Everyone appreciates and values trees. They bring us many tangible benefits. Timber is one of our most versatile raw materials; woods and trees encourage wildlife and support a great variety of species; they enhance our landscape; and they provide shelter and shade. Many people feel instinctively that trees also have a benign, if undefined, influence on our lives in more subtle ways. Science has shown us those instincts are well-founded. We know, for instance, that trees replace oxygen in the atmosphere and recycle water through transpiration.
In recent years we have developed the skills and technology to explore further these perceived, but unmeasured, benefits of trees. This study is part of that exploration. It shows that trees can absorb air-borne pollutants. Through their very existence. therefore, trees help to improve our local environment and indeed our own well being. This reinforces the need to plant and care for our amenity trees.