Leaves, Trees, and Gigapans

My location of my gigapan is in front of the Environmental Studies Train Station on SBC. I identified a conifer tree called Ashe Juniper; it is on the left side of the train station. The second tree I discovered is a Silver Maple and it is to the right of the station. Lastly, near/behind/to the left of the Ashe Juniper, I identified  a Pumpkin Ash. So far, the Silver Maple and Pumpkin Ash are beginning to change yellow (I went to visit these lovely trees after the gigapan was taken; in the photo they are still pretty green) but the Ashe Juniper is staying green. The reason why leaves change color in the fall is the tree's way of saving energy. The trees break down compounds in the leaf and reabsorbs nutrients, thus killing off the leaves. Basically, trees absorb energy through their leaves all throughout spring and summer and when the weather begins to become cooler in the fall, the tree collects all that stored energy and the leaves die due to the absorbed energy the trees contained to survive the cold, harsh winter. Here is a link to the tree identifications just in case if it's hard to know where/what I'm identifying: http://gigapan.com/gigapans/115310 Please Enjoy! :)

Bamboo Bills helping the world Environmentally

Bamboo, often seen being eaten by adorable pandas, can be used for several things like currency. In Thailand, they are adapting to the use of bamboo as a form of currency for their country. Thai believe that the use of bamboo as currency will last longer because of its sturdiness. Bamboo is much more stable and stronger than paper money and will continue for years. To decline the use of trees, Thailand plans to make a machine that will cut the bamboo trees into tiny segments, almost as big as the dollar bill; however, it will be thicker due to the bamboo material. Bamboo would also be a great form of currency because the tree grows rapidly, quicker than pine trees from America. Not only does bamboo grow quickly, it is easily accessible all over the world because it grows in numerous countries. Bamboo is also great for the environment by taking in 12 tons of carbon dioxide. Thai people also have a solution if the currency begins to break; if a piece of currency is somehow snapped in two, they can reuse that bill for another product that requires bamboo. For example, when the bamboo dollar bill snaps in half; it can be converted into parts for a bike. Thai will use bamboo bills like paper bills where the bills can be exchanged for a product. Several Thai people could potentially just use the bills to recreate jewelry or other objects. Hopefully the bamboo bill can change the world environmentally. 

(Made up about Thailand people, just an example. Bamboo image is from google images. But more information about bamboo is here: http://www.pcarrd.dost.gov.ph/momentum/bamboo/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1312:growing-bamboo-for-money-and-healthy-environment&catid=118&Itemid=5)