Green plants are the basis for a healthy environment. They can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and create oxygen, which is necessary for life on earth. For many animals and food, green plants are also a great source.
1. Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is the process by which a plant makes food and oxygen. The stomata of the plant converts CO2 into oxygen.
A plant is also the only living organism that can make its own food. Plants are therefore at the bottom of the food chain.
They mainly produce oxygen and food for humans and animals. A plant is actually a small green factory!
Oxygen
Een essentieel bijproduct van de fotosynthese is zuurstof. Volgens een onderzoek van de North Carolina State University, kan slechts een grote boom op één dag genoeg zuurstof produceren voor vier mensen.
Carbon dioxide
Plants use carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, thus removing the substance from the atmosphere.
De Wereldbank schat dat 20% van de toegenomen kooldioxide in de atmosfeer het gevolg is van ontbossing. Ze schatten dat maar liefst 50% van de opwarming van de aarde te wijten is aan de afgelopen 50 jaar. Dit komt door de té intensieve landbouw en ontbossing in deze moderne tijd.
2. Natural cooling and soil stabilisation
Green plants provide natural cooling on earth. The leaves block the heating effect of the sun. These green plants can also cool by perspiration. However, without large numbers of trees and other plants, this effect is minimal.
Perspiration is the process by which water evaporates from the pores of plants and cools the environment by evaporation cooling. Evaporation consumes heat and is most effective at low humidity.
Plants also stabilize the soil by their roots, which bind the soil, and by their leaves, which keep raindrops from erosion of the soil.
Areas without sufficient vegetable cover often suffer from large amounts of sediment. This is reflected in brooks and lakes, causing the quality of the water to deteriorate.
Sediment is material transported by wind, water and/or ice. Examples of sediments are gravel, clay and sand.
3. Food
Green plants form the basis of the food chain. Animals, birds, insects and micro-organisms feed on green plants.
These organisms are then eaten by larger animals, which themselves are eaten by even larger animals.
For example, a rabbit eats the hay. The rabbit is then eaten by a fox, which is then eaten by a puma.
4. Protection
Green plants, trees and shrubs, provide cover and shelter for many animals and plants. A tree provides shade for smaller plants. The same tree can also be an ideal place for a bird’s nest.
In the 1930s, the Dust Bowl took place in Canada and the United States. This was a period of drought and dust storms, hence the Dust Bowl.
The phenomenon was caused by extreme drought and decades of intensive agriculture, without crop rotation or other techniques to combat wind erosion.
By ploughing too deeply, the natural grass vegetation, which normally holds the soil together and retains moisture, is released. This causes the upper layer of the soil to dry out. The top layer was blown away during these storms. In some cases, the dust even reached cities such as Chicago, New York and Boston.
The Dust Bowl caused enormous damage to both agriculture and the environment.
The solution? Planting enough trees around farmland. This will stop most of the wind.
