naturafutura

Nature and Time

The thirtieth:
Time to remember

Article published in December 2013:

A baby is born and takes 15 years to reach an adult’s height. When a puppy dog is born, it takes roughly 15 months to look like an adult dog. Time goes by to everyone, in the same way… however each species of the animal kingdom answers in a different way.

Among trees happens the same thing. While an avocado tree grows rapidly in its first years of life, a brazil wood tree shows a much slower growth in the same period.

This could be a motivation not to plant it and to chose a tree with a faster growth rate, instead. With this option, endangered species (which is the case of the brazil wood tree) have more difficulty to recover the space they had in the past, and remain under threat.

Let us re-think our attitude when we plant… Let us remember that time acquires different dimensions to the living beings: wheter a bacterium, a puppy dog, we, human beings or the various species of plants and trees.

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Nature and her rules

The thirtieth:
Time to remember

Let us remember that Nature also has her rules !
Article published in November 2013:

For us she is Mother Nature, and we all know, she does not issue environmental conformity certificates. Neither recognizes governments nor borders between countries. That’s because Nature has its own rules, which are supreme. One of them is to restore itself. When not touched by humans, Nature tends to a self-restoring equilibrium. Case in point are cities of ancient civilizations which were abandoned long ago. Centuries later, they were found covered by plants. Nature just does it. And, in the absence of human interference, nature exists in its primitive state.

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One word, two concepts

The thirtieth:
Time to remember

Article published in October 2013:

Imagine a campfire burning dried branches of wood to warm a soup vessel. This scene, so common to our ancestors, describes the use of “biomass as a fuel”. In this case, the dried branches are the biomass, and burning them means utilize branches of wood as a fuel.

Now imagine a forest and their trees, animals, fungi, microorganisms and bacteria. This means, the total quantity of anything who bears life. This total quantity, which can be measured, is also called biomass. And it can be measured separately (animals only, plants only, etc.).

When you read articles in newspapers and magazines, you will identify by context in what sense this word is being used. A single word holds two concepts: related but different, however.

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Why trees don’t walk

The thirtieth:
Time to remember

Let us remember why trees don’t walk !
Article published in September 2013:

Trees produce oxygen and need lots of water to accomplish this task. They act as a lab, that processes a chemical reaction (photosynthesis), where the input substances are carbon dioxide and water and the output substances are carbohydrate and oxygen.

In order to have plenty of water, their roots are below the earth, where they get the necessary amount of water. This make them different from animals (and from us, humans), those who do not produce oxygen. Since we need less water than trees, we don’t need to be always attached to the earth. We are portable, we take in our body the water we need.

Trees do also breath like we do (they take oxygen from the air and give back carbon dioxide), but in parallel they produce oxygen in the presence of sunlight. When you water your tree, always remember that it will give us back its best: oxygen for us to breath.

“I put down a tree because...

Tree did interfere with electric wiring

09_September (7)

The use of electricity by human beings is a recent phenomenon. In the year 1801, Alessandro Volta presented to Napoleon Bonaparte his invention, a rudimentary electric battery. Since then, electricity and its applications did revolutionize the way we live.

Meanwhile, cities grew and became more and more complex. And to benefit from this technological advantage, an electric current distribution network was created. This happened initially by means of wires hanging on poles and later by subterranean cables.

It is difficult to imagine a city without electricity, and also a city without trees. We need both for our well-being. The systematic pruning of large size trees in urban areas may be a solution when electric cables interfere with tree branches.

Planned planting, by choosing a proper place and species, so trees do not interfere with the wiring, is also a feasible and positive attitude. Another possibility is the creation of exclusive spaces for trees (urban fields) and another space for wirings (subterranean cables or planned poles, which do not interact with branches).

Put these ideas to practice ? To do this, a major awareness effort must take place, towards municipal authorities and common citizens. Pruning trees means work, and dedicating urban grounds to trees or changing to subterranean cables involve high costs. Nevertheless, the results would bring an incomparable lift in the quality of life of a city.

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Plant a tree today

The thirtieth:
Time to remember

In August 2013 the following text has been published, with a sticker mentioning:

Plant a tree today
Care today
Tomorrow will be a better day !

Dear Reader,

Planting endangered native trees in the cities should be followed by the act of taking care of these trees. Simply planting a seed or a small plant in the soil and let it grow may show no results. A tree starting its life cycle is like a newborn, it is exposed to many dangers. Someone may just pull the small plant from the soil. A long drought period may determine the plant’s death. Other natural enemies may also finish with it: locusts, caterpillars, or ants, for example. The presence of someone taking care of the tree is as important as the act of seeding or planting it, especially in the first year of life.

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Nature- do regard, don’t disregard…

The thirtieth:
Time to remember

In July 2013 the following text has been published, with a sticker mentioning: Nature- do regard, don’t disregard…

Dear Visitor,

Why is this web site section dedicated “To the future Nature” ?

Look around the place where you live, the streets of your neighborhood, the way until your working place, until your school, etc.

You will find trees, lawn patches, birds, flowers and perhaps rivers or beaches. This place that you have observed is a biome (a kind of “province” of the “Nature Kingdom”).

If the biome where you live has plenty of streets, buildings, houses and automobiles, this is due to human activity. The generations that preceeded us and our generation made its landscape look like it is.

Too much asphalt, cement and pollution ? This landscape will change only if each one of us makes the commitment to shape the future Nature. Streets and houses full of trees, parks, forest reservations will exist tomorrow only if today, each one of us, common citizens, will put real effort in planting native trees and caring for them.

The moment is today: Plant today and take care today of the future Nature !

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One day at a time

The thirtieth:
Time to remember

Article published in June 2013

In Nature, some tasks are performed on a daily basis, like the opening of this flower.
Around 10 AM, its petals once wrapped, unfold like an helix until complete opening.

During the day its grandeur is shown, as a testimony of beauty.

Later in the afternoon, it shrinks again, becoming a single stump.

One day at a time !

“I put down a tree because...

Trees have the right to exist

Putting down trees in urban areas is still usual in the 21^st Century. See some alleged reasons for cutting trees (by those who did it):

“I put down a tree because…

It did interfere with a hanging electric wiring
It made the sidewalks dirty with branches, seeds and fruits
Birds harmed the paint of cars parked under it
The vision of a building, an architectural work, was hidden
Many of them together were a hiding place for thieves
It was big, it could fall over houses, cars, or people
It was a hassle to prune it, and I had no time to do it
It would decrease the value of a for-sale real estate
It occupied too much space in the sidewalk
It was not a native tree
It was old
I didn’t like trees

As we talk about cutting and killing trees in the cities, it is time to break paradigms (stop believing in explanations given in the past, about a reality that no longer exists and start trusting new explanations, more consistent with today’s real world).

Remarkable fact nowadays are the climate changes. Scientific authorities state that 2016 will be the hottest year in the world’s recent history. And the amount of carbon thrown everyday in the atmosphere is still high and at non satisfactory levels worldwide.

Trees offer a local solution for both problems: they provide thermal stability, remove carbon from the atmosphere and give it back the precious oxygen.

Trees are therefore necessary, especially in urban areas ! To break paradigms, then, is to accept that the human race NEEDS trees to survive. It means also the proposal of new solutions, both feasible and rational, to problems that trees might create.

In the forthcoming weeks, we will analyze each reason given by those who have been removing trees in urban areas and point out possible solutions to each case.

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