So after the wild, wet, windy and general disaster prone year that has been 2012 the world is looking towards 2013. Can we expect a better year than last year?
In my opinion, we can if we work for it.
I will agreed that it is fairly hard to avert natural disasters (a reminder perhaps that we don't actually own this planet, we're just squatters here) but, as I have mentioned before half of these natural disasters won't be happening if we weren't mucking up the environment. For example - flooding. It has been proven before and will be proven again, unless the human race grows up and stops being so damn greedy, that it you chop all the trees down not only does down stream suddenly start having trouble with flooding, all the nutriment in the soil gets washed away leading to, guess what, famine. It happened on Easter Island, it's happening in Britain and it is definitely happening in the Third World.
Another natural disaster - drought. Again it has been proven, put the trees back and it starts to rain. It is true that trees don't make it rain however, it is equally true that trees make the sky rain. How does that work? Rain comes from the moisture in the air, if the air is very hot it cannot condense enough to fall as rain. Trees loose moisture from their leaves, significantly cooling the air around them. Plant enough trees and the air will become cool enough for the clouds to form and fall as rain. Advised reading on the subject - 'The Man Who Planted Trees'. It may not be historically accurate but scientifically it is bang on.
So that is three major world disasters that can be adverted by simply planting trees. And the U.K. government wants to build houses on Green Belt land? Did they leave their brains in the dust bin or something?
I know it is very easy when you look at the world's problem to be so discouraged that you say 'they're so big, what can I do?' Well it puts me in mind of a story Mr Evans, my primary school headteacher down in Wales told us one assembly:
"One night there is a big storm down on the coast and the following morning a young man goes for a walk along the beach. Around his feet thousands of starfish lay on the sand, dying in the sun. He is feeling sad for all the lives lost when away in the distance he sees the figure of an old man who, every couple of steps or so, bends down and throws something into the sea. As he comes closer he realises that the old man is picking up the star fish one by one and throwing them back into the sea. Walking up to the old man he says 'Why are you doing that? There are thousands of them, what difference can you make?' In reply the old man bends down, picks up a starfish and throws it out to sea. 'Well it made a difference to that one,' he said."
Think of what a difference it would make to our landscape if every single person who owns a garden planted just one tree! Think how much carbon dioxide would be sucked out of our atmosphere, how many more water catchers there would be. How much more food and nest sites for our endangered garden birds. And if we all planted one fruit tree we would be able to share in the bounty. Instead of buying fruit, in about five autumns time after planting, we'd be able to enjoy fruit that had grown in our own back gardens, making the pennies stretch that much further. Think of all the extra help it would be to the bees. Does no one remember the motto of Britain during the Second World War 'Dig for Victory'? It stands just as much in a recession as it did during the war and it would make our planet healther as well as ourselves.
Come to think of it that's four natural disasters that can be averted or at least controled by planting trees - flood, famine, drought and species extinction. Isn't that something to think about?
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