Thursday, October 16, 2014

Appropriate Gifts For Tree Huggers

By Patty Goff


People who proudly accept the label 'tree-hugger' love nature in its purest form. Nothing says 'I want to protect the planet' more than trees, whether they're ones saved from being cut down, those planted in the side yard, or ones stenciled on a T-shirt. This makes buying gifts for tree huggers easy.

The planet is dependent on trees, scientists say. Because they remove carbon dioxide from the air and produce oxygen, they and other green plants make life possible. They also remove other pollutants, both man-made and natural, like smog in cities, smoke from forest fires, volcanic ash, and dust from farming and construction. They add moisture to the air, too.

Trees clean the soil by removing toxins and trapping them in their wood. They build soil as they drop their leaves or needles and bring important minerals up from the sub-soil. They stabilize the soil with their roots and prevent erosion from carrying away precious topsoil. In doing so, they keep our lakes, streams, and rivers free of silt.

They help people save energy. A large maple or oak planted to the west of a home might cut air conditioning by thirty percent. A windbreak shields buildings from harsh winter winds and cuts heating costs, as well as protecting farmland from the eroding and drying effects of wind. Trees add significant value to a home for these reasons and for their inherent beauty.

A single large trunk, branch, and root complex will trap hundreds of gallons of water and release it slowly into the ground. This allows rainwater to penetrate deep into aquifers underground, which feed wells and keep rivers and lakes full. Paved surfaces and bare ground send water into storm drains or directly into natural run-off instead of replenishing important stores of ground water.

Every trunk, branch, and twig is home to familiar wildlife, like birds and squirrels, and myriads of insects, frogs, lizards, and snakes people may never see. All the things trees do to benefit living things makes a wide variety of gifts appropriate to anyone who truly appreciates these gentle living giants.

Ideas can range from T-shirts or hats that actually carry the slogan to garden sculptures that depict the spirits believed to live in the woods since time immemorial. Designs for clothing can included silhouettes of a forested mountain or a tree-ringed lake, a green tree-frog, a stylized Tree of Life, brilliant fall leaves - the list is endless. Mugs, photographs and paintings, garden aprons, mouse pads, stationery, calenders, decals for the sides or windows of automobiles, flags for the front yard, or a tree-house for the back are just some of the great ideas in this category.

There are other things to do, too, like planting a tree to replace one lost elsewhere, making a donation to save the rainforest in someone's name, or even building a tree-house. Seasonal ornaments, window art, or a pretty picture or painting can acknowledge someone's passion. The wide world and over ten thousand species of tree serve as inspiration, so checking tree-huggers off your list is not a problem.




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