Why Trees?

By thoughtfully planting trees around your home, you can reduce your utility bills by up to 25%. A shade tree can help cool your home by as much as 20 degrees in the summer. They serve as a windbreak too!

Simply being around trees helps to lower our stress levels and promote a feeling of social well-being. Trees also help us feel kinder toward others. Trees release chemicals called phytonicides, and when we breathe that in, it can reduce blood pressure, lower anxiety levels, and increase pain threshold.

Through a phenomenon called "sound attenuation," the leaves and branches of trees absorb and deflect sound waves and, thus, mask unwanted noise.

Trees lower surface and air temperatures by providing shade. Shaded surfaces are 20-45 degrees (F) cooler than the peak temperatures of unshaded surfaces. Trees cool urban areas up to 10 degrees by shading buildings and releasing water vapor into the air through their leaves.

A mature tree can absorb more than 48 pounds of carbon dioxide each year, removing and storing the carbon while releasing oxygen back into the atmosphere.

When rain falls on the ground, it is slowed and filtered by trees, helping it soak into the soil. Trees serve as natural sponges, collecting and filtering rainwater and releasing it slowly into streams and rivers, as well as preventing soil from eroding into our waterways, reducing storm runoff, and decreasing flood damage.

One large tree provides oxygen for up to four people each day. But in addition to being the second-best oxygen producers on the planet (behind phytoplankton), trees also clean the air, thus helping people living in pollution-heavy areas breathe easier and healthier. Roadside trees reduce nearby indoor air pollution by more than 50%.

According to the U.S. Forest Service, landscaping with healthy, mature trees adds an average of 10% to a property's value, with some estimates reaching as high as 20%.

Research shows that where there are lots of urban trees, there are also lower crime rates, including lower incidents of graffiti, vandalism, littering, and even domestic violence (perhaps because of lowered stress!).

In one year, an acre of mature trees absorbs the amount of carbon dioxide produced by a car driven 26,000 miles.

According to the Arbor Day Foundation, one mature tree absorbs more than 48 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year.

Every dollar spent planting and maintaining urban trees yields benefits two to five times that amount, including cleaner air, lower energy costs, improved water quality, increased storm water control, higher property values, and more.

When trees are properly placed around buildings, they can reduce air conditioning needs by 30% and can save 20%-50% in energy used for heating. Proper placement of only three trees can save an average household between $100 and $250 in energy costs each year.

Consumers tend to spend more money in shopping districts that have trees. They are also willing to pay more for items, stay longer shopping, and rate the products and stores as higher quality when there is streetscaping with trees.

Hospital patients who can see fresh green trees from their room are reported to heal faster and spend less time in the hospital than those without. Patients with a view of trees spend 8% fewer days in the hospital.

Babies born in areas with greater numbers of trees are less likely to be born underweight and the mothers have fewer maternal health difficulties.

Children living in areas with more trees have a lower incidence of asthma.

Skin cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer in a majority of countries. Trees decrease harmful UV exposure by up to 50%. Planting trees in high-traffic areas like playgrounds and school campuses help to reduce UV exposure to young, vulnerable skin.