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The Importance of Trees for Sustaining Life on Earth: Does a single species of large tree make a difference for local or global climate? (Original in portuguese)
Organization(s):Brazil GLOBE v-School
Country:Brazil
Student(s):Ariadne Heloíse Giulia Campos, Bianca Benevides de Souza, Maria Eduarda da Rocha, Thalyane Eduarda Silva Dias
Grade Level:Middle School (grades 6-8, ages 11-14)
GLOBE Educator(s):Acácio Pereira Silva
Contributors:Inês Mauad
Report Type(s):International Virtual Science Symposium Report
Protocols:Biometry (including Tree Height)
Presentation Video:
View Video
Language(s):Portuguese
Date Submitted:03/06/2024
A national problem with global consequences is deforestation. In addition to the felling of trees in Brazilian forests, which in itself already causes an extremely negative impact on the planet's climate, there are other phenomena of natural and anthropomorphic origins that contributed to the year 2023 being the hottest in history air.
In a context of climate change and an increase in extreme events, the consequences of the initial problem arise: large fires. The consequences of deforestation and fires in different Brazilian regions for the Earth's climate are calamitous. The importance of preserving trees and forests for maintaining environmental balance and preserving life as we know it is widely recognized.
With this in mind, students at Escola Estadual PEI Orlando Signorelli, in the city of Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil, noticed that in the school's green area there is a large tree of the species Paineira Rosa (Ceiba speciosa). This tree is typical of the Atlantic Forest (a biome that is currently very devastated) and in our region few specimens are still found. The tree is large, lush and leafy and under its shade you can notice a coolness and pleasant temperature even on the hottest days.
The school's students faced the challenge of cultivating hundreds of large trees to help restore a small part of the Atlantic Forest, whose current composition represents only around 12% of the original forest. The culmination of this action was the planting, from seeds of the Paineira Rosa tree (Ceiba speciosa), of 300 specimens and subsequent donation to the school community. Furthermore, the students wrote a book of poems with the theme “Environment in Prose and Verse”.
Based on these initial observations, we embarked on a project with our science teacher and confirmed that the giant Paineira Rosa really has the capacity to change the Local Climate and thus contribute to the balance of the Global Climate.
Keywords: deforestation, fires, Paineira Rosa tree, local balance, global climate.