Have you wondered why the leaves don’t seem as vibrant as they used to be? It’s not your imagination. They are duller because trees have a longer growing seasons due to a warming climate (.66F warmer) and increased rainfall (3.4 inches per year, but we got more than that this year).
The increase in carbon dioxide, the essential element in photosynthesis keeping leaves green is also adding to our warmth. The warmth also allows insects that prey on trees a longer life span, and we don’t even need to consider the lowly mosquito that is still eating us up.
Forests shade the earth and absorb carbon dioxide. Clear cutting, such as occurred last year by Seton Hall University not only destroyed 400-year old growth forest but created the conditions for a mudslide forcing people out of their homes.
Prayer for the Day
Eternal Spirit, you have given us a world of beauty,
But we have not cred for your creation as we should have;
Our vision is limited and we find excuses for not changing our ways,
But we are increasingly uncomfortable with things the way they are.
Shake us from our complacency and stir us to action
So we respond to the changing world.
In the name of the One who looked at the lilies
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen
Thoughts for the Day
Finland is officially the world’s happiest country. It is also 75 percent forest. I believe these facts are related.
Matt Haig
The green oak and cedar – the dark pine, the yellow and silvery-barked willow – each majestic old tree, hath its own peculiar tone and whisper for thine ear.
Elizabeth J. Eames, American poet (1813-1856)
Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked,
Or take the path that offenders tread
But their delight is in the law of the Lord
And on God’s law they mediate day and night.
They shall be like trees planted by the water
Which yields their fruit in their season and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper.
Psalm 1: 3