Lesson 3 Nature & Us
Letters to Nature
Dear Tree, Whenever I walk past you, your ____ leaves bring a smile to my face.
Whenever I stop in front of you and take a deep breath of fresh air, I appreciate the ____ that you produce.
Without you and all your friends, we humans wouldn’t be able ____ get enough oxygen.
By the ____ I noticed that a family of birds has made a nest in your branches.
It’s so kind of you to provide them with ____ home.
I hope that more people realize how important you ____ all the other trees are to the environment. Have a nice day!
Believe it or not, trees in Melbourne, Australia receive emails like this all the ____
How is ____ possible that trees have email addresses?
And why ____ people sending them messages?
The story behind these emails
The story behind these emails begins with ____ Urban Forest Strategy plan, a response to Australia’s millennium drought.
This drought lasted from ____ late 1990s to 2010.
By the time it ended, 40 percent ____ the city’s 77,000 trees were in a state of declining health.
____ the overall number of trees was decreasing.
As a result, the amount of shade provided by trees within ____ city, also known as canopy cover, decreased.
The loss of canopy cover is a major threat to urban environments because it ____ temperatures.
Higher temperatures in cities can be ____ for residents, as they increase the risk of heat exhaustion.
They also lead to a rise in ____ use of air-conditioning.
This speeds up climate change by increasing energy consumption ____ greenhouse gas emissions.
Something had to be done
Something had to be done to deal with the loss ____ Melbourne’s trees.
In 2012, the city government announced its Urban ____ Strategy plan.
It ____ the ambitious goal of planting more than 3,000 trees every year for the next twenty years.
The plan also involved ____ creation of an online map called the Urban Forest Visual.
This interactive map shows the location ____ every single tree in the city’s parks and along its roads.
It uses colors and ____ to indicate each tree’s age and genus.
Also, users can click on a tree to find out ____ species and even send it an email.
At first, the “Email this tree” function had a specific ____
It was designed to allow people to easily inform council ____ about trees that were damaged or in poor health.
After the map was posted
After the map was posted online, something unexpected ____
The trees started receiving thousands of emails, but ____ of them were not reports about damage or poor health.
Instead, they were love letters, poems, ____ and messages expressing appreciation for the trees.
One person wrote, “I love the way ____ light shines on your leaves and how your branches hang so low.
It is almost like you are trying ____ hug me.”
The tree mail phenomenon quickly spread, and people all over the world started sending ____
A ____ that was sent all the way from Russia said,
“When I read about this wonderful project, I was inspired to write to you, even though I live ____ of miles away.
Although we are separated by a great distance, we ____ the same planet and the same environment.
Perhaps one day we will meet. Until then, I hope you can stay healthy and ____
The global popularity of the tree mail phenomenon reminds us that we are all connected to nature, and we are all involved in ____ a more sustainable world.
Without collective action from people across the globe, we would have little hope of saving our ____ for future generations.
Locally, the tree mail
Locally, the tree mail phenomenon has inspired many Melbourne residents to offer their own ideas about ____ an environmentally friendly urban environment.
Some have even volunteered to measure trees ____ monitor animals for nature programs in the city.
Meanwhile, the Urban Forest Strategy’s tree planting project ____ remained on track,
and canopy cover is predicted to increase from 23 percent in 2012 to 40 percent by the ____ 2040.
Melbourne’s urban forest strategy will help keep the ____ cool.
It will also ____ residents to interact with nature and engage in outdoor activities every day.
As a result, residents will be happier and healthier as they move toward a greener ____