11 Mommy, what did trees look like?

Yesterday I was walking around our backyard looking for the little tree's I planted after B's birthday party. I planted 6 or 7 and today I couldn't find any of them. I don't know if I didn't look hard enough or if they just did not survive the massive amount of snow we got this winter. Either way it got me thinking. There is the very real possibility that our grandchildren will never know what a forest is. There won't be trees big enough to climb or put a tire swing in. There will be nothing to take shelter under when it really starts to rain, no school field trips to watch sap being turned into maple syrup. All the things that we loved doing as kids the future generations may not experience even one time.

A good part of my life has been spent in forests. I camped under the canopy of hundreds of trees and hiked with my family where my siblings and I collected leaves that we later pressed in wax paper. Joe and I have ziplined and cave tubed our way through rain forests in Central America. And I have spent countless hours in local forests studying them with my classmates. Through all of this I have learned that trees really are the definition of sustainable. They give us the air we breathe, they filter pollution and even in death they are giving life sustaining nutrients to other vegetation in the forest.

There are several things I hope B never says to me. One of them being 'Mommy, what did trees look like?' June 5th is World Environment Day (WED) and with the focus on forests I ask that you help me to prevent our children and grandchildren from growing up in a world that is so very different than ours. We are losing 36 million acres of natural forests every year and together we can stop this from happening. I ask that you plant or protect a tree, go for a hike or teach your children about the importance of trees. The more people who grow up respecting them and the importance they play in our lives the better chance we have of this not becoming their reality. We plan on also taking a look at our total carbon output in a year and planting enough trees to offset that.

But let's go beyond what we can do on one day. There are things you can do every day that will help to protect our forests.

* When you are buying wood products look for those coming from sustainable sources that are certified by the FSC. Or consider buying used! There are thousands of products on websites like Craigslist, Freecycle and Kijiji.

* If you are building a new home research the land and if forests were cleared to make room for the houses. If they were then chose another builder.  

* Think before you print! I have not printed anything since February 18th and will hopefully be able to beat my last record of 500+ days. See if you can go without using paper by taking notes on your laptop or your smartphone.

* If you are looking to plant a tree on your property try looking for someone who is getting rid of a tree. That is how we got our apple tree and it saved it from becoming fire wood.

For more information on World Environment Day visit UNEP and Treehugger.

What have you done to protect our forests? Leave a comment and let me know!