9/5/08

The Berkeley tree-sitters

I am tired of this absurd Berkeley drama. The university wants to build a new sports facility. Doing so requires taking out a small stand of not-so-special oak trees. People are outraged and filed lawsuits to stop construction. Tree-sitters have occupied the trees for several months. Today, the court gave UC the right to move forward with construction, but the tree-sitters aren't leaving.

So, ring the trees and spray Round-Up in the wounds.

The university has already agreed to plant several more trees somewhere else.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I agree!

Anonymous said...

I am so sick of them too....can't wait for those trees to come down.

lisa said...

Too bad they can't pour all that energy and dedication into something else....like hungry children? Disaster relief? Rainforest decimation?

Anonymous said...

Why are the oaks "not-so-special"? Aesthetically speaking? If they're native, they're friggin' special, in my eyes. Not that I have an opinion about how this Berkeley conflict should have played out, but we should at least acknowledge that planting a new tree somewhere is not the same thing as allowing mature ones to continue. Bird/bug/animal habitat should get serious attention & their removal should no longer be taken lightly, so I have no problem with people speaking up about it.

chuck b. said...

The university agreed to plant mature trees. Well-sited oaks grow very fast, reaching a mature scale in as little as 10 years. Outside of parks, urban trees have a short life expectancy. These had a good run.

I'm also concerned about urban trees divorced from their natural ecologies being more likely to harbor diseases and pests that would not gain a foothold in a woodland.

It would have been interesting to know more about the insects and animals who utilized the trees (compared to the same utilization in a woodland), instead of the selfish losers (and passive-aggressive neighborhood association) whose main priorities were elsewhere.

chuck b. said...

And be careful what you would advocate: if people think they're trees are not their own, they will stop planting them.