How to Save Forests ... Without Planting a Tree

Arbor Day is the day when we focus on trees — appreciating them, talking about them, but most of all planting them.

Don't get us wrong. There are many benefits of planting trees, including increased property values, cleaner air and water, and reduced home energy costs.

The tips in this feature are a little different. In many cases they're easier than planting a tree — and they may even do more to preserve forests, both local and global, than planting a tree would. At least 20% of global forests have been lost in the last 150 years, and the pace of deforestation is growing in many parts of the world, with a number of serious consequences. Deforestation stands next to burning fossil fuel among major causes of climate change (living forests store carbon, whereas burning or clear-cutting them releases carbon), and the loss of forests is pushing many species toward extinction as their habitat is destroyed (an estimated 70% of the world's land species live in forests).

Fortunately, there are many simple lifestyle choices we can make to reduce the pressures of deforestation. Read on to learn about them...