Plant a tree this weekend to save the environment

PLANET Ark says research has found 70 percent of Australians believe individual actions can have an impact on global environmental issues such as climate change, and that this weekend’s National Tree Day is a perfect opportunity.

The organisation has highlighted a range of benefits to planting trees, including

• A 5% increase in tree cover can reduce nearby daytime temperatures by 2.3C, which could be crucial as heatwaves cost more lives than all other climate change impacts combined

• A large healthy tree can sequester up to 93kg of CO2 and 1.4kg of air pollution a year

• Time spent in green outdoor spaces can lower the risk of heart disease and diabetes

• Time in nature reduces stress, improves happiness, wellbeing and productivity All these insights and more have been captured in Planet Ark’s first edition of the Tree Report, entitled “Living Cities: Trees in the Urban Environment”.

Planet Ark deputy chief executive officer Rebecca Gilling said that the report should inspire the community to participate in tree planting.

“It’s heartening to hear that Australians think that individual action can make a positive impact on our environment. National Tree Day is an excellent opportunity to work together on a local level to benefit your community and the environment at large.”

Schools Tree Day and National Tree Day are Australia’s largest annual tree-planting and nature care events and take place tomorrow (Friday, July 26) and Sunday, July 28.

To find a site to attend, or for more information, head to treeday.planetark.org, or phone the National Tree Day Hotline on 1300 88 5000.