Trees are a crucial component in the
hydrologic cycle.
The hydrologic cycle involves evaporation
of water from the oceans, from rivers, lakes
and other bodies of water, and evaporation
of rainfall from bare ground.
In addition, there is the water transpired
by vegetation.
Clouds can be made this way, by the
transpiration of water by trees.
On a summer day an oak tree may take
more than a hundred gallons into its roots.
A full grown willow tree can transpire up
to five thousand gallons. Imagine, then, how
much water a great forest moves up into
the air.
Imagine how a forest would look, if
somehow the wood and leaves became
invisible. What we would see, would
be a forest of fountains, spraying upward,
day after day, year after year, century after
century. A vital component of the weather
systems, the global climate systems, upon
which we depend for our survival.
It is both intelligent and ethical to cultivate
an attitude of respect, humility, and gratitude
towards all of life, but in particular, we
have no older and deeper debt than that
which we owe to trees.
Quite simply, without trees, we all die.
Whether they realise it or not, everyone has
an interest in what happens to trees and
forests.
Trees, and the water cycle they are a part
of, are axial for all life on this planet.
Without trees, the water cycle is disrupted.
The arteries and veins of the land, that is,
its rivers, streams and wetlands, dry up.
Without the green mantle of tree cover, and
the oxygen and moisture it distributes, this
Earth would be an arid desert, resembling
Mars, or the Moon, or the Sahara.
Humans have created many such deserts,
out of folly, ignorance, desperation, and greed.
Forests get destroyed by herds of cattle and
goats, by accidental or deliberate fire, by
timber companies, or by climate change
itself initiated by the destruction of forests.
Sometimes, given a chance, the forest can
regenerate. But often, once the precious tree
cover is removed, the top soil erodes away,
and regrowth becomes difficult or
impossible.
Many ancient natural forests have taken
thousands of years to achieve their stature
and complexity, and once that is lost, it is
irretrievable.
" He that planteth a tree is a servant of
God. He provideth a kindness for many
generations, and faces that he hath not seen
shall bless him ".
TOP. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEXT.
| 
