PaperCut and ecoprintQ care about trees. We often say our true customers are the forests of the world. Sustainability is a core part of PaperCut’s software. Check out our previous blog about The Importance of Sustainability.
PaperCut has been protecting trees through thoughtful print management for over 20 years and has conservatively saved 280,451 trees (and counting) in that time!
We all know trees are important but do you really know all the amazing things trees do for our climate and world? We thought we’d take a few minutes in honor of our top customer to write a little love letter to the wonder of trees.
Air
Do you breathe a little deeper while standing or sitting under a tree? Go out there and give it a try. Take a deep breath. The air feels cleaner under a tree because they actually clean the air we breathe. The whole tree is working hard to deliver this. The leaves and bark actually filter out harmful pollutants and disinfect their surroundings.
Trees even release oxygen to help boost that incredible deep breath you experience. If you are under a tree in a city, trees are working extra hard to absorb pollutant gases like nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide and cleaning up particles like dust and smoke. Trees act as the lungs of the earth!
Water
Trees play a critical role in capturing rainwater and they help minimize the risk of natural disasters like floods and landslides. In a healthy rainforest ecosystem, when rain falls, it’s absorbed by the soil and surrounding trees. They clean our waters and their deep root systems act like filters, removing pollutants and they slow down the water’s absorption.
Carbon warriors
Healthy, strong trees act as carbon sinks and offset carbon. In fact, trees and forests are the most effective way to pull CO2 back out of the atmosphere. 48 pounds of CO2 is sequestered by mature trees every year. In 2015, the world’s forests stored about 296 gigatons of carbon.
Biodiversity
Trees are home. Trees provide habitats for a large number of species and a single tree can be home to hundreds of species of insect, fungi, moss, mammals, and plants.
To protect the woodpeckers’ habitat, forest management activities should maintain or create large-diameter hollow trees, snags, and logs for nesting.
Health
In addition to trees’ ability to clean our air & water, create oxygen, and cool our planet. Our mental and emotional health also benefit: just viewing trees eases stress, while being among trees and nature can help with anxiety, depression, fatigue.
Wow, facts!
There are more discoveries scientists are still uncovering about the power of trees. It’s well documented that trees are social beings and communicate with each other through their roots.
We’ve talked about trees being the most effective way to sequester carbon dioxide, and we now know about 70% of that carbon ends up below ground. It’s stored within the tree until it’s traded for nutrients via the complex root network underground with mycorrhizal fungi. Once the carbon has been absorbed by the fungi, it can stay underground for thousands of years.
There is powerful research being done now about the role Mother Trees (the biggest and oldest of the trees in the forest) play with their larger root systems. Mother Trees? That really makes you want to go out and hug a tree to say thank you for all the gifts trees bring to the world.
How can you save trees?
We hope this leaves you wanting to take action to protect our trees and forests. Of course, one way to do this to let us help you install PaperCut software, and let it save paper for you!
Or reap those health benefits by getting out and planting trees with a local tree-planting non-profit.
Winter (for those of us currently in the Northern Hemisphere) is the prime time to plant trees!
If that’s not an option, consider donating to tree planting initiatives.
PaperCut’s leading print management software helps people and organizations become more conscious when printing. ecoprintQ is a PaperCut authorized solution center here for all your PaperCut needs. For more information about PaperCut and what ecoprintQ will do for you, email us at sales@ecoprintq.com or call us 800-236-8499.