9.12.2009

To Plant a Tree

Niche

At the beginning of this summer we were forced to have a 100 year old oak tree removed from our front yard because it had a disease that could have infected all of the other beautiful old oaks around our home. The tree stood by itself and shaded half our front yard. I used to gaze out my second floor studio window at the birds that visited that tree in the spring and summer. And in the wintertime, I'd catch myself studying the shadows the tree left on the ground after it shed all its leaves.

I miss that tree, terribly.

This spring we will plant a new tree in its place. We've not yet decided which kind of tree to plant, but I just found the most amazing tool to help us with our decision. Greg McPherson, who is the director of the Center for Urban Forest Research in Davis, California, has helped develop a downloadable tool that can calculate the benefit of whichever tree you want to plant - or a tree you already have. It's called the Tree Carbon Calculator and it requires just three bits of information about your tree to calculate the amount of carbon dioxide it will store or has stored. Cool, right?

Find out more about the Tree Carbon Calculator and download it here.

Inspired? Good. Go get yer shovel.

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