It is very important that communities plant trees in an effort to beautify public spaces.  Trees are important in many ways.  The most important way trees are important is that they provide oxygen as a byproduct of their respiration.  Without that oxygen the air on Earth is not breathable for human beings.  This seems so simple, yet communities all across the nation clear land for development and never plant back in as many trees as were removed.  Our planet is not habitable without air to breathe.

The second thing trees do is provide homes for birds, insects, and lots of other animals that need shelter.  A large shade tree may be home to more than 20 species of wild animals. This biodiversity is essential for maintaining a healthy balance of life on Earth.

The third thing that trees do for us is provide some climate control.  In the spring when the leaves come out, the trees provide valuable shade from the sun.  The shade keeps us cool and reduces our sun exposure.  On the reverse side of that, during the winter, the trees loose their leaves and allow valuable sunlight and warmth to shine on us during the coldest days of the year.

If you have a bad habit of staying inside all day long and getting no fresh air for days, it’s time to change. You may not realize how much damage you are doing to yourself both mentally and physically. It’s a little like smoking before it was widely known that it is bad for your health. There have been enough studies to show you that it is not only important to get some fresh air everyday but some much needed sunshine as well.

When you stay inside all day you are not getting fresh air. The only alternative is to leave every window and door open, which I doubt most people do. So all that skin and hair that you have been shedding is now in your home and those dirty hair and skin particles are going into the air that you have been breathing for the past few days.

After reading this I am sure that going outside and getting some fresh air sounds like a really good idea. Though the air isn’t exactly squeaky clean outside, it beats what you are breathing in your home most of the time. If you can, take a trip out to the country and away from the urban areas and roll the windows down. Once you get a good deep breath of fresh air you will understand just how good it can be.

For my ¼ acre lot, I have a pretty elaborate garden. I do not mean lots of vegetables rowed out and annuals for cutting. I have an ornamental garden. Boxwood hedges, as well as azaleas, cherries, dogwoods that bloom all spring. Summer color is taken care of by crape myrtles, hydrangeas, and abelias. Fall color is grand with maples and gingkos. I am completely covered with a lovely evergreen shield of hemlocks, hollies, and junipers all winter long. I really like plants and all their diversity.

I do; however, have to share my garden with three children. I work around the basketball goal, the fort, and the swing set. One of the hardest lessons to teach my children is to leave the trees alone. The soft new growth makes excellent swords, wreaths, batons, just about anything a kid can imagine. I try to tell them the soft new stems won’t grow back. They just answer me that the trees have lots of stems. They will be fine. Well, they are not like hair. They do not grow back. The tree might grow more, but once that branch is severed it is lost to the tree forever.

These are the areas of life where the gardener and the mother must compromise. My children will grow up and move on. Someday I hope they will struggle with teaching their own children the same lesson. By then, I’ll have a quiet garden all to myself.

My wife and I recently saw Food, Inc., a documentary by Robert Kenner. We were stunned to find out the lengths to which the public is kept in the dark about the food we eat. This is an even more important issue given that we are in a national obesity crisis.

One thing that I found particularly disturbing was the ways that food companies like Tyson, Perdue and Smithfield keep the farmers under their thumb. The farmers must continually buy expensive new equipment or face termination of their contracts with the companies. This keeps them heavily and constantly in debt.

Since most people love white meat, the food companies have genetically modified chicken so they have bigger breasts. This is achieved by injecting them with hormones. Naturally these hormones make it into our bodies, causing any number of health problems for us.

Our beef has also been tainted because cows have been taught to eat corn feed instead of grass. This deprives the beef of the natural nutrients that grass fed cows have long provided. In turn, it affects our bodies in a negative way.

What we took from the film was the need to know what is in our food. We cannot assume that our best interests are being looked after. Knowledge is the best weapon.

According to Dr. John Olsen of East End Chiropractic most people never get their back looked at prior to experiencing back pain so by the time they are aware there is a problem, the problem has been exacerbated and is now a larger issue than it needed to be. Having a simple back evaluation as part of your wellness plan can potentially save you time, pain and a lot of money. As someone who never thought of having my back evaluated and ended up in a lot of pain for over 3 years while seeing multiple doctors, I highly recommend preventative care for your back and neck; anything that has to do with your spinal cord.

The best 2 things that have come out of my experience is learning and practicing yoga and visiting my chiropractor once or twice a month for a quick checkup and maintenance. If you have any questions about back care, call or find a chiropractor who cares as they can help you put together a plan that can keep you out of a lot of pain!

If you haven’t already, you should start hearing about a movement that has been adopted by many in Canada called Sustainability within a Generation. This is the work of Dr. David Suzuki who has been on the leading edge of protecting the environment in Canada for many years.  Though Canada has one of the worst records in regard to the environment, it is ahead of the United States and is in need of a program just like this to help Americans change the current direction.

Dr. Suzuki has put together a list of very simple things we all can do as individuals that don’t seem like much if just one or two of us do them, but when we all do them they have a very beneficial collective affect.  There are some additional changes that need to be made to make sure our government rewards companies that are working toward sustainability as well as making sure our government and companies are not selling the environment down a river for short term profits.  Download a copy of Sustainability within a Generation at Dr. Suzuki’s website.

It seems these days that everyone is attempting to “cash in” on everything green.  It’s amazing at how many things really aren’t that green as well as how many things that are really green go unnoticed.  Just because an item says its green doesn’t mean it’s so.

You really have to do some research to make sure what you are doing are the best possible things to reduce energy costs at home and greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.  Some of the things we know work are changing your light bulbs to the new florescent types; keeping your filters cleaned and unplugging phone chargers, laptop chargers and anything else you are not using as it is still pulling energy if left plugged in.

It’s those other things that we all don’t know about that throw us.  It is good to get some information and benefits from both community organizations and/or the green community, both of which will need to depend on each other for mutual success.  We must be diligent and dedicated to cutting carbon emissions to secure our long history and continue our story.