Happy Arbor Day!

Consider planting a tree (or possibly 10!) today. Click here for the best day to plant a tree in your state.

Here are 10 quotes to inspire some tree-planting and hugging…

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is now.
~ Chinese Proverb

The wonder is that we can see these trees and not wonder more.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

They are beautiful in their peace, they are wise in their silence. They will stand after we are dust. They teach us, and we tend them.
~ Galeain ip Altiem MacDunelmor

For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver.
~ Martin Luther

Of all man’s works of art, a cathedral is greatest. A vast and majestic tree is greater than that.
~ Henry Ward Beecher

I am not bound for any public place, but for ground of my own where I have planted vines and orchard trees, and in the heat of the day climbed up into the healing shadow of the woods.
~ Wendell Berry

The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way.
~ William Blake

What did the tree learn from the earth to be able to talk with the sky?
~ Pablo Neruda

If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen.
~ Henry David Thoreau

He who plants a tree
Plants a hope.
~ Lucy Larcom

No room to plant a tree in your yard? Consider helping to reforest other areas:

• * American Forests
• * Arbor Day Foundation
• * Plant a Free Rainforest Tree
• * iGiveTrees

Why plant trees?

Trees around your house can increase its value by 15% or more. ~ Arbor Day Foundation,

The net cooling effect of a young, healthy tree is equivalent to ten room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day. ~ U.S. Department of Agriculture

If you plant a tree today on the west side of your home, in 5 years your energy bills should be 3% less. In 15 years the savings will be nearly 12%. ~ Dr. E. Greg McPherson, Center for Urban Forest Research

One acre of forest absorbs six tons of carbon dioxide and puts out four tons of oxygen. This is enough to meet the annual needs of 18 people. ~ U.S. Department of Agriculture

There are about 60 to 200 million spaces along our city streets where trees could be planted. This translates to the potential to absorb 33 million more tons of CO² every year, and saving four billion dollars in energy costs. ~ National Wildlife Federation

Trees properly placed around buildings can reduce air conditioning needs by 30 percent and can save 20–50 percent in energy used for heating. ~ USDA Forest Service

Trees can be a stimulus to economic development, attracting new business and tourism. Commercial retail areas are more attractive to shoppers, apartments rent more quickly, tenants stay longer, and space in a wooded setting is more valuable to sell or rent. ~ The Arbor Day Foundation

The planting of trees means improved water quality, resulting in less runoff and erosion. This allows more recharging of the ground water supply. Wooded areas help prevent the transport of sediment and chemicals into streams. ~ USDA Forest Service

In laboratory research, visual exposure to settings with trees has produced significant recovery from stress within five minutes, as indicated by changes in blood pressure and muscle tension.
~ Dr. Roger S. Ulrich Texas A&M University

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