Trees are so very wonderful: they shade, they cool, they provide habitat for birds and lichens, they embellish the landscape. We mourn when a favorite old tree falls, and we express concern when trees are cleared for development.

Now we learn that trees can save Earth from global warming. A Trillion Tree Campaign is underway around the world to achieve this seemingly hopeless goal.

We all learned that plant material removes carbon from the atmosphere, and a trillion trees could clean the air in healing amounts, according to the campaign. Plant-for-the-Planet and Wikipedia provide information on the specifics.

Virginia requires forestry work to leave seed trees or to replant acreage cleared through logging. That does not speak to land cleared for development, but more and more communities require some sort of landscaping in commercial or residential work.

Many elements go into the puzzle of cooling our overheated earth. Trees provide a natural, beautiful and easy-to-achieve way to d...