Published: May 17, 2007 05:40 pm            

Program helps students learn that trees are cool

Originally published in the May 18, 2007, print edition.

Planting just one tree can make a difference. Planting 100,000 trees can make a bigger difference.

That’s what happened this spring in at least 102 Minnesota school districts that took up the offer of Bailey Nurseries of St. Paul. This family-owned wholesale nursery pledged 100,000 trees to assist Minnesota school districts with special Earth Day and Arbor Day activities by their students.

A great example is the BOLD (Buffalo Lake, Olivia, Lake Lillian) school district. BOLD teacher Mary Kosak, herself a farm wife and Renville County Master Gardener, noticed an ad in the March issue of the Minnesota Educator making reference to Bailey’s “Trees are Cool” offer.

Kosak e-mailed the nursery, and a couple of weeks later 1,400 trees were delivered to the BOLD campus.

“When my kids were still in school, we always observed Arbor Day with special tree plantings. So this just seemed like a great offer to get all our students involved in Arbor Day and more importantly, learn about the environmental bonuses that trees provide,” Kosak said.

BOLD high school ag education students wrapped each tree in a plastic bag, then stapled planting instructions to each bag. The 1-year-old trees included green ash, mountain ash, Norway maple, crab apple, dogwood and weeping willow.

When school dismissed April 27, the trees were provided to any student and staff member who wanted one. Even St. Mary’s Catholic school in Bird Island and BOLD elementary students got trees.

“Giving students the opportunity to plant their own tree often makes a lasting impact in their young minds,” said Peggy Montgomery, Bailey Nurseries horticulturist. “Kids are reading and hearing so much about global warming and other environmental issues. Providing them with their own hands-on experience is just a super teaching strategy.”

Bailey Nurseries is a partner with the United Nations Environmental Program 2007 Billion Tree Campaign with a worldwide initiative of planting one billion trees to help fight the effects of deforestation, erosion and global warming.

To learn more about the “Trees are Cool” program log on to www.BaileyNurseries.com. For more info on the UNEP Billion Tree campaign, log on to www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign.

TREES ARE COOL: HERE ARE THE REASONS

Hundreds of school students across Minnesota can now share a few reasons why “Trees are Cool.”

• Shade trees can reduce utility bills for air conditioning by 15 to 50 percent.
• The net cooling effect of a healthy tree is equivalent to 10 room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day.
• In one year an average tree produces enough oxygen for a family of four, for one year.
• One tree will absorb the CO2 from four cars every year.
• Planting trees remains the cheapest, most effective means of drawing excess CO2 from the atmosphere.
• Healthy trees can increase property values by up to 15 percent.
• To make up for the loss of trees in just the past decade, we would need to plant approximately 14 billion trees every year, for 10 consecutive years.
• The Department of Energy estimates that with improvements in plant productivity and conversion efficiencies, 25 percent of U.S.-imported oil could be displaced by plantation-grown trees by 2050.
• One tree produces nearly 260 pounds of oxygen each year. The amount of oxygen produced by an acre of trees per year equals the amount consumed by 18 people annually.

        

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