My whole weekend was spent landscaping, and it got me thinking about more ways to reduce our environmental impact without having to sacrifice the the look of a well groomed property. I looked around at many houses in our neighbourhood and realized that one of the most important features of almost every property were trees. We are lucky to live in an older area of our city with many mature trees lining our streets (the nickname of our city is the "Forest City). Here is some important inofrmation regarding trees which you may or may not be aware of:

• The average tree can absord 13 pounds of CO₂ per year
• For every ton of new wood that grows, about 1.5 tons of CO₂ are removed from the air, and 1.07 tons of oxygen are produced
• During a 50 year life span, one tree will generate $30,000 worth of oxygen, remove $60,000 of air pollution, and recycle $35,000 of water. This means the average tree during it's lifecycle is worth $125,000!
• If trees are placed properly on a property, heating costs can be reduced by 10 - 15% (acting as a wind-break), and reduce cooling costs by 10 - 20% (due to shade)
• Trees greatly reduce run-off from rainfall (acting as an interceptor), which saves our storm drains and treatmeant facilities
• Trees reduce soil erosion
• Patients in hospitals recover at a slightly higher rate when they are provided with views of trees

These are just a fraction of the many benefits of trees (provided by www.treelink.org). We have decided to buy a mature tree for our backyard, and we are also committed to planting one tree for every 3200 km traveled by automobile. This will yield approximately 23 - 25 trees planted in the coming year. We plan to plant these trees at a relative's property in the country (our property isn't big enough). You don't have to plant dozens of trees on your property, but I would ask you to consider planting at least one tree this year and consider more in subsequent years. Planting trees make a whole lot of sense! Your yard will become a greenerversion of it's former self.