Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each the numbered blanks.

We need to attend to the tree loss because of the following tree benefits. Firstly, trees provide shade for homes, office buildings, parks and roadways, cooling surface temperatures. They also take in and evaporate water, (39) _______ cools the air around them. Secondly, trees absorb carbon and remove pollutants from the atmosphere. Trees also reduce energy costs by $4 billion a year, according to Nowak's study. "The shading of those trees on buildings (40) _______ your air conditioning costs. Take those trees away; now your buildings are heating up, you're running your air conditioning more, and you're burning more fuel from the power plants, so the pollution and emissions go up." (41) _______ , trees act as water filters, taking in dirty surface water and absorbing nitrogen and phosphorus into the soil. Last but not least, (42) _______ studies have found connections between exposure to nature and better mental and physical health. Some hospitals have added tree views and plantings for patients as a result of these studies. Doctors are even prescribing walks in nature for children and families due to evidence that nature exposure lowers blood (43) _______ and stress hormones. And studies have associated living near green areas with lower death rates.

They also take in and evaporate water, (39) _______ cools the air around them.