Waking up daily to face a new day before us, what is the first thought that crosses our mind? Thinking about earning more and more every day, living a life full of riches, having every comfort whatsoever in the world, and so on. But just for the sake of a moment, have we ever stopped to think about what would happen in our near future. Some of us may say yes and some of us may say no. But our mere opinion cannot change anything in any situation until we act. Okay, here is a situation. Imagine yourself walking in a street without an umbrella on a hot afternoon. What would be the first thing you would do? Maybe, you would wish for an umbrella, or some of us would pray for a rainfall. But hardly some of us may think about trees on either side of the street to save us from the scorching sunlight. Now, here is the point which I am trying to make.
In the busy schedule of our day to day life, we are forgetting to conserve and protect the environment around us. Now, many of us ask this question to ourselves-“What can we do about it?” In a modern democracy such as ours, we hold government responsible for every problem that arises before us. But, this is the time to finally wake up. The time has come for us to realize the true value of our environment and start working towards protecting it for the future generations. So, from where are we supposed to begin? The answer is before us every time we go for a walk outside. The answer is before us every time we look out of our window. The answer is before us all the time, because the answer that we need is ‘trees’. Do we realize that whenever we use a bunch of papers to prepare our notes, hundreds of trees are cut down to make that paper?
Whenever we buy expensive wooden furniture to show our wealth before our visitors, we forget the huge numbers of trees cut to make it? But some of us buy plastic furniture and other plastic products, and claim to prove our smartness. But we still forget that these plastic materials cannot be decomposed and on burning they pose a serious threat to the surrounding environment, to which trees can only provide a solution by reducing the toxicity of the gases produced by the burning of plastics.
We all know the facts, but we all leave it behind under the hood of ignorance. For those among us, who know less about how trees contribute in securing our future, here are the facts. Trees play an important role in natural processes like rainfall, maintaining soil strength and quality, and regulating temperature. It also contributes in avoiding future threats like global warming, irregular temperature differences and so on. Not only this, trees also contribute in maintaining the serenity and landscape of an area. Trees also provide oxygen-according to an estimate, in one year, an acre of trees can provide enough oxygen for 18 people. Trees also reduce the risk of ultra violet rays by reducing UV-B exposure by 50 percent.
A change in season is marked by looking at the leaves of the trees. But though trees offer so much to us, the rate in which trees are being cut down is much greater than the number of trees planted. We know that our future is very much uncertain without trees, but what matters most at this point is our willingness to contribute towards our environment that gives so much for us. We know about all the options that are before us, but the future demands from us to make the right choice and to select the right option. We all would love to become a millionaire, but who among us would think of planting a million trees for our future generations? Well at present, it seems that no one has thought of doing so. If we don’t act now, there is a possibility of a future that is waiting for us on the other side of the shore. Imagine a barren land, without any trees, without water, without sufficient oxygen, without any greenery, and finally, with no life. What the future demands from us now is more than any great technological advancement, more than any revolution to be made and more than any invention. All that our future demands from us now is to realize what is ahead of us and to take a step in improving it. Trees, for sure have an important and significant role to play in our future.
We need the benefits provided by trees, we need its natural shelter and we need its fruits for our future generations. The change in seasons, the beauty of the landscape, the serenity of the environment, the morning chirping of the birds, and the purity of the atmosphere-all of this can be given to our future only if we begin to understand the significance and the important role that trees will play in our future.
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