Trees

(photo – compared the photo(left) of the root of the big tree digging
out by man for the reason of building the bridge with the photo(right)
of big root come out from the ground because of Cyclone Nargis and I
was touching it's reddish root with excitement.)

'Never saw a poem lovely as a tree'
'Poems are made by fools like me, but God alone can make a tree'
It was not what I said. I was heard from my grandfather, U Khin Maung
Latt who was a English teacher always gave examples and beautiful
prose whenever he taught English. He also said that these words were
not his creation. They were from literature. But I almost forgot whose
quotation was. It might be from famous poet. I now wanted to quote
them again to portray how lovely the trees are.

When I was walking along the road at which the trees were on both
sides, I saw their branches were strong and big, their leaves were
trembling by the wind, birds on their branches played and sang, I felt
coolness although the sun was burning, I breathed fresh air by the
wind blew, I did not need umbrella to cover me for avoiding the
sunshine. I thought the trees seemed ugly, but their beauties cannot
be compared with others. Think! How the poet portrayed about the tree!

Trees have life like us. They need water, they breathe air, they bloom
flowers and fruits. They give their shades to cool us. We make use of
them for many ways taking for granted. Birds or several animals live
on the tree and their live depend on it. We never considered by the
side of the tree. If trees can talk, what they are going to say?

When we were at school, our teachers taught us trees play a vital role
in maintaining life on Earth, because their leaves give off oxygen
that human breathes and trees also help create the air we breathe by
turning the gas carbon dioxide into oxygen. Without oxygen, we cannot
live. Giving off oxygen is a part of the tree's food-making process.

To become a big tree, it can take at least 3 years or more. Sometimes
their existence is older than us. Annual growth rings can be seen when
a tree is cut and we can tell how old the tree was. The tree adds a
new ring every year. How amazing to know that the oldest trees are
bristlecone pines found in the mountains of California and they are
believed to live for 5,000 years!

Without water, trees will die. Their cells cannot do their jobs
without water. Water also helps keep trees rigid and healthy. They
need water regularly. But some desert plants can store water in their
thick stems and fleshy leaves. They can stand strongly in the desert
under the sun for the whole season. They do not need water regularly.
They have strong roots to reach deep underground where the water
supply can be found.

Trees also need sunlight. With the sunlight, trees and plants grow
stronger and healthier. Trees do many works. The different parts of a
tree all work together to provide water, sunlight, protection and
fruit. Leaves absorb sunlight, which helps to create food for the
plant. Mineral and water in the soil are absorbed by the roots. Tubes
in the bark carry water, which is rich in energy, to all parts of the
plant. Blossoms are pollinated to develop into fruit. So, we clearly
see that how trees are busy with their work. They do their duty and
never fail to do their work.


Trees grow everywhere on earth. Trees help keep our Earth the right
temperature for life. We know that trees help create the air we
breathe by turning the gas carbon dioxide into oxygen. Since the
1800s, human activity as especially factories, vehicles and power
stations has caused an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide and
other gases in the atmosphere. These gases come from burning coal and
oil factories and power plants and add carbon dioxide to the
atmosphere are called extra greenhouse gases.

What are Greenhouse gases?

Many scientists think that changing Earth's climate is caused by the
pollution. The change is coming from gases in the air called
greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide and other gases trap heat from the
sun. They trap heat the way glass walls and ceilings in greenhouse
trap heat. It means warm inside a greenhouse even when it is cold
outside. Scientists think that people are using too much carbon
dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the air. The extra greenhouse
gases also come from burning gasoline in cars. Too much of them will
make Earth warmer. This warming could cause disastrous changes on the
planet.

Humans are accused of changing the atmosphere. When people began to
cut down forests and burning the wood, building their houses hundreds
of years ago. It caused our weather changed and our earth warmed. In
our modern world, I saw some big trees were planned to be cut off soon
or some were already cut off by the reason of building bridges over
the roads for avoiding the traffic jams. It meant that human are no
plan to consider our future world. Scientists warned that earth's
temperature is bringing about climate change. If we did not have a
plan to stop our deed of creating gases into the atmosphere and to
make the Earth's atmosphere act like the glass in a greenhouse, some
spices will simply die out, global warming can melt the ice at the
poles and we all become trapped in heat by suffering 'greenhouse'
effect.

Not alone by man, but also by the natural disaster like the very
severe Cyclone storm Nargis, caused the worst natural disaster in the
record history of Burma. The cyclone made landfall in Burma on Friday,
May 2, 2008, causing catastrophic destruction and at least 138,000
fatalities. In Yangon, most of the big trees were fallen and
fortunately the people in Yangon were saved from the disaster. We
believed that the trees protected the people in Yangon during the
severe Cyclone occurred. They sheltered us from the rigorous wind.
What if the trees were no more? I am afraid to think about it.

Thinking Aloud

Scientists say trees can help prevent global warming. All growing
plants take carbon dioxide out of the air. Trees do this especially
well. But people have been cutting down trees all over the world with
many reasons. My thought might be child thought; I wonder if our world
be covered with trees, we will never be afraid of weather changing or
we will never trap in heat by suffering 'greenhouse' effect?