How could life be without continuous supply of basic needs? Those who have never experienced hardship and deprivation from what they call “comforts in life” deem this as a worst nightmare. The dearth is like weaning their dependent body gradually away from a life support system such as an artificial respirator. They would rather accept death in a gas chamber than be subjected to the agony of losing breath little by little, not by hours but by days, months and years, grasping for even just a whiff of breathable air or succumb to asphyxiation.

Just imagine the society without oxygen to breathe in not because they are locked in an airtight cabin but lamentably because there are no more species on the land that produce the oxygen that all animals, to include the homo sapien (man in common) inhale for survival. In grade school yet, people are taught that only plants produce the oxygen that animals breathe in. In a reciprocal relation, man breath out the carbon dioxide that plants need into order to live and grow. The cycle rolls endlessly, hopefully until Earth expires and shatters like any fireball in the firmament of the universe.

While it may be true that plants could propagate themselves without aid of human intervention, the interference of nature like wind and of the animals lower in class than humans is significant. This is not because plants are immovable but because there are material elements in both nature and this lower class of animals that help the plants in their reproduction. Albeit an amazing fact of life, which the religious fanatics would call a divine intervention, retaining the population of the plant kingdom needs a great help from the superior creations on planet earth, simply the humans.

Has there been another planet surely identified to be another Earth for humans, with all the comforts of survival such as water, sunlight and breathable air (oxygen, that is for humans). In the International Space Station, oxygen does not come naturally. It is loaded like fuel in an engine. Various sci-fi motion pictures and video documentaries have disclosed how far survival condition is in the space or even in Mars and Venus from that on planet Earth. Have you seen the movie Wall-e where one single seedling planted on a worn out shoe has sprouted into a colossal pack of hope, because in that one seedling the vision of a revived Earth is relived? This pronounces the importance of tree to human life.

If not one tree grows anymore in any part of this planet, death like asphyxiation among animals could be imminent. This is why such is the campaign now of the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources particularly the regional office in Eastern Visayas, under Regional Director Leonardo Sibbaluca. Reforestation and planting of trees – mangrove and fruit-bearing trees, are necessary. Especially following the devastation suffered by Tacloban City and other nearby towns, growing natural buffer along the strips facing the seas and riverbanks, through trees, is imperative. This is besides the benefit that humans and animals could get from the different parts of the plants that could either be used for industry or personal consumption.

Corollary to this, if illegal logging is blamed for the massive flooding in the low land, why not blame mining which is worst that any form of logging, even to include poaching and kaingin. Is mining a lesser evil than illegal logging? It certainly is not, but conversely a great threat to the forests and nature in general.