EDITORIAL: Nature worthy of human love

The kids in the photograph on the cover of last week’s Ozaukee Press could be poster children for America’s love of trees.

The children, ages 11 and 7, have looks of pure joy on their faces as they display oak saplings they were given at the Lake Michigan Bird Observatory tree giveaway on April 27.

Their exuberant happiness was emblematic of an affection for trees that crosses social, economic and racial borders. At a time when society often seems ruled by the bitter divides of culture warfare, trees grow in common human ground as well as the soil in which they are planted.

Trees can even depolarize politics. President Joe Biden pledged to plant a billion trees. Republicans in the House of Representatives not only did not object, they’re one-upping him with a proposal to plant a trillion trees.

When Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed an executive order on Earth Day committing the state to plant 100 million trees by 2030, critics in the Legislature, who rarely miss an opportunity to disparage the governor, refrained from labeling him an idealistic tree hugger wasting taxpayer money on an environmental fantasy.

Billions of dollars in tax revenue are spent on planting trees each year by the federal, state and local governments without so much as a peep of complaint. A national survey by the Harris Poll in 2023 commissioned by the Arbor Day Foundation found that 94% of Americans think trees are good for the planet and 88% support federal spending to replant the nation’s forests.

Climate change has given tree planting programs new urgency along with bipartisan generosity in funding. The cooling effect of tree shade has comforted mankind forever, but now it is being recognized as one of the few defenses against global warming available to urban areas that are experiencing some of the hottest temperatures ever recorded. Large cities across the country are rushing to expand their meager tree canopies with aggressive planting efforts.

Trees do more than protect Earth and its inhabitants from the symptoms of climate change. As confirmed by scientific studies, they fight global warming at its source—the carbon that clogs the atmosphere. Trees capture and store carbon dioxide.

According to one published estimate, trees in the U.S. keep 130 metric tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, an amount said to be the equivalent of the emissions of 30 million vehicles.

This remarkable benefit has added momentum to tree planting programs. Ironically, some of it comes from politicians who claim that carbon from fossil fuel emissions is not the primary cause of climate change. Some of them have pushed the idea that large-scale tree planting eliminates the need to convert carbon-sourced energy to renewable energy.

The chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee called legislation to plant a trillion trees “a comprehensive, practical solution to the climate issues we’re facing today.”

If only it were that easy.

Researchers report that the carbon sequestering effect is mainly limited to mature trees, particularly old-growth forests. It would take 20 to 30 years for a tree planted today to reach maturity.

This takes nothing away from the value of tree planting. If it’s done under the foolish notion that it justifies negligence in reducing fossil fuel emissions, so be it. At least it gives the world more trees.

Small communities play their own role in growing and nurturing the tree cover. Ozaukee County residents are fortunate that all but one of the cities and villages here (Saukville is the exception) meet the Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree City USA standards for sustainable urban forestry programs.

Port Washington deserves a special mention for its prodigious tree planting effort with vivid results visible all over the city, most impressively in the uncommon sight of ranks of trees adding shade, beauty and character to the downtown along Franklin Street.

Communities have an arboreal responsibility that goes beyond planting and maintaining trees on public land. They must also require developers to do their part by including a substantial population of trees in their subdivisions.

The list of the good deeds done by trees, besides their role in combating global warming, is long, including giving off oxygen, retarding erosion, dampening traffic noise and providing habitat for birds, insects and other wildlife. But there’s something else about trees—almost everyone loves them. Is it because their presence as a gift of nature just makes people happy?

One look at those poster children for trees and you have to think the answer is yes.

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Ozaukee Press

Wisconsin’s largest paid circulation community weekly newspaper. Serving Port Washington, Saukville, Grafton, Fredonia, Belgium, as well as Ozaukee County government. Locally owned and printed in Port Washington, Wisconsin.

125 E. Main St.
Port Washington, WI 53074
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