Ecological Benefits of Planting Trees

Vital Habitat for Endangered Animal Species 

Everybody loves animals, and the truth is that many of them need trees for habitat. Whether they’re the biggest land-based mammals or the tiniest crustaceans in the sea, planting trees brings a lot of benefits to the wildlife that we know and love.

Unfortunately, many animals that depend on trees are currently endangered. Trees provide them with food, shelter, and nursing grounds for their young. When trees disappear, it becomes much more difficult for these animals to survive.

This is especially true for endemic species that are only found in one place on our planet. Where there are high levels of deforestation, these unique animals may never be seen again.

Wildlife plays a huge part in every national park we visit, and every birdwatching trip around the world. Let’s make sure that we plant enough trees for that wildlife to thrive.

A Healthier, Greener Environment for All of Us

Looking at the bigger picture, there are a lot of sustainable benefits of planting trees for our atmosphere as well. Trees are natural carbon sinks, meaning they store incredible amounts of carbon that has been released into our atmosphere.

That’s pretty cool, right? Now, remember that as well as storing carbon, trees provide us with oxygen too! But more on that later.

Trees are one of our most effective weapons in the battle against climate change. They reduce the impact of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere and help to combat the emissions we create.

Our planet is rapidly heating up, and we can help to control that by planting more trees.

Environmental Benefits of Planting Trees

Trees Protect Land

We’ll bet you didn’t know about this one! One of the lesser-known benefits of planting trees is that they help to hold the ground together. Literally. Trees – and their roots – keep our land and soil compact, fighting desertification in the process.

Mangrove trees, in particular, are excellent at replenishing our land and ensuring that it doesn’t dry out and turn to desert. We can’t grow many crops in the desert, can we?

On top of that, mangrove trees act as a natural barrier to big waves that can easily destroy coastlines during heavy storms. They help to prevent flooding and even replenish the soil with vitamins and minerals. And all of this while absorbing huge amounts of carbon!

We Can’t Get Enough of Breathing

I like breathing. You like breathing. Everybody likes breathing! And one of the most important benefits of planting trees is that they produce much of the oxygen we need to breathe every second, every minute, of every single day.

A world without trees doesn’t bear thinking about. When trees are impacted, then you and I are too. Let’s keep on planting trees and ensuring that, as well as storing carbon and battling global warming, they continue to produce the oxygen we depend on.

Better Soil and Cooler Air

We’ve already mentioned the role that trees play in protecting our land. But trees do more than just protect it – turns out they improve it as well.

Deep tree roots are constantly working the soil and filtering it. They bring buried nutrients and minerals to the surface so that other crops can benefit from them. Their decomposing leaves are also nutritious to plants surrounding them. Wherever there are trees, there’s healthy, nutritious soil.

In a similar way, trees are constantly filtering our air and purifying it for us. This one’s all to do with the water cycle: trees absorb rain and transpire vapour back into the atmosphere as required. They help to control the humidity of our atmosphere and naturally cool the air as well.

Social Benefits of Planting Trees

Planting Trees Creates Long-Term Work 

All we’ve talked about so far is the planet! I mean, Mother Earth is kind of important, of course…but what about the people populating our planet?

One of the single biggest benefits of planting trees is that it creates a huge amount of work. At Click A Tree, we don’t just scatter seeds into the ground and hope for the best. Far from it.

Instead, we carefully select the tree species that we think will best represent a natural forest. We plant the seeds and wait for them to grow. Then, these young trees are cared for and looked after in our nurseries to ensure that they have the best possible chance of survival.

And even when they have been planted, we continue to prune and care for those trees in the wild. Doing this on a large scale requires a huge amount of work hours over a long period of time.

And It Helps Communities Thrive

In many of the developing countries where we plant trees, stable and dependable work is exactly what’s needed! Our tree-planting sites are often in communities where a steady wage is hard to find, and opportunities are limited.

As our workers grow a career (no pun intended) planting trees, they gather a fair wage and can afford simple necessities that they couldn’t justify before. Simple things like food, clothing, and even education. The benefits of planting trees are significant on a social and economic level.

We all know that more work means more tax. These communities can build an infrastructure and create a truly self-sustainable model. Planting trees even helps to support entrepreneurship schools, like this one in Ghana.

There are all kinds of benefits of planting trees. For the endangered animals around the world, for our planet, for you, and for me.

I hope this article gave you an overall perspective and the sustainable benefits of planting trees. Let’s plant as many trees as we can. Plant a tree today to help protect Mother Earth and provide a future for every single one of us.

Pin this post!

The architecture and space of Flipstones café

Three friends talking about the lack of sustainability initiatives in Ahmedabad decided to take matter in their own hands and started Greenstraw.

Why two names?

Flipstones café is a brand under the Greenstraw umbrella which only serves food while Greenstraw is involved with a lot of other activities.

The friends envisaged it to be the perfect example of anything and everything sustainable. This included the building. They chose a house which was 50 years ago which could be uplifted to suit the café’s needs.

Nestled amongst Soni ni Chawl and walking distance from the Sabarmati Riverfront, the modern café is hard to miss with its green ambiance. The building was renovated using the local materials and using low VOC paints.

Eco-friendly products shop at Flipstones café

As soon as you enter the café premises, you will notice a small shop on the ground floor selling eco-friendly products ranging from bamboo toothbrushes to menstrual cups. The array of products will certainly motivate you to become eco-friendly by buying some of them.

Co-working and workshop space

On the first floor, there is a workshop space where a lot of sustainable workshops have taken place over the months. It also serves as a co-working space. Imagine working in a lovely space overlooking the Sabarmati riverfront and in-house café serving yummy snacks. All this at a very reasonable price!

The Flipstones café

The second and third floor serve as the Flipstones café. While second floor is a closed space opening in a small balcony, third floor is the terrace of the house. It has the most stunning views of the Sabarmati riverfront.

The café furniture is made from upcycled alang boats. The menu is printed over recycled paper and you are given a paper and pen to write your order. The menu is passionately curated food items which covers Italian and modern Indian cuisine. Order your food and play board games while you wait for the order to arrive.

Food at Flipstones café

The raw materials for food are mostly organic and locally sourced saving the costs of import. They use the freshest produce for authentic taste. Must try food recommendations are:

• Smoothie bowls
• Jacket Potato
• Purple Noodles
• Bagels
• Hot chocolate (one of the best in town)

Handling food waste

The café is a notch above everyone! While food joints across the city pay the local authorities to pick up food waste for disposal, Flipstones café uses leftover food from café and from kitchen preparation. The food scraps are composted using an organic composter – Kumbha. The compost generated after 2 months is utilized as manure for all the in-house plants.

The best part all of this information is also written on their menu to make the visitors aware.

Adopting plants

A lovely initiative in the café is of adopting plants. The café houses many plant pots which are all over the building. You can volunteer to adopt a plant and take care of its survival by regular watering. Be a green citizen and adopt a plant today.

Donate a book

In the world full of technology, books are unfortunately taking a backseat. The café however is trying to change that. An open library invited invites visitors to read from the existing collection of books or donate a book. You can even read the book in the café overlooking the lovely riverfront.

Overall I had an amazing time at the Flipstones café and knowing about their sustainability initiatives. If you haven’t visited this café yet, you must do today!

Disclosure – I was invited by Greenstraw and Flipstones café. However, all opinions in this post are unbiased and of my own.

Disclaimer – This post contains affiliate links. It means it adds no extra cost to you if you book through the link but I get a referral bonus which helps me earn a little to keep this website up and running.

Pin this!

Sustainable Tourism in Luang Prabang – All the Initiatives

Refill My Bottle initiative

As a part of sustainable tourism in Luang Prabang, most hotels and cafes promote the use of refillable bottles. Cold, filtered water is kept at reception/ lobby areas which are easily accessible to tourists and can be filled. Some eateries even offer a small discount if you bring your own coffee cup.

Thanks to the efforts of the German development agency, GIZ, there are even maps put up in various tourist areas which shows places that offer free water stations.

Say No to Plastic straws

Luang Prabang has taken the No Plastic straws campaign extremely seriously. Hotels and restaurants promote the use of bamboo straws by actually using them. Thanks to self-help groups like Bamboo Lao, bamboo straws and even cups are readily available and used proudly. Other products readily made using different types of Bamboo are mats, hats, small stools and others. Read about Bamboo Weaving in Luang Prabang, Laos. 

You can easily buy these straws in the local night market as well.

Discourage the use of single-use plastic

Whether you stay in a hostel or luxury hotel, the toiletries offered to you will be in a reusable basket or jute pouch. And you cannot stop yourself from falling in love with these small gestures and the attention to details they offer.

You will not find tissue papers for wiping hands near any washbasins in public toilets and cafes. You will see fresh, nicely folded cloth napkins/towels with a basket underneath the basin to dispose of after use. They are washed, dried and folded again for use of next tourist, just like traditional times.

Grow Local, Eat Local

This is a mantra, quite religiously followed in Luang Prabang. Rather than importing items, the local community is employed in producing fresh products, herbs and spices which are used across the town. One can easily shop for local produce or eat them after cooking, sold in the morning and night markets of the town.

They even have Ethical cheese and sustainable coffee which is supplied to the local hotels. After Vietnam, I had honestly thought that there could be no coffee to top that experience, and boy was I wrong! So so wrong.

Sustainable Art and Culture in Luang Prabang

There are organizations in Luang Prabang that are working hard to preserve the ethnic traditional handicrafts by employing local villagers. Ock Pop Tok is one such organization which helps Laotian women to earn income while educating them and teaching them weaving.

“The institution’s brightly coloured textiles and designs are not just to be found in its shop, but also in its gardens, café, living crafts centre and even in its little boutique resort. The concepts and applications at work here are a true example of how responsible practices and a focus on sustainability can be both luxurious and ethical, and it not only benefits a business financially but contributes to people’s lives and conserves nature in the best way possible”. Says Khiri Reach.

Sustainable development through education and capacity building of hospitality staff

Most hotels in Luang Prabang are part of a CSR programme wherein the hotel staff participates in sustainability workshops conducted by GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH, a German development agency). The workshop helps hotels to formulate their environmental policy and maintain data of water and electricity consumption and how to reduce it. The programme capacity builds local community members in the hospitality sector.

There are even English speaking and personal grooming classes conducted for the staff by individual hotels.

Waste Management in Luang Prabang

This is one of the important sectors which makes or breaks the town. The aesthetics of the city are completely dependent upon waste management and thankfully it is extremely efficient in Luang Prabang.

During my discussion with hotels and locals at the ‘Oh Luang Prabang you are simply Beautiful’ event, most of them said that waste was segregated into 2 major categories – food waste and recyclable waste. Most hotels have their own space for composting leftover food waste which is later used as fertilizer in their gardens. Plastic and other recyclables are sent to recycling agencies.

Since hotels are part of ‘Refill my bottle’ initiative and use refillable shampoo and lotion bottles, the plastic waste generated is negligible.

Thanks to the efforts of Sustainable Tourism in Luang Prabang, the town was awarded the Golden Award for Top Tourist Destination for seven consecutive years. (News, 2016) 

The world needs more and more such tourist towns which are sustainable is all aspects. There’s lesson to be learnt here from Luang Prabang.

Special thanks to Ms Alichith Phengsavang, CSR Manager of Angsana Maison Souvannaphoum for most of the information in this post and answering my million questions on sustainability in Luang Prabang. 

Read More about Laos here:

• Luang Prabang Night Market
• Nong Khiaw Viewpoint
• Luang Say Residence, Luang Prabang
• Kuang si Falls, Luang Prabang
• Ethical cheese at Laos Buffalo Dairy

Disclosure: I was invited by Laos Tourism Board and Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office (MTCO) to Luang Prabang.

Disclaimer – This post contains affiliate links. It means it adds no extra cost to you if you book through the link but I get a referral bonus which helps me earn a little to keep this website up and running. Read about my Privacy Policy.

Pin This Post!