7 Badass Benefits of Planting Trees

We reckon there are probably around 60,000 benefits of planting trees, but who has the time to read about all of them? Instead, we’ve done the hard work for you and listed just 7 of our favorite ones.What are they? What does it matter? Are Click A Tree really talking about the disadvantages of planting trees? Well, you’re in the right place.

7 Social, Economic, and Environmental Benefits of Planting Trees

Let’s keep the good vibes coming! All the way from the social benefits of planting trees to the ecological, environmental, and even the economic benefits, trees are a miracle.

In fact, simply by being planted, trees contribute to an incredible 16 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Good things normally come in trees, after all! But to keep our journalistic integrity intact (we’re a serious team here at Click A Tree), we’re going to also discuss three of the disadvantages of planting trees. We’ll debate whether these three disadvantages make up for the 7 advantages of trees that we’ve mentioned today.

And at the end, it’s your turn to let us know what you think! So don’t leave this page without leaving a comment. Let’s get cracking. Here are 7 of our favorite advantages of planting trees first.

1. Trees Provide Families With A Dependable Salary

It’s as simple as that heading. One of the most important benefits of planting trees is the work it creates. Thousands of work-hours are created when people are employed to plant trees and later nurture them.

The job of planting a tree isn’t finished when you put a seed into the ground. Trees need to be cared for until they’re fully developed, and some of our workers look after the young trees for up to 10 years! For baobab trees, it’s even 12 years minimum!

Even after the teenage trees have been kicked out and find their feet, our workers regularly check in and prune the forest here and there. Just to check in and make sure they’re doing alright. Get them a haircut once in a while.

We even did a calculation in our article about the Costs of a Tree to show you how much work it takes to plant trees on a large scale.

Trees are often planted in developing nations, where a dependable salary can be hard to come by. Good work helps local people to escape poverty, afford an education, and even afford the simple necessities (like food and clothing) they couldn’t justify before.

If those aren’t advantages of trees and advantages of planting them, then we don’t know what is.

2. And They’re A Lifeline For Animals Too!

I love trees, you love trees, Chris really loves trees.

But you know who loves them even more? Animals. Especially the endangered ones. Trees create vital habitat, so they’re quite literally a lifesaver for many animals. They help to maintain healthy and balanced ecosystems.

When we plant more trees, those precious ecosystems continue to thrive. All the way from elephants to leopards, from orangutans to pandas, animals depend on trees for shelter, nursing grounds, and food.

And that goes for all the tiny insects and even the underwater animals that depend on trees too. Grouper and lobster are just two of the surprising underwater animals that need trees to nest their young.

You read that correctly – the roots mangrove trees play a crucial role as underwater homes for marine life of all kinds.

3. You Like Breathing, Right?

Excuse us if we’re being a little forward here but uh…that thing you’re doing with your mouth? And your nose? The thing that keeps you alive…? Yeah, trees pretty much make that happen.

So. Since you like breathing so much, we’re pretty confident that you can begin to appreciate the benefits of planting trees in a selfish way. We don’t blame you. Oxygen feels pretty good.

But on top of providing us with oxygen, trees naturally absorb carbon dioxide. They’re carbon sinks. That means that trees keep us alive, but they also absorb carbon and battle the effects of global warming in the process. How amazing is that?

We’re racking up the advantages of trees pretty quickly here.

4. Challenging Gender Roles And Gender Equality

We’ve already mentioned that many of our trees are planted in developing nations where some women are still expected to have ‘traditional’ roles in the house. When they’re employed to help us plant trees instead, they’re escaping these roles and building a new, independent career for themselves.

Shushila and Kanchi got a new lease of life when they started working in tree-planting nurseries.

The benefits of planting trees are huge for women individually, but they’re even bigger collectively. They can create real change and promote gender equality in countries where female workers have limited options.

5. Would You Like Any Desert?

Another benefit of planting trees is that they prevent desertification and natural disasters. Don’t believe us? It’s true. The pros of planting trees come in all forms.

Planting trees helps to reverse desertification. It does that by providing nutrients to the soil, and therefore preventing soil erosion. Trees (as well as the other plants and even crops) can grow, and they bind everything together.

6. Trees and the Water Cycle

Geography class isn’t over yet! It turns out trees play a crucial role in the water cycle too, another one of their water-based advantages. Trees absorb water from the atmosphere (and through their roots), and transpire excess water back into the atmosphere. They hold water like a natural sponge, and even improve the water quality.

At the same time, the roots of the tree are filtering out any impurities in the soil, and bringing all the vitamins and minerals to the top for other plants to use. Pretty impressive, right?

7. Trees Keep a Cool Head

To top off the benefits of planting trees (for today), trees also cool our planet. They reduce temperatures by providing shade, and that means less air conditioning in our buildings.

This is why sustainability matters. As well as giving us the air we need to breathe, trees even clean it for us. All the way from providing more shade to removing urban pollutants from the air, we have a lot to thank trees for. 

3 Debatable Disadvantages of Planting Trees

Oakay oakay. Time for the disadvantages of planting trees. Why are we bothering to discuss the cons of planting trees at all if we want you to plant trees instead?

Well, we’re honest. And there’s no single solution when it comes to saving our planet.

1. Short-Term Pain? Long-Term Gain? What Do You Think?

One of the biggest disadvantages of planting trees on a large scale is that it requires quite a bit of land and quite a bit of time. And that land could instead be used to plant crops, for instance, like tobacco. Less time, less land, quicker turnaround.

Some workers believe that these crops are far more profitable in the short-term. Unfortunately, they often fail to see that after 2-3 years their soil will be exhausted and long-term polluted from all the toxic pesticides.

Other farmers recognise the bigger picture: planting trees over a longer period of time makes more money in the long run. And we’ve just told you all about the advantages of trees!

So what do you think? Trees or tobacco?

2. Using Trees As Leeway

Sometimes, companies plant trees with the idea of offsetting carbon emissions. That being the case, they might choose to plant as many trees as possible, which means planting the cheapest tree species.

We all know that planting trees simply to calm your conscience isn’t a great model. Ideally, we try to reduce our emissions in the first place, and then we plant trees regardless.

When it comes to reforestation, bear in mind that the advantages of planting the cheapest trees are less significant. That’s because it leads to a monoculture that doesn’t accurately represent nature.

On the other hand, we choose to plant trees as part of a healthy, natural, and diverse ecosystem. It takes longer and is slightly more costly, but we believe it’s the most beneficial way to plant them on a large scale.

Which do you prefer? Planting as many cheap trees as possible? Or planting varied and natural forests?
And just remember, if you’re ever unsure, then of course we highly recommend planting a tree anyway! In case you’re not sure. Just in case. Just while you make up your mind. Planting a tree is always better than not planting a tree.

3. Trees Require Selflessness

Chances are that if you planted a tree today, you wouldn’t get to enjoy its benefits first-hand. Trees take decades to grow, and you won’t necessarily be able to enjoy the benefits of planting it straight away.

We need to be patient. However, every single time you see a tree, you can remind yourself that you’re only seeing it because somebody else selflessly planted it a long time ago.

Be kind to the next generations and plant a tree today.

Now that you know about the benefits of trees, don’t you think it’s worth saving trees as well? Here are 10 surprisingly simple hacks to save trees.

The Benefits of Planting Trees – Time for Discussion

As you can see, there are no pros of planting trees without cons. However, we strongly believe that the benefits of planting trees outweigh the disadvantages.

We believe that we need to plant as many trees as possible, since they do way more than just save our planet and combat climate change (we’re being ironic, btw). They save every single living organism – including you and I.
What do you think? Leave a comment below to tell us your thoughts.

Let’s Plant Even More Trees

You’ve already helped us to plant 100,000 trees – and that makes you a star in our eyes. Yes, you, lovely reader. 

But what do you say – feel like helping us plant 100,000 more? 

We’ve just given you 7 amazing reasons to do it! Share our stories on Instagram, tune in for Treevia Thursdays, get involved in our Facebook conversations about the benefits of planting trees, and plant a free tree just by signing up for our GROW newsletter as well.

Phew.

Stay awesome, keep on planting trees, and keep the good vibes coming.