One environmentally concerned group actually promotes the opposite. Co-Op America is a non profit group who state that they’re working on many promising projects that would help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They are promoting ‘carbon offsets’ money to pay for new research including new wind farms, solar arrays and more. This money trail makes me suspicious because Co-Op America also urges consumers to avoid tree-planting programs, which they claim are hard to quantify and avoid “climate exchange allowances” (also known as “Pollution Trading” or “Emissions Trading”) which many (whoever they are) consider to be veiled ways of letting companies buy the right to pollute. (source: emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/) Co-Op America lauds the Climate Trust (non-profit wind farms in Oregon), Terra Pass (for-profit, funds methane gas capture from landfills and farms) and other groups, both for-profit and non-profit. All methods for greenhouse gas reduction to date are all projects that need funds, as in lots of tax money.

What really makes me suspicious of this national movement is nowhere is it mentioned about planting more “green”. None of the money trails lead to nurseries. All living plants take in CO2 and convert it into oxygen. The more green the more oxygen and a lot less CO2 . This is nature’s way to do it and we don’t need trillions of dollars to cause it to happen. All you have to do is go and hug a tree!

Hug a Tree (source: Enquirer article 5/10/08)

Planting just one tree can make a difference. That is the message of Bailey Nurseries’ “Trees Are Cool” program. Trees play an important role, not just in global environmental issues but in our own backyards. Here are a few reasons why Trees are Cool:

• Shade Trees can reduce utility bills for air conditioning by 15-50 percent. The net cooling effect of a young healthy tree is equivalent to 10 room size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day.
  
  
• Healthy Trees can increase residential property values by up to 15 percent.
  
  
• In one year, an average tree produces enough oxygen for a family of four.
  
  
• One tree can absorb the carbon dioxide output from four cars every year.
  
  
• Planting trees remains the cheapest, most effective means of drawing excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
  
  
• The amount of oxygen produced by an acre of trees per year equals the amount consumed by 18 people annually. One tree produces nearly 260 pounds of oxygen each year.
  
  
• Planting 100 million trees could reduce carbon dioxide by an estimated 18 million tons per year, while saving American consumers $4 billion each year on utility bills. To not do so will cost us many billions more. Let your green thumb and your shovel get involved.