To date, science still agrees that oxygen is the only gas that fuels human body. We of course know that our lungs need oxygen. However, fact is much more deeper. Oxygen holds pivotal role even in cell, the smallest unit that builds our body.
Oxygen is fuel for cells to do their tasks. These include moving muscles, repairing damaged cells, calming nerves, feeding our brain, excreting toxins, processes food, and many more. Health problems will start to emerge when we do not inhale enough oxygen.
Did you know that our body can keep food and water, but unable to keep excess oxygen? So to keep living, we must receive streams of fresh oxygen, continuously.
Human inhales around 7 or 8 liters of air per minute. 20 percent of the air is oxygen, and only a quarter of the oxygen is consumed by lungs, or around 550 liters of pure oxygen every day.
However, a precise volume of inhaled oxygen is hard to measure because it involves a complex and whole gas transfer and depends on many factors, such as lungs capacity, general health, and air pressure where a person live.
So, what can provides that much of oxygen, for every person, every second, every day?
Through photosynthesis process, plants absorb and use carbon dioxide to produce carbohydrate, food reserves in plants. At the same time, plants release oxygen. In a day, plants release more oxygen than they use for breathing.
How much oxygen released by plants is influenced by type of plants, age, size, and overall health of plants. Compare to grass or food crop, tree releases more oxygen because it binds or keeps carbon as woods. The bigger the tree, the more it releases oxygen annually. In average, a tree can release around 130 kg of oxygen every year. That is why forest is called lungs of the world.
What about Indonesia’s forest?
As quoted from a study conducted by Business Watch Indonesia, between year 2000 and 2005, at least 310 thousand hectares of forest had lost. The number increased to 840 thousand hectares in 2012. During this period, deforestation occurred in Sumatera, Kalimantan, and Papua. Deforestation is caused by several activities, among other land utilization for agriculture and settlement, mining, illegal logging, and forest fire.
Forest loss affects vast areas. Accordingly, various parties, including community, should involve and furnish supports to each other to recover and protect forest land. A decade earlier, the Government of Indonesia has launched 28 November as Indonesia’s Tree Planting Day. It was enacted by Presidential Decree Number 24 Year 2008. It is one of government effort to raise awareness and participation of community to decrease deforestation and destruction of nature.
So, how many trees have you planted?