoms –tree cheerleaders.

The tall firs have those green tips all the way up the tree. What is marvelous is these trees, through the magic of photosynthesis separate the C02 (which encourages global warming) into carbon -C - banked as all those green tips– and oxygen - O2. A single tree can absorb a ton of CO2. Let’s plant more trees!

If we could shade more of our rooftops and roads, perhaps the water runoff to our streams won’t contribute so much to the warming of the oceans. Maybe more trees could be grown in medians and shoulders of roads and highways– thereby discouraging grass that attracts those unintended four-footed hood ornaments – deer trying to cross roads. A row of trees in the medians where there is space might also help traffic by limiting gawking.

The air above a large tree is cooler than the surrounding area. Imagine how much difference the shade makes! If 4 adjoining backyards could add one tall tree each, could that little grove make a difference in cooling that neighborhood? This also impacts property value, and bird habitat. It takes a while to grow tall trees. Where space allows, let’s plant them now.

We can’t reforest all of Washington, where tall trees grow easily, but we could tuck in more trees than we have now. Let’s plant trees!

This story was originally published May 4, 2016 at 8:33 AM with the headline "Let's plant more trees."