  I have a memory from when I was a young school child, and we kids drew diagrams picturing trees, mountains, the sea (or a lake) and clouds. In our picture we added arrows, both straight and curved creating a message that trees breathed out precious air, which went up into the clouds to form rain. The rain fell on the land and into the ocean and lakes, from where some of it evaporated into more fresh clouds, creating more rain. Or that’s what I, as an eight year-old, understood from my primitive drawing. How clever was nature! Well, I may have been a bit off the mark but all those many decades ago I knew even then that the world needed trees to survive. According to World Vision, ‘tree planting is one of the simplest and most effective ways of tackling climate change caused by greenhouse gas. As trees grow they absorb carbon dioxide (CO2), a major greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. When communities plant trees they can help to reduce the impacts of climate change in their local area and around the world.’ The Billion Tree Campaign was launched in 2006, by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as a response to the challenges of global warming, as well as to a wider array of sustainability challenges from water supply to biodiversity loss. As of August 2018, 12 years since the campaign’s launch, the campaign’s website registered over 15.2 billion planted trees across 193 countries. In many jurisdictions, trees in even suburban gardens, are protected and land-owners face restrictions about cutting them down. There are suggestions that for every tree cut down, two more must be planted. TREES ARE IMPORTANT if we are to survive. We MUST keep planting trees! And yet………… Three weeks ago, travelling though outback NSW, I saw trees being knocked over by the hundreds – mile after mile - pushed into windrows and BURNT. It beggars belief that this is going on. The photo (above & below) shows what looks like grey water but is actually ash from burnt trees. I am gobsmacked! Yes, I know that farmers need more land to graze more sheep or to grow more crops but these same farmers are being devastated by drought, year after year, and the more trees they remove the further the drought spreads. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND! So, some farmers, (not ALL farmers) are still clearing land at an amazing rate, while we worry about the rights or wrongs of removing one tree from a park or a garden. There are communities and even countries endeavouring to plant trees by the thousands and millions. Who will win this tree war? More importantly, who will lose? Trees affect our climate, and therefore our weather, in three primary ways: they lower temperatures, reduce energy usage and reduce or remove air pollutants. Each part of the tree contributes to climate control, from leaves to roots. (from: ‘How Stuff Works’) 
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