I think I will never see a poem as beautiful as a tree…

– Joyce Kilmer

Many of our problems could be solved by planting trees. To that end, an idea has been proposed online to create a nationwide plan to plant a billion trees – and not just to make the earth greener. Of course, there are plenty of benefits to planting that many trees, but the main reason is that you can create a huge machine that pulls carbon out of the atmosphere. It’s a step that anyone can take, while still sucking from a Styrofoam cup with a straw.

But first, let’s take stock. Where do you stand? Do you have a garden with lots of trees and have you also planted trees around your house? Have you supported a local tree planting plan? Do you plan to plant trees this year? You are either part of the solution or part of the problem. Which would you rather be?

If your lawn is a green carpet with few or no trees that you mow, water and fertilize, you are part of the problem. But you can easily be part of the solution.

I live on 37 acres with two small ponds. The landscaping around my house is essentially a forest with some grass. When we built our house, we ran the access road through and around significant trees and notched a corner of the house to avoid cutting down a large white oak.

The atmosphere that trees create increases the value of a property. This focus on billions of trees is a topic of conversation and one of the many ways to combat climate change. (I hate how some nerds have forced “global warming” to be called “climate change.” It’s the warming of our atmosphere that causes climate change!)

Even on a busy street in Little Rock, I see progress. Check out the landscaping around 7 Brew Coffee at 8023 Cantrell Road – a great example of tree planting in an urban setting. What if every business planted a tree on every street in the state? A thousand drops of water fill a bucket.

Another example is the CHI St. Vincent Infirmary site in Little Rock. In downtown El Dorado, the beautiful landscaping and trees planted by Murphy USA demonstrate how to plant trees in a corporate headquarters.

Over the years, several people have asked me what the most important part of renovating downtown El Dorado is, and that’s an easy question because to me it’s the trees. If you want a different answer, go to Ray Hanley’s Postcard Past pictures of historic downtowns in the Democrat-Gazette. They all look terrible, and that’s because our grandfathers decided that the first thing you do when you start a community is cut down all the trees.

The historic photos of downtown El Dorado are typical downtown shots from 1900 with barely a tree in sight, but look at Main Street today. Trees!

But before we get carried away by the wonderful atmosphere that trees bring to a city, let’s take a closer look at the plan to plant a billion trees. One mature tree sequesters at least 40 pounds of climate-warming carbon annually; imagine what a billion mature trees could do. As a side benefit, studies have shown that over the course of its lifetime, a city tree provides a $25,000 benefit to the city.

How are these trees planted? Through partnerships with organizations. A few years ago, a few of us came together and formed 50 For the Future. That was instrumental in bringing destination expert Roger Brooks to El Dorado. Before that, 50 For the Future had started a project planting crepe myrtle trees. Clara Jones and I found a nursery and over the course of a few weeks, we sold about 5,000 crepe myrtles. You can see some of them along Madison Avenue, Calion Road and West Oak Street in El Dorado.

Partnerships with local government are another great way to plant many of these trees. Since the 1980s, I have worked with Mayor Mike Dumas to plant nearly 1,000 trees downtown. I partnered with numerous groups and some state agencies to get as many trees as possible. I marked the spots where they should be planted. The city sent a crew to dig out a three-foot square for the sidewalk, and we then planted the trees. We put our money to good use by taking advantage of the matching programs of the Arkansas Forestry Commission as well as several other clubs and organizations.

Planting trees is only a fraction of what this program will accomplish. Just the act of planting a tree and watching it grow will influence a person and encourage them to get involved in the fight against global warming. So take the first step and plant a tree. Your life will slowly move toward reversing the warming of our atmosphere.

Email Richard Mason at (email protected).