What is a Tree Worth?
What does one tree mean? It may mean a lot more than you think. If you plant one tree 
for Arbor Day then:
- One LARGE tree absorbs 10 lbs of air pollutants, including 4 lbs of ozone and 3 lbs of particulates.
- Intake of NOx by the tree is equivalent to NOx emitted by a typical car driven 3,600 miles.
- In one year the average tree inhales 26 pounds of carbon dioxide, the amount emitted by a car on an 11,000 mile trip.
- This same tree will in turn exhale enough oxygen to keep a family of 4 breathing for a year.
What would happen if we stop deforestation?
- Deforestation accounts for roughly 20 percent of global carbon emissions - and more than 30 percent of emissions from developing countries. Halting deforestation over the next 50 years would protect important habitat while also providing around 15 percent of the carbon-emissions reductions needed to stabilize global temperatures.
- It takes just over 275 square feet of trees to produce enough oxygen for one person.
- It takes 6 square feet of trees to compensate for carbon dioxide produced from automobile fuel for each mile driven.
- Forests are of immense importance in soil stabilization and erosion control, especially in mountainous and hilly regions; they also protect and conserve water supplies and prevent floods.
Sources:
Arbor Day Foundation (http://www.arborday.org/index.cfm)
Encyclopedia Britannica (http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-61051/tree)
Tree Canada (http://www.tcf-fca.ca/calculator/index.htm)
