Planting Trees
By Katelyn Pittman, Fall 2022 Writing Finalist
New storms are named almost every week, storms that can be troubling to us East coasters, places like the Georgia coast where I am from. In the past couple of years alone, my family and I have had to evacuate twice, leaving our home and everything behind. Rains and wind would come in damaging amounts, and we would come back after a couple of days not knowing if our house would even still be standing.
In the past three years alone, I have been on more than five church-sponsored hurricane cleanups. I have seen the damage these ferocious storms can bring firsthand, as I drag limbs off roofs and witness sides of houses gone. I have even had to drag out soaking wet belongings and carpet from my grandparent’s house across the street when it flooded. All of this is to say that natural disasters like these are becoming more prevalent, and that is going to cause serious problems.
While all the problems of the world cannot be blamed on one thing, many of the problems associated with our ecosystem do have to do with global warming. There is enough evidence to support the fact that glaciers are melting and Earth’s temperatures our heating up. This is especially an issue regarding our oceans since a NASA experiment found that the ocean “absorbed 90% of the warming that has occurred in recent decades due to increasing greenhouse gases, and the top few meters of the ocean store as much heat as Earth's entire atmosphere.” This is a leading cause in the increase in hurricanes in recent years.
So, what can we do? The destruction of forests and ocean warming are causing serious problems to us and will continue to do so. It is crazy to see how in my own hometown, so much forestland has been lost to build tall, ugly buildings that ruin our ecosystem.
As silly as it may seem, the solution can be found in simply planting new trees. Trees have so many positive aspects and have the power to change our world for the better on their own. Scientists have already found that if 1.5 million hectares more of trees are planted, then the world could reach net zero carbon. This is feasible, requiring land the size of Yorkshire. This would be like using 1/18 of the size of Utah to plant trees to save our environment.
Just look around you at the beauty that can be preserved and our Earth that we can again stabilize! This would allow for families to preserve their homes and set our future world up for better success. We can all do something, and for me this includes majoring in accounting so that I can work firsthand with businesses and nonprofits to maximize earnings to donate to make a difference.
Promoting change would grant our children and grandchildren the opportunities to continue to enjoy the beauty of the world. All we would have to do is start by planting one tree!