Banting Green: Science and the Environment Plus: Adopt-A-Tree Program at Frederick Banting

Below is all about our Adopt-a-tree program at Banting with the Ottawa Carleton District School Board and how it helps our environment!

Over the summer I helped Janet and the environment with adopting a plant and I took home three maple seedlings for the summer. Our trees are being planted at the local OCDSB outdoor education center to increase habitat for animals on that site. By adopting a tree it will give you the opportunity to attend the outdoor education centers and enjoy the habitat with all the trees students have adopted over the summers past and present! The trees I adopted were put in pots and I had them in my backyard with the most sunlight. Every day I watered each pot twice… once in the morning and then again at night, unless it seemed to be very dry a specific day I would water once in between both periods of time. As the days went by they slowly did grow. It takes years for trees to fully grow.to maturity. While in the pot I kept turning the plants so the sunlight would hit each side of the plant so they would grow equally rather than more on one side. If I had not been turning the pots I would have seen phototropism which is the tendency for a plant to bend towards the light which would have caused the maple seedlings to grow crooked. It was very interesting seeing the trees grow slowly I just wanted them to get bigger and bigger. It then came to the end of the summer and I brought them back to school. They did have growth and it was an experience watching them grow as well as seeing the difference when watering the maple trees.

Adopt-a-tree program run by the Ottawa Carleton District School Board and carried out by students which is very helpful for the environment as we need trees to survive for the benefits they bring to organisms that live in and around them, for the cycling of carbon dioxide service they provide as well as the creation of oxygen through photosynthesis. As the days go by we are losing trees due to construction taking over habitats. As there is more and more urbanization ecological niches are destroyed for roads, housing developments, and shopping malls, for example. If someone ever gets the chance to adopt a plant I strongly suggest it as just one simple plant or tree can help! Janet is a very good example of whom to speak to when it comes to the environment. She knows loads of information as well as great facts! Do it for the planet! Listen to Janet.