Trees are super important for life on Earth! They help us breathe by giving us oxygen, are part of food chains, and provide homes for many animals, including us humans. But, people have been cutting down lots of trees, which makes us wonder: What would happen if all the trees were gone?
About 12,000 years ago, when people started farming, we had around 5.8 trillion trees. Now, we only have about 3 trillion left because we’ve cut down so many. Every year, we chop down about 15 billion trees. If we keep doing this, we might not have any trees left in 200 years!
Let’s imagine a world with no trees. Most animals that live in forests would disappear. The animals left would have a hard time finding food and might eat old wood and leaves. As these things rot, they would release about 35 billion tons of CO2 into the air, making it really polluted.
The air would get so bad that breathing would be tough for us. We might need gas masks to breathe the little oxygen made by tiny plants in the ocean called phytoplankton. Without trees, the soil would also get worse.
Trees help keep soil in place and make it healthy. Without them, the soil would wash away, and farms wouldn’t be able to grow food. This would lead to not having enough food for everyone.
Trees help control the weather by moving water from the ground to the air, which helps make clouds and rain. Without trees, places that were once green would become dry deserts. When it does rain, it could cause big floods and hurt places where fish and other sea creatures live.
Trees also keep the Earth cool by soaking up heat and turning sunlight into water vapor. Without them, the Earth would get too hot, making it hard for anything to live here.
Every year, we lose about 3.36 million hectares (8.3 million acres) of tropical forests, which is more than the size of Belgium! This is a big problem for our planet’s future.
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, but the second-best time is now. We need to understand how important trees are and do something to protect and bring back our forests before it’s too late.
Tree Observation Journal: Start a tree observation journal. Choose a tree near your home or school and observe it over a week. Write down or draw what you see each day. How does the tree change? What animals visit it? How does it make you feel? Share your observations with your class and discuss why trees are important in your neighborhood.
Mini Garden Experiment: Plant a small seed in a cup with soil and water it regularly. Observe how it grows over time. Discuss with your classmates how this small plant is similar to a tree and what role it plays in the environment. How does it help the soil? What would happen if there were no plants like this?
Math and Trees: Use math to understand the impact of deforestation. If we cut down 15 billion trees each year, how many trees are cut down each day? Use the equation $$text{Trees per day} = frac{15,000,000,000}{365}$$. How many trees would be left in 10 years if we don’t plant new ones? Discuss why it’s important to plant more trees than we cut down.
