Hug This Tree: Sugar Maple
November 16, 2007 by Jennifer
The Sugar Maple is the official state tree of Vermont and is lovely. Tall, winding, and spread out for shade with beautiful leaves.
The Sugar Maple is considered the best source for maple sugar — read more about specific Sugar Maple characteristics. Grow Native also has some great info for Sugar Maple huggers.
NPR recently offered an alarming, but great article on the future of the Sugar Maple as global warming continues to advance. Sugar Maple trees are delicate; or I should say sensitive and while global warming is not healthy for anyone or anything on the planet it could be very bad for this beautiful tree and the generations of growers and maple sugar harvesters as well.
It’s a sad situation when trees need to adjust to our poor actions and all the more reason to try and think and act in an eco-sensible manner.
Who wants to see this tree vanish?
How kids can hug the Sugar Maple:
On the topic of tree preservation one great website for kids to visit is the Smokey the Bear kids zone. Games, stories, activities, and more make this an invaluable site that parents and kids can visit together. Kids can even join the Smokey club and receive email updates on forest and fire safety news.
Another good related website is the Maples page at Environmental Education for Kids (EEK!). There is a kid-friendly story about how maple sugar is made, legends behind the tree, and links to recipes.
One small step you can take today:
Read the NPR article and stop for a minute to consider which actions you are participating in that might be detrimental to the success of trees on the planet. That’s the best tree hug you can give.
Jennifer-
this is great…Maple syrup..mmm…I can’t imagine life without it.
I know virtually nothing about trees. However, I am Pro-economic ecology.
I had a question for you though. Is it normal to have to recharge my rechargable batteries for my television remote once a week?
I’m almost irritated enough to go back to regular batteries. Maybe it’s just the charger?
Marye, you like syrup… not too surprising
You likely cook often with it too.
Tracee… Do you use your remote often? Here is the quick problems with rechargeable, If you don’t use something frequently than it’s not a good idea to use rechargeable — although Duracel now makes a slow drain battery for items like cameras and what not that will not drain as quickly. Another issues is that most rechargeable alkalines lose up to 10% capacity with every cycle which means you’re losing time maybe.
Rechargeable batteries are a better value over the long term for items that use short bursts of power like a camera or hand held.
You might want to check and see if there’s something wrong with your charger. Radio Shake maybe would know. Another thing is if you go to regular batteries you can recycle them. Obviously it’s not as good as rechargeable but most communities offer battery recycling (contact your recycling co.) To recycle rechargeable batteries, check with http://www.call2recycle.org, (1-877-2-RECYCLE) (1-877-2-732-9253) to find a site that collects rechargeable batteries. This is sort of an in-depth topic so maybe I should just do a post on it since I can’t cover all your issues here.
Overall it sounds weird to me that you’re having to recharge weekly. But I’m no battery expert either. I’ll have to look it up.
Thanks for visiting tree hugging family
Rechargable batteries and what products they are good for definately deserves its own post.
I didn’t think it was normal. I think we’ll have to buy more batteries. My husband may lose his head next time he steals the batteries out of my remote to fuel his.
Do we use the remote often – squeels of laughter in my head indicate that – yes, we do.