How to Conserve Trees Besides Recycling Paper

Conserving trees is essential to not only providing a beautiful and colorful landscape to admire, but they are a necessary aspect of our survival. Trees transform carbon dioxide into oxygen, provide protection from noise pollution, prevent topsoil erosion and provide habitats for a variety of wildlife. You can conserve trees by contributing to paper recycling, but why stop there? There are a variety of things you can do to help conserve our forests.

Instructions

1. Forgo using paper products whenever possible. Recycling is a fantastic way to help the environment, but reducing your reliance on paper products and reusing items again and again can help conserve trees.

2. Cut back on the amount of paper you use by switching over to electronic billing and banking. Numerous companies are now offering e-billing, which sends your bill to your email and allows you options to pay online, rather than by check or money order through the postal service. Most banks that offer electronic banking will also offer to send you an electronic statement each month as well that you can download on site or from your email.

3. Use recycled paper products whenever possible. Buying recycled paper products cuts down on the number of trees manufactured to create new paper products and encourages companies to continue generating recycled products for consumers.

4. Protect and care for existing trees. Thousands of trees must be cut down each year because they are improperly cared for or have contracted a harmful disease. Don't stop at maintaining the trees on your own property. Volunteer to help local wildlife parks, farmers and neighbors care for the trees on their land.

5. Plant new trees every year to replace the thousands of trees cut down by industry and developers. Although it takes several years for the new trees to develop and provide the same benefits as established forests, a continual process of planting and renewal will ensure that future forests are ready to stand and take the place of the trees that are cut down now.

6. Involve yourself in local charities and government infrastructures that devote time and resources to area preservation and landscaping. Not only can you get your hands dirty by helping with the actual planting of new trees, you can help spread awareness to others, and generate financial and physical support for the cause.

7. Buy undeveloped land and protect it from commercial investors that might otherwise clear away trees to develop shopping centers, parking lots or office buildings. This is an expensive alternative, but if you have it within your resources to invest in undeveloped land, you can make a hearty contribution to forest preservation.

Tips & Warnings

• The less paper people use, the fewer trees need to be cut down in the long run, allowing forests more time to regenerate and grow.

References

• Scenic America: Strategies for Tree Conservation
• Scenic America: Why Conserve Trees?
• Montgomery County, Maryland: Forest Preservation Strategy