10 reasons why we should thank the trees
Updated: Nov 19, 2020
Trees are our silent partners on this planet earth. They stand tall, watch over us and ask us for nothing more than our breath. Here are some amazing gifts that the trees have given us, and why we need to send them gratitude.
1) Housing. Most of the houses today are built of wood, a sturdy and mendable material that we can use.
2) Fire. It's by rubbing two sticks that just about everyone learned how to make fire. Here in Hawaii, we use the Hau tree that lives near stream beds.
3) Fruit. Breadfruit, apples, bananas, papayas, oranges, lemons, limes, mangoes, avocados and jackfruit to name just a few. They all come as heavenly gifts from branches.
4) Aspirin. Did you know that the original aspirin came from a willow tree? Doctors used to extract the acetylsalicylic acid from the willow bark to reduce fever and pain.
5) Shade. No other better shade structure exists than trees.
6) Playground. Speaking from personal experience, my favorite outdoor activity was climbing trees as high as I can and seeing the view from above.
7) Oxygen. They breath in what we breathe out, and we breathe in what they breathe out. What an amazing symbiotic relationship we have with the trees. Have you ever thought how happy a tree might be to have a human standing next to it?
8) Carbon storage. Trees are one of the solutions for climate change. They convert the carbon dioxide in the air into organic matter to be stored in the ground.
9) Rain. One major principle of permaculture is to utilize the resources as efficiently as possible. That means water coming down from the sky should go through at least three cycles of being a cloud before it goes back into the ocean. Trees can pick up moisture from the air (like our Koa trees) and from the ground, give it back into the air and create clouds once again. There is an old saying that you need to plant trees to bring the rain.
9) Canoes. The ancient Polynesians used to cross thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean in canoes dug out of trees. What a feat, only made possible by non other than our patient tree.
10) Multiplies habitat in the tropics. The earth receives the most amount of sunlight around the equator. In order to efficiently use that energy, life in the tropics is dense and is composed of many layers from the ground up. Trees are the foundational building structure of the ecosystems that exit above ground, allowing all sorts of flora and fauna to flourish and take advantage of the excess energy the earth receives.
Trees love us, we should love them back by visiting them and giving them your special homemade breath.
