People walk past a downed tree in Central Park on October 31, 2011 in New York City. Central Park may lose 1,000 trees following a freak October snowstorm while the park only lost 125 trees due to Hurricane Irene. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Extraordinary tales of everyday heroism have been illustrated beautifully by renowned US photographer Steve McCurry in the new 2015 Lavazza Calendar. The calendar which has been created in collaboration with the Slow Food movement, features twelve breathtaking pictures, capturing the spirit, strength and humanity of the Earth Defenders – women and men who protect their land and projects in Africa with passion and bravery. The proceeds from sales of the calendar and all donations will be contributed entirely to create 10,000 food gardens in African schools and villages by the end of 2016. (Photo by Steve McCurry/2015 Lavazza Calendar)

First lady Michelle Obama (R), joined by daughters Sasha Obama (C) and Malia Obama, is presented with the official White House Christmas Tree on November 25, 2011 in Washington, DC. The tree, a 19-foot-tall balsam fir, was grown on Schroeder's Forevergreens farm near Neshkoro, Wisconsin. (Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)

U.S. Army Sgt. Patricia Foust receives a free Christmas tree on December 7, 2011 at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colorado. More than 600 soldiers and military families at the base chose trees as part of the annual Trees for Troops program. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

A resident types a text message on her mobile phone, as she sits on a bench made from a tree, which is a creation by Brazilian artist Hugo Franca at Largo da Batata square in Sao Paulo March 17, 2015. Franca, a designer from Sao Paulo is working with the city to make use of fallen trees to turn them into sculpture furniture to line the city's parks, streets and plazas. Brazil's largest city was slammed by several strong storms this rainy season that brought with them heavy rain, lightning and winds as high as 90 kilometres (55 miles) per hour. (Photo by Nacho Doce/Reuters)

Senior hurricane forecaster Dr. Jack Beven studies computer models as he tracks Tropical Storm Arlene at the National Hurricane Center on June 29, 2011 in Miami, Florida. Arlene is the first named storm of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season and is moving at 8 mph, packing sustained winds of 50 mph as it heads towards the east-central coast of Mexico. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Beautiful, strange and occasionally alarming pictures from the shortlist for this year’s Wellcome image awards – which celebrate the very best in science photography and imaging – from an x-ray of a bat to a micrograph of a kidney stone. The exhibition opens on 12 March at three science centres and the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. Photo: Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of an Arabidopsis thaliana flower, also commonly known as thale cress. Some of the anthers are open, revealing pollen grains ready for dispersal. Arabidopsis was the first plant to have its entire genome sequenced and is widely used as a model organism in molecular and plant biology. Horizontal width of image is 1200 microns. Magnification 100x. (Photo by Stefan Eberhard/Wellcome Images)

Emergency services work at the scene of a bus accident on the Kingsway in central London February 2, 2015. A number 91 double-decker bus had its roof ripped off after hitting a tree, causing injury to passengers and passers-by, local media reported. (Photo by Peter Nicholls/Reuters)