How do Trees Clean Our Air?
They take in pollution on their leaves, the same as dust collects on the surface or water condenses on a cold surface. Trees also “breathe” in carbon dioxide and release oxygen and utilizes the carbon to produce wood. They give oxygen. Even better than that, they take in carbon dioxide. Since we as people take in oxygen and let out carbon, it’s safe to say that trees bring us life. When you bond with nature, you see that all is connected. Without trees, we won’t breathe clean air.
Forests play a crucial role in cleaning the air we breathe. There aren’t any sets of lungs in trees the way humans have them. They respire (“breathe”) with a procedure known as photosynthesis.
What is Photosynthesis?
All plants and leaves contain living cells that absorb sunlight. By taking the sun’s strength, the cells of the leaves get the strength to putrefy the sap supplied by the roots, offering nutrition to the trees. Not only does the leaf need light to decompose putrefy sap and change it into food for the tree, but it also requires air. Air is filtered by the tree and goes back into the atmosphere. This is how trees clean out the air we breathe.
As we realize, water, soil, and air are the elements critical to all life forms on the planet. For trees, nutrition is given from the soil and carried by water from the roots to the leaves. The leaves seize sunlight and air to change the sap into sugar that will be utilized to feed all the tree’s living cells.
Trees also keep carbon dioxide in their fibers, aiding in cleaning the air and lessening the adverse effects that carbon dioxide could have on our atmosphere. A mature tree absorbs over 45 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air and lets go of oxygen in the process.
So next time you take a big deep breath of air give kudos to a tree or hug a tree in thanks for what it provides us. The very air you breathe. To learn more about photosynthesis and tree care, get in touch with a tree specialist.
