The Power of Trees - Nature's Climate Heroes!
Trees are our climate heroes and play a critical role in cleaning our air and improving our resilience in the face of climate change. Explore more about their importance here!
Cedar Trees in Washington State, USA (2006-07-26) by Harley SoltesThe Nature Conservancy's Nature Lab
Importance of Trees
If a tree has power, a forest has even more. What superpowers do trees have?
From cities to forests, trees play an important role in our world. Let's learn more about how these great green giants benefit all living things on our planet and what they are doing to protect us. While they are silent and stationary, trees hold tremendous powers, including the power to make all our lives better and healthier.
A Caucasian Wingnut (Pterocarya fraxinifolia) (2018-10-31) by Diane Cook and Len JenshelThe Nature Conservancy's Nature Lab
Photosynthesis - How Trees Make Their Food
Through this process, trees eat the greenhouse gases that cause climate change for breakfast!
Trees’ food-making process, photosynthesis, involves absorbing carbon dioxide from the air and storing it in its wood. Trees and plants will store this carbon dioxide throughout their lives, helping slow the gas buildup in our atmosphere that has been rapidly warming our planet.
Autumn Colors in the Upper Peninsula (2012-10-07) by Jason Whalen/Big Foot MediaThe Nature Conservancy's Nature Lab
Trees Clean Our Air
A tree's leaves remove the kind of air pollution that is most dangerous to our lungs: particulate matter. This pollution arises from the burning of fossil fuels, and can reach dangerous concentrations in the largest cities as well as in neighborhoods near highways and factories.
Tree leaves will filter this dangerous pollution, but only if they’re planted near the people who need them; most of the filtration occurs within 100 feet of a tree. More trees in cities, especially in lower-income neighborhoods close to highways and factories, can reduce ailments like asthma and heart disease that cause 5% of deaths worldwide.
Gantry Plaza State Park (2018-07-07) by Diane Cook and Len JenshelThe Nature Conservancy's Nature Lab
Trees help cool down our planet
Trees give us all shade and that’s a good thing! Temperatures are rising and heatwaves are getting longer due to climate change. Some places feel the heat more than others.
Neighborhoods with lots of pavement absorb more heat and can be five to eight degrees hotter than surrounding areas. These areas also stay hotter later into the night, which is detrimental to our health. A tree’s shade acts like a natural air conditioning and can even keep down the energy costs of our actual air conditioning systems, which are increasingly working overtime.
Long Hope Creek (2020-02-10) by The Nature ConservancyThe Nature Conservancy's Nature Lab
Trees Filter Our Water
Trees store and filter more than half of the water supply in the United States. Forests do this by removing pollutants and sediments from rainfall and then slowly releasing the water back into waterways and underground aquifers.
Autumn Leaves (2007-10-25) by TNCThe Nature Conservancy's Nature Lab
What Are Examples of Our Heroes?
We are going to take a deep dive into learning about some of our heroes. Our climate heroes come in all shapes and sizes, from small to large trees, trees that are found high up on mountains and even some close to the ocean.
Mangrove Forest in Kenya (2021-11-17) by Sarah WaiswaThe Nature Conservancy's Nature Lab
Mangroves – Coastline Ecosystems
A special type of tree called a mangrove has the ability to lessen storm damage on coastlines by stabilizing coastline ecosystems and preventing erosion.
Mangroves provide natural infrastructure and protection to nearby populated areas by absorbing storm surge impacts during extreme weather events such as hurricanes. The complex root systems of mangroves filter nitrates, phosphates and other pollutants from the water, improving the water quality flowing from rivers and streams into the estuarine and ocean environments.
Cypress Trees in Blue Cypress Lake (2014-04-15) by fStop FoundationThe Nature Conservancy's Nature Lab
Bald Cypress Trees – North America
Bald Cypress trees are slow growing trees that are found in wetland habitats. These trees are the oldest tree species in the eastern region of North America and the 5th oldest tree species in the world.
In North Carolina, one of the trees locally known as Methuselah dates back to 364 AD. This would make it over 1600 years old! These trees are part of a forest that buffers the local rivers, which limits pollutants from flowing into the river.
Starburst through the Sequoias (2014-06-09) by Nina Ritchie/TNC Photo ContestThe Nature Conservancy's Nature Lab
Giant Sequoia Trees – California
Giant sequoia trees, whose trunks can be more than 100 feet around, are the towering gems of California’s protected lands. In fact, Sequoia National Park is home to the biggest tree in the world by volume, General Sherman.
Did you know that sequoias start their life cycle as seeds that benefit from natural fires?
According to Kameran Onley, from The Nature Conservancy: A giant sequoia is born in fire, when normal wildfires open their seeds and begin a lifecycle that can last thousands of years. But the wildfires sequoias face today are far from normal and only growing worse and more frequent in a changing climate. We’ve already lost too many sequoias, and if we do not act, we’ll only lose more of these iconic trees forever.
The Importance of Older Trees
Did you know that older trees store more carbon than younger trees? This means that it is just as important to protect older trees as it is to plant younger trees.
Tree Planting Event For Green Heart and Louisville Grows Project (2019-10-14) by Randy OlsonThe Nature Conservancy's Nature Lab
What are people doing to help our climate heroes?
In the fall of 2017, The Nature Conservancy and partners launched the Green Heart Project to examine the link between neighborhood greenery and holistic human health. Let's learn more together in the following video!
Green Heart Project
The Nature Conservancy and our partners talk about the importance of the project and how it could change policy in cities around the world.
Plant A Billion Trees
The Nature Conservancy's Plant a Billion Trees campaign is a major forest restoration program! Learn more here.
You can learn more about our climate heroes by using the links below!
Climate Heroes: The Power of Trees
1. Virtual Field Trip
2. Teachers Guide
3. Kahoot! Activity
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