Lack of trees means death

PUNCHLINE

Ike Señeres

Allow me to tell you two stories that I like very much. The first story is about the sun, and how the sun gives us food, thus sustaining life on earth. The sun causes photosynthesis that creates the leaves in the trees and grasses. In turn, the leaves and grasses fall down to the soil and creates humus, the organic matter that is in effect a form of natural compost.

Ultimately, the humus goes to the rivers and end up in the seas and oceans, where they become the food of the plankton. Finally, the plankton becomes the food of the fish. Without plankton, the fish will either die or will migrate to other parts. To cut a long story short, it is the trees and grasses that feed us, as they feed the fish.

The second story is about the trees that absorb the carbon dioxide in the air on one hand, as they also release oxygen on the other hand. Of course, we also know that some trees also produce fruits and leaves, some of the latter being edible.

Probably the most useful among the trees is the coconut tree, a plant that not only gives us food, but also gives us energy. In these two stories, the common denominators are the trees that give us life.

Water and electricity are two of our most basic needs. The fact is that trees are capable of providing us with these two needs. That’s because the trees hold the water near and around the watersheds, river basins and wetlands that are in turn the sources of our water providers. The irony here is that since there are not enough trees in the mountains to hold the water, we are now getting the water in the form of floods.

What was meant to be for a good purpose now has a bad outcome.

Trees have been a source of energy since time immemorial, as civilizations used either firewood or charcoal. By comparison however, burning firewood or charcoal is not as efficient as burning wood chips in a gasifier stove. This is very important for all of us to understand, because gasifier technology could give us the best means of using renewable energy from trees, grasses and other cellulosic materials.

The other advantage is that firewood turned into wood chips could give us more energy, more that what we could get by simply burning firewood.

I might be repeating my stories too much, but I need to do that to stress the great importance of trees in our lives. The fact is, trees are part of our lives, because without trees, we would run out of food and water, and now also an alternative source of renewable energy by way of gasifier stoves.

Who would have thought that the trees would have something to do with the supply of fish? And now, who would have thought that trees could give us a source of energy more than what all the oil fields combined could supply.

As we talk about renewable energy nowadays, energy from wind, solar and hydro sources would always come to mind first. There is nothing wrong with that, but for practical reasons, we need to have a complete mix of sources, and that should always include dendro, biogas and even plant based oils. Dendro is the energy that we could get from trees, and that is where the gasifier technology becomes very relevant.

Among all the other sources of alternative energy, it is only dendro that could give us the extra bonuses of having food and water as well. That is not counting the extra advantage of having cleaner air because trees also absorb the carbon dioxide that pollutes the air and causes it to increase in temperature. Talking about the temperature, the trees could also reduce global warming, a problem that could also destroy our sources of food and water.

Among all the other sources of alternative energy, it is only dendro that has a direct bearing on the problem of flooding. That is because the trees that would hold the water would also be the same trees that would supply the wood chips. However, I would like to make it very clear at this point that we should plant the trees not to cut them for making wood chips. We should only trim the leaves, barks and branches of these trees in order to produce the cellulosic fuel that we need.

Among all the other sources of alternative energy, it is only dendro that has a five in one solution to five very important national security concerns namely energy, food, and water, aside from global warming and flooding. Again, I am not saying that we should downplay all the other alternative sources, but it does not take a genius to realize that the reasons for planting and growing are already very obvious.

It also does not take a genius to realize that when someone is confronted with a life and death situation, he or she would of course choose to live, or will do anything or everything in order to survive. As it is now, the threat of hunger, drought, massive flooding and excessive temperatures are already real, and many people could actually die if we are not properly prepared. It does not take rocket science either to plant and grow trees, so why are we not doing it as much as we should?

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