This is just showing the distribution of arid land and the deserts in different countries. This is also showing how these deserts, once rainforests, have rapidly changed into non-polar arid land.


I have researched and found that researchers have found underwater sand dunes in the Amazon forest and can be very soon turn into a desert. The forest cannot withstand more than two consecutive years of drought without breaking down. The study is made by the blue-chip Woods Hole Research Centre, carried out in Amazonia.

I am just showing some pictures that show deep meaning of deforestation.

Today at 9am, i arrived at the Benowa Botanic Gardens to plant some trees. (: Anna and i met Alex, who instructed us on what to do and how to plant trees. We started by making a hole for the tree, then mixing in some fertiliser, carefully removing the tree from the container, carefully place the tree in the hole and put some soil around it. Mulch was then added around the tree with some depression so water can stay in the soil longer. We then put a tree protector over it with some sticks to support it upright. Also at the botanic gardens, we met new people that wanting to help the environment. There were many people and children willing to help. We worked until 11am and had worked up a sweat, however, at the end of the day i felt like i did something great for the environment and i loved the experience of meeting new people in the community and knowing the great positives in planting trees. Here are some pictures taken today + some videos. enjoy (:

Thought i'd share the reason why rain forests and trees in particular, provide our world with many great resources such as oxygen, but many horrible events can occur if we keep cutting down trees. This is to also show to many why something needs to be done fast before all of these matters get worse.

1. Forests are the source of our oxygen
2. Forests help protect us from flooding and massive erosion
3. Forests are a valuable resource. Even though they are renewable...renewal is not automatic, we can harvest to the point where the soil is unprotected, washes away and we are unable to grow a new forest on the same location, we have lost our resource.
4. They are the backbone of many ecosystems, protecting them provides homes to many species.
5. Forests provide recreational activities for many.

the rain forests make most of the water that we can drink or use for plant growth.
some is condensed from the sea but that reaches only the coastal areas .
the bulk ,comes from the forests ,and the rivers come from the rainfall which comes from the trees ,
and the trees with precipitation,feed the rivers when it is not raining and keep them running all year round.

If we kill all the trees,we kill the rivers .we kill the rain. we kill us.
the trees also absorb the heat in the day and heat up the place in the night ,so they keep the temperature comfortable to live in.

another problem that has occurred is desertification. Desertification is a result of bad agricultural methods and deforestation, and as a result the desserts at nights are freezing cold and during the days you burn up.Desertification is a worldwide problem directly affecting 250 million people and more than 4 billion hectares of land one third of the Earth's surface area.
the sahara used to be a forests
arabia ,irak ,iran used to be fertile lands in biblical times
Ghengas Kahn burned all the forrests here and filled the well with water and so turning vast lands into dessert.
the Spanish Armada deforested Spain .the Phoenician fleet deforested

Dear Eva,

This is confirming your RSVP for the Tree Day site
http://treeday.planetark.org/site/45146

Sunday, 01 August 2010 9:00am to 11:00am

RSVP Details:

Name: Eva Jana
Email: ekrepsova@sthildas.qld.edu.au
Number of Adults: 1
Number of Children: 2

Site Details:

Organisation: Friends of Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens
Site Address: 232 Ashmore Road, Benowa
Benowa, Gold Coast Qld 4217

Nearest Cross Street: Benowa Road

Site Reference: Gold Coast UBD, Map 38, N10

Directions: Entry to Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens at Rosser Park is from Ashmore Road, opposite the playing fields of Benowa State High School, about 5kms from Surfers Paradise. It is well signposted as you approach in either direction on Ashmore Road.

Suitable for Children: Yes
Accessible for disabled: Yes

Notes about the day for Volunteers: Please wear appropriate clothing (hat, covered shoes, long sleeved shirt and long pants recommended. Sunscreen and insect repellant recommended.
The following will be provided: Gloves, Tools and equipment for planting, Drinking water, Snacks, Refreshments, BBQ


This email was generated from the Tree Day Website - Thanks for helping to grow a greener Australia!

Whilst i was on holidays in Austria, I went mountain walking and saw this man cutting down a tree, so i thought i would video record him.

Some info about the Tree Day, i have just realised that i wrote the wrong group that are organising the Tree Day. It is not 'Carbon Catchers', it is called, 'the National Tree Day,".

Tree Day Site Details

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Sunday, 01 August 2010 9:00am to 11:00am

Aims of the project: Friends of the Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens invite the community to join with them in helping to grow our Botanic Gardens by extending the plantings of the Mangroves to Mountains Walk within the Botanic Gardens.

Organisation: Friends of Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens
Site Address: 232 Ashmore Road, Benowa
Benowa, Gold Coast Qld 4217

Nearest Cross Street: Benowa Road
Site Reference: Gold Coast UBD, Map 38, N10

Directions: Entry to Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens at Rosser Park is from Ashmore Road, opposite the playing fields of Benowa State High School, about 5kms from Surfers Paradise. It is well signposted as you approach in either direction on Ashmore Road.

Suitable for Children: Yes
Accessible for disabled: Yes

Notes about the day for Volunteers:
Please wear appropriate clothing (hat, covered shoes, long sleeved shirt and long pants recommended. Sunscreen and insect repellant recommended.

The following will be provided: Gloves, Tools and equipment for planting, Drinking water, Snacks, Refreshments, BBQ

Activities that will take place on the day:

• Tree Planting

Website: www.fgcbg.org.au

About Tree Day

National Tree Day will be held on Sunday 1st August, with Schools Tree Day taking place on the Friday 30th July. Last year over 312 000 people, including 229,000 school children dug deep to improve their natural surroundings. Tree Day shows children how easy and fun it is to help our environment.

National Tree Day, (August 1, 2010) and Schools Tree Day (July 30, 2010) combine to make Australia's biggest community tree-planting event. Co-ordinated by Planet Ark and proudly sponsored by Toyota, these are special days for all Australians to help out by planting and caring for native trees and shrubs to improve the environment in which they live. National Tree Day was co-founded by Olivia Newton-John and Planet Ark in 1996 and since then more than 2 million volunteers have planted over 15 million native trees and shrubs! It's a day to get down and get your hands dirty to help the planet!

"I had lots of fun on (National Tree) Day and I can't wait to do it again next year!"

A Special Day For Schools

Each year, around 200 000 Australian school students participate in a special National Tree Day event designed just for children – Schools Tree Day! It’s a wonderful opportunity for children to make a contribution to Australia’s natural environment and have lots of fun at the same time.

Getting involved in Schools Tree Day is a great thing to do. You can see your teachers get their hands dirty, make your school look beautiful, have fun with your friends and help the environment all at once!

What is National Tree Day?

National Tree Day, proudly sponsored by Toyota, is Australia's biggest community tree-planting event and a day for all Australians to help out by planting native trees and shrubs at a Tree Day site in their local area.

Environmental Benefits

National Tree Day aims to inspire, educate and recruit Australians to actively care for our unique land and create future generations of committed environmental custodians.

Environmental Advisory Committee

This committee offers expert environmental and educational advice to help develop the Tree Day campaign.

National Tree Day, (August 1, 2010) and Schools Tree Day (July 30, 2010) combine to make Australia's biggest community tree-planting event. Co-ordinated by Planet Ark and proudly sponsored by Toyota, these are special days for all Australians to help out by planting and caring for native trees and shrubs to improve the environment in which they live. National Tree Day was co-founded by Olivia Newton-John and Planet Ark in 1996 and since then more than 2 million volunteers have planted over 15 million native trees and shrubs! It's a day to get down and get your hands dirty to help the planet!

"I had lots of fun on (National Tree) Day and I can't wait to do it again next year!"

A Special Day For Schools

Each year, around 200 000 Australian school students participate in a special National Tree Day event designed just for children – Schools Tree Day! It’s a wonderful opportunity for children to make a contribution to Australia’s natural environment and have lots of fun at the same time.

Getting involved in Schools Tree Day is a great thing to do. You can see your teachers get their hands dirty, make your school look beautiful, have fun with your friends and help the environment all at once!

Environmental Benefits

National Tree Day aims to inspire, educate and recruit Australians to actively care for our unique land and create future generations of committed environmental custodians.

Local Native Plants

There are many reasons why planting native plants that are local to your area (also known as local provenance) is important.

Local native plants have adapted over a long period of time to the specific conditions in your area. They are therefore best adapted to grow in these local conditions and will be more likely to thrive than plants from a different region.

Local plant communities provide the most suitable food and habitat for local native wildlife. This is especially the case if a mixture of plants is selected to reflect the balance (between trees, shrubs and groundcovers) that originally occurred before disturbance.

There may be a whole range of benefits that local native plant communities will bring, depending on the local, regional and broader context.

Here are just some examples of the benefits of restoring native areas of bushland:

• Supporting native animals: birds, bats, possums, bees and snails and other wildlife, in many cases these are in decline or endangered (eg woodland birds in general are in decline across Australia and some, such as the Regent Honeyeater, are in danger of becoming extinct).
• Helping to combat salinity.
• Improving water quality in a stream thus promoting aquatic life (Trees for Fish!).
• Preventing soil erosion.
• Helping to save an endangered animal from extinction.
• Providing a buffer zone to reduce the impact on sensitive areas of native habitat.
• Providing clean fresh air.
• Increasing rainfall by releasing water vapour (through transpiration) and fine particles such as pollen, which are required to seed rain drops.
• Securing our food resources: around one-third of our food comes from plants that rely on native pollinators such as insects!
• Providing a green corridor that connects up existing remnants of bushland.

In our increasingly urbanised world, much of the threat to our native wildlife is through loss of habitat due to clearing for urban development or agriculture. This can be seen as a "death by a thousand cuts" for our native bushland, which has become increasingly fragmented as a result. Take a look around your local area. Whether you live in the bush or the city, it is likely you will find the last dying remnants of once magnificent stands of trees.

Planting for Climate Change

Of course any plant will help to combat climate change by locking up carbon in its growing tissue. So why plant natives when any plant will do?

One of the major impacts of climate change is on biodiversity. Biodiversity is the variety of all living things. Before Climate Change was the "hot" topic in the environmental debate, the loss of biodiversity was internationally recognised as being the major threat facing the future of life on our planet. This threat hasn't gone away, in fact Climate Change has only made combating this threat even more of a challenge.

Apart from the actions that we all must take to reduce our impact on the warming climate, it is vital that we act to help our native wildlife have the best possible chance of adapting to these changing conditions and not go down the path towards extinction.

Planting for Biodiversity

Most of the plants that we depend on for food and other resources have been bred to select for qualities that make them suitable for agriculture. As a result there is often very little genetic diversity. Natural "wild" populations of plants, on the other hand, will vary greatly in their genetic make-up both within a given population and especially between populations growing in different areas. This is part of the diversity of living things that we describe as biodiversity.

Biodiversity encompasses not just the array of different plant and animal species found on the planet, but also the variation between different populations and individuals at the genetic level that may (though not always) be seen as physical differences.

Before Climate Change was the "hot" topic in the environmental debate, the loss of biodiversity was internationally recognised as being the major threat facing the future of life on our planet.

This variety in all living things is important in many ways, such as:

• Helping to safeguard against pests and disease
  
• Providing sources of new medicines and other plant-derived compounds;
• Contributing to the strength and stability of ecosystems (since a more diverse, complex ecosystem will be more stable);
• Enabling ecosystems to adapt to changing conditions;

I have decided what i want to do for my WISE project.
My current idea that i have in idea is to research about reforestation and also, deforestation. I have found a family company on the internet called, "carboncatchers" . This group funds the planting of trees within their plantations and to increase the amount CO² in the world. I have found a set date, and the group members have organized a date in which i will be attending. The date in which it is organized is on the 1st of August at Benowa, from 9am to 11am.
I will be looking forward for the day, and the day will consist with a sausage sizzle, and i will need to bring, gloves, hat, sunglasses and other sun protection.
Mrs Mahon if you're reading this, thought i'd let you know that i have worked really hard on this blog, hehhehe. (: