A recent article in USA Today – http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/12/19/americans-global-warming/4127803/ – reported the results of a Stanford University study about opinions on global warming. While we realize this is a departure from our usual blogs about marketing your business, protecting our planet is a subject near and dear to our hearts, and when we see news like the USA Today report, we like to share some thoughts.
At this time of year, Christmas, it was interesting to learn through an anonymous source that each acre of Christmas trees generates enough oxygen to support 18 human beings. Adding to that is the knowledge that there are 350,000 acres of Christmas trees in the United States (they’re grown in every state). If we do the math (350,000 x 18) we realize the Christmas trees grown in the United States alone produce enough oxygen to support 6.3 million (6,300,000) of us earthlings.
How much oxygen does an artificial Christmas tree produce?
Okay, you’ll probably ask: “So why should we cut down a Christmas tree and stop it from creating oxygen?” Because the tree growers plant three (3) trees for every one that’s cut. Paper companies do the same, planting at least two trees for every one they cut down. Yes, it’s their business. If we stop buying “real” Christmas trees, the market collapses and tree growers stop planting more trees.
What’s the point of all this? Each of us … everyone on this planet … can do something NOW to have an impact on global warming. Plant a tree!
Do you have room in your yard for another tree? Plant one! Yes, you may have to rake a few more leaves and mow around it, but there are many other benefits to having more trees than simple lawn maintenance problems.
More than two billion acres of land on this planet lie fallow. That means the land could be used to plant crops but is lying dormant because the government gives farmers incentives to keep the fields out of production. Imagine if we could reverse that mindset and encourage our legislators to provide incentives for planting more trees.
Imagine if just 10% of those two billion acres (200,000,000 x .1 = 200 million acres) were planted with trees that could produce enough oxygen for 18 people. That would generate enough of the element (oxygen) we humans need to exist for 3.6 billion of us earthlings. Make sense?
We’ve been thinking about establishing a non-profit organization to save our planet and encourage the planting of more trees. We avoid accepting comments, but we would like to know how you feel about this topic.
We bring it up at Christmas because what better gift to give than to save our world?
Let’s plant some more trees! Merry Christmas.
