Biodiversity > Nature's Superheroes > More Trees Please

[Asha] One chilly fall morning, lumber Jane was clearing trees in the woods. After she cut down a particularly tall tree, a dead squirrel laid motionless on the ground.

[Francesca] That poor squirrel! Where did it come from? I hope I wasn't responsible for killing it. I was just doing my job.

[Asha} Lumber Jane paced back and forth. She was bewildered about how this squirrel could have gotten there. So she calls her friend Lila.

[Francesca] Oh Lila I was cutting down some trees in the forest when I stumbled upon a little dead squirrel and I think I accidentally killed it.

[Lydia] Trees are very important to their environment. Trees provide many animals with homes, like that squirrel that you found. Also many animals get food, water, shade, and clean air from trees.

[Francesca] Wow! I had no idea trees were so important.

[Asha] On that note, more than 30,000 square miles of trees are cut down every year. Forests also act as the world's lungs, absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen.

[Francesca]I cut down trees for making paper. What are the other reasons why they're cut down? [Lydia] Well, trees are cut down to make wood products, to clear the lands for farmed food, and for some widely used products such as palm oil.

[Asha] Actually, palm oil is one of the worst contributors to deforestation. 300 football fields of forests are cut down every hour to make room for new oil palms to be planted. You can help by only purchasing products made with sustainably sourced palm oil.

[Francesca] So what else can we do to reduce the number of trees that are being cut down?

[Lydia] Another thing we can do is to recycle!

[Francesca] Oh yeah, that makes sense. So that way, old paper and cardboard can be turned into new paper without more trees having to be cut down. You may not live in a rainforest, but actions that you take can help reduce the number of trees that get cut down.

[Asha] You can recycle, check your purchases for palm oil or other environmentally hurtful ingredients, or you can donate to organizations that can more directly help stop deforestation. If you help and encourage others to help, you are doing nature a favor.