Every Day Is Special: January 15 - Arbor Day in Egypt, Jordan, and Malta

January 15 - Arbor Day in Egypt, Jordan, and Malta

Posted on January 15, 2020

Tree planting!

What could be more important, these days, as we battle climate change?

You probably know that a huge problem causing our global temperatures to steadily climb is greenhouse gases emitted by burning fossil fuels (oil, gasoline, coal, etc.) and by such things as livestock manure and cattle belching!

But a lot of people don't realize that another cause of global warming is deforestation. When people cut down trees to burn (whoops, more greenhouse gases!) or to make everything from furniture to paper to houses to games - and especially when people cut down trees to build cities and roads and to graze livestock (whoops, more greenhouse gases!), they are removing the living things that actually remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere!

That's right, trees and other plants are great gobblers of carbon dioxide, one of the biggies of the greenhouse gases. And just as cutting down trees helps make global warming worse, planting trees helps make it a bit better!

Planting trees can also help create shade, provide local cooler climates through the shade and also through transpiration (trees famously "breathe out" oxygen - but they also breathe out water vapor), absorb air pollution, protect from wind, prevent erosion of soil, and provide homes for creatures. We definitely want to plant lots and lots of trees in our cities, along our streets and highways, and other places as well!

Holding a one-day Arbor Day celebration is only a start. In Jordan, attention to the importance of planting trees is provided by the King and Queen attending Arbor Day celebrations and personally planting a few trees - but the more important part of the day is (1) hundreds or thousands of others also planting trees, and (2) considering the Ministry of Agriculture plan to protect existing forests and continuing to enlarge forested areas in the nation.

Jordan's queen helps students of the University of
Jordan to plant a tree.

In Malta, people are encouraged to Tree Your Town. Participating schools get students to learn about the importance of replanting and then actually plant trees in their own towns. Parks, especially, are studied to see where more trees would benefit the environment and people's enjoyment of the environment.

In Egypt, there are no government celebrations, but organizations are encouraged to get volunteers planting in their own communities. One organization that participates is the Sabaheia Horticulture Research Station.

Some nations are doing a better job than others in really getting people to get out there and plant trees. India held a record for the most trees planted in one day - because 800,000 volunteers around the nation planted more than 50 million trees one day in 2016!!! (That's more than 60 trees per volunteer! WOW!) The next year, they topped their own record with 66 million trees planted in just 12 hours.

But last year Ethiopia shut down governmental offices and many businesses in order to plant 350 million trees in just 12 hours!!!!

That's...that's...incredible!

Ethiopia's goal is to plant 4 BILLION indigenous trees in 1,000 different sites around the nation. Great goal, huh?

Arbor Day needs to be more than one day and more than a token tree-planting. Filipino students now have to plant at least 10 trees in order to graduate. That kind of innovative policy is necessary everywhere in order to offset some of the harm from agriculture and technology.