A treeless world

01 CONJECTURE

If you are holding on to a script for a Hollywood blockbuster film set in a world without trees and are curious what this world would look like? Then this is the article for you. Let us summarise, expand upon and, finally, conclude this treeless nightmare..

So, for starters..

Here is what would happen.

1. Droughts

Huge parts of the world would dry up completely. Aquifers (underground formations of rock and sediment saturated with water) would lose their natural rechargers namely trees. When rain falls trees and plants are required to funnel rainwater to the aquifers and replenish those. Without trees, no recharging the aquifers and no discharge zones leading to pompous droughts. Trees are also important for maintaining a balance in the water cycle as they release water in the form of vapour in the air. This disruption of the water cycle leads to less rainfall and thus less groundwater. Lakes and reservoirs are no longer supplied with more droughts as a result.

2. Flooding

So what about rain? If it rains a lot, no droughts. That is good then. Right? No. Think floods. Massive regional flooding. Disaster! Trees act as a water-absorbing system, absorbing excess surface water with their massive roots and holding on to it, funnelling it to underground water reservoirs. No trees, no mechanism to hold excess water and unchecked, relentless floods.

3. Mass extinction events

What about animals. Surely, they will be okay, no? Forget about it. Deforestation causes animals to lose their natural habitat, leading to a decrease in predation, scarcer food supplies and the eradication of entire species.

4. From 02 sink to polluted soils

So what about us? Surely, we can survive! Think again, child. I mean TreeGenerations fanatic. While trees produce only a tiny fraction of the planet’s O2 reservoir, a planet without trees, would definitely be a more polluted planet. Roots extract pollution from soil, whilst leaves absorb them from the atmosphere. Moreover, all the bountiful and tasty nuts, fruits and other types of produce would be lost forever and no longer a part of our culinary lives. Apart from these unpleasantries, the utter devastation caused by the aforementioned flooding, erosion and droughts would be enough to unsettle life as we know it. So better be nice to our friendly neighbourhood trees.

5. Beauty

Finally, while the loss of trees would not lead to the loss of all our paper supplies (many other fibres can work as an alternative to wood-pulp paper), it would be a less pretty world as trees do an amazing job of beautifying our planet, providing habitats for species from birds to snakes and squirrels and present themselves as our companions throughout life.

If you enjoyed reading about a planet without trees, you may want to learn more about the fragile relationship between tree life and the proliferation of CO2 right HERE:

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