Trees absorb CO2 and give off O2, a process that’s been taking place for millions of years. Sequestration rates range, on a per tree basis, an “estimated average of approximately one ton of carbon dioxide over [a tree's] lifetime.” Logically then, one would think we should be planting trees at an astronomical rate to act as carbon sinks in an effort to mitigate climate change. So why are we still clear-cutting in the Amazon and destroying forestland for palm oil production? Perhaps it’s because, even though we generally recognize the value of trees, they’re still worth more cut down than standing. Wouldn’t we leave them alone if the opposite were true?

UN-REDD, a global United Nations program, addresses deforestation and establishes a financial value for forests left intact. This effort is critical as “deforestation and forest degradation … account for nearly 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than the entire global transportation sector and second only to the energy sector.” Countries like Bolivia, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia are participating in UN-REDD but there are still many obstacles to overcome, related mainly to corruption and cultural differences. Interestingly, UN-REDD is popular within the international forestry community, but is not well known in the United States, except in California.

Challenges facing trees aren’t limited to human-based activity, however. In Colorado, the Mountain Pine Beetle has devastated regional forests leaving vast amounts of mountain ranges barren while exacerbating the risk of forest fire. A 2011 aerial survey showed “that 4.6 million acres in Colorado, Wyoming and South Dakota have been affected since the first signs of the [beetle] outbreak in 1996.” That number is up from 4.3 million acres in 2010 and there is concern the western mountain landscape will look drastically different in just a few more years.

Unfortunately, tree plight and disease is predicted to increase given climate change and shifting ecosystems. The Mountain Pine Beetle, for example, historically died off each year during winter months, yet milder winters provide the beetle ample time to not only survive, but reproduce at double the rate. The forest simply cannot withstand the duration of attack.

In addition to deforestation and natural predators, trees are also in high material demand. Trees compose everything from paper to floorboards and we’ve come to rely on tree products for so many of our everyday purchases. Old growth, in particular, is prized for being some of the strongest and most desirable wood in the world. In fact, the famous California Redwood was all but extinct until conservation efforts stepped in to save the tree.

It’s only recently that the benefits of trees beyond the basic market value structure have begun to be quantified. Trees have long provided poetic beauty and inspiration, but research demonstrates that trees do so much more. One interesting study showed that decomposing trees leach acids into the ocean, helping to fertilize plankton, a food chain building block. Trees also filter water and are “capable of cleaning up the most toxic wastes, including explosives, solvents and organic wastes.” Trees and plants in the Amazon are shown to hold medicinal value as well.

The benefits of trees are vast and it’s no wonder more and more groups are pushing for increased urban forests, tree education and national park preservation. Ecotourism is another approach to stopping massive scale deforestation, but it’s still an uphill battle. The further away we get from trees, the further away we get from a core part of ourselves; maybe it’s time to take a closer look at what we’re missing.

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If there are any lingering doubts that solar, wind, hydro, and biofuels, represent the future of the energy industry, this should dispel them: the infamous Goldman Sachs plans to invest $40 billion in these and other clean energy sources over the next 10 years.

Given the bank’s scandalous history of risky lending, fraud, and government manipulation, it’s hard to believe that the decision comes from a sudden sense of altruism toward the planet or guilt over the oil and gas industry’s exploitative practices. Instead, it’s a move driven purely by the quest for profit, or what Goldman Sachs calls an “emerging opportunity we think will be quite large.”

This should serve as a wake up call to those in both government and private industry who claim that alternative energy will never be as practical and affordable as fossil fuels. Goldman executives are confident that demand for alternative energy sources will grow with global energy demand, and as big manufacturing countries, including China and Brazil, set more aggressive targets for reducing emissions. According to Reuters, the bank plans to finance deals with clients’ money and, to a lesser extent, its own funds.

Still, at an average of $4 billion a year over 10 years, the bank’s newest round of clean energy investments will be about $800 million less than it helped finance in 2011. Some have claimed that Goldman Sach’s latest announcement is nothing more than a publicity stunt meant to draw attention away from the negative press experienced recently. Most notably, a former employee wrote a scathing opinion piece in the New York Times in March accusing Goldman of ripping off its clients on a regular basis.

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The horror in Syria grows. Yesterday, it was reported that thirteen children were killed in an attack on the rebel-controlled town of Houma in the central province of Homs. On Saturday, United Nations officials confirmed that at least 32 children under 10 years old had been killed. Amateur video footage shows rows of children — some toddler age if not younger — with what looks like bullet holes in their temples.

The UN specifically cited the Syrian government as to blame for an “appalling and brutal crime involving indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force” that is a “flagrant violation of international law and of the commitments of the Syrian government to cease the use of heavy weapons in population centers and violence in all its forms.”

Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General, and Kofi Annan, special envoy to the UN and the Arab League, issued a joint statement condemning the attack which the New York Times says “appeared among the worst episodes of carnage since the uprising began 15 months ago.” UN observers visited Houma and confirmed that “artillery and tank shells were fired at a residential neighborhood.” The UN called for the Syrian government to immediately cease the use of heavy weapons in population centers and for all sides to end the violence.

Ahmad Fawzi, Annan’s spokesman, put the death toll at around 100 including a total of 50 children and UN observers said more than 300 had been wounded. As the New York Times commented, the UN statement “stopped short of accusing the government of responsibility for the entire toll.”

The Syrian government said that “terrorists” — the same term it has used throughout the 15-month uprising in regard to the violence — had caused the mass slaughter. The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) declared that it would no longer be committed to the UN truce which it said has prolonged the crisis and “merely [bought] time for the government to kill civilians and destroy cities and villages.”

The White House described the brutal killings as a “vile testament to an illegitimate regime that responds to peaceful political protest with unspeakable and inhuman brutality.” The massacre has brought even more into question how effective, or rather ineffective, the truce and the presence of the 271 UN monitors are. As Fadi, a 25-year-old protester in Qaddam, a southern district of Damascus, said to the New York Times:

The regime kills thousands of Syrian citizens, and Annan’s monitors are watching and writing the number of killed people as if they were game scores.

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Despite the presence of 271 United Nation monitors, despite a 6-point peace proposal negotiated by Kofi Annan on April 12, the violence in Syria has continued for 15 straight months. At least 90 civilians were killed in Homs on Friday when government forces shelled and attacked the town of Houla with mortars and machine guns. Al Jazeera also says that an entire family of six died when their house was shelled.

Activists say thirteen children were among those killed with the BBC’s Jim Muir describing an “unverifiable” video showing “the bloodstained and mangled bodies of many children huddled on a floor in the dark, with the commentator shouting that there were too many to count.” The video, which is here, is horrifying.

At least five people were killed in other parts of the country including Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city, where at least 10,000 protested and were met with security forces fired tear gas and live ammunition into the crowd.

UN Secretary general Ban Ki-Moon blamed the regime of President Bashar al-Assad for “unacceptable levels of violence and abuses” in Syria. In a letter to the UN Security Council issued on Friday, Ban said that, while the presence of the UN monitors on the ground seems to have a “calming effect,” Assad’s government must pledge immediately to stop the violence, withdraw troops and heavy weapons from populated areas, allow humanitarian workers into the country and end human rights abuses. Ban said that there has been “small progress” in implementing Annan’s peace plan but “the overall level of violence in the country remains quite high” and thesituation “poses serious challenges” for the UN mission — whose leader, General Roger Mood, and his convoy narrowly missed being hit by a bomb last week.

In his letter, Ban also said that the “sophistication” of bombings earlier this month in Damascus suggested that they were the work of a terrorist group. The Syrian government has blamed the attacks on Al-Qaeda. The explosions indeed occurred “amid mounting fears that the terrorist group was taking advantage of the conflict to gain a foothold,” says the BBC.

Over 10,000 people have been killed in the 15-month conflict whose effects on the region are becoming more apparent. The New York Times describes how Iran — aware that Assad, the leader of its ally and bridge to the rest of the Arab world, Syria, could fall — has undertaken an “ardent courtship” of the Lebanese government, by “financing public projects” including building “closer ties through cultural, military and economic agreements.”

Annan will be making a trip to Damascus early next week, according to diplomats in Geneva. But as has been said too many times during the past year, this attempt to end the conflict and the violence seems too little and too, too late.

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