{"id":1163,"date":"2023-05-13T20:26:16","date_gmt":"2023-05-13T20:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/earthmoves.vassarspaces.net\/?p=1163"},"modified":"2023-05-13T20:26:18","modified_gmt":"2023-05-13T20:26:18","slug":"trees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earthmoves.vassarspaces.net\/?p=1163","title":{"rendered":"Trees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This spring, I’ve borne witness to more than 15 beautiful, mature and healthy trees come down from my neighbors’ yards. During bird nesting season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gone are nests, baby birds, insects, cooling shade, water absorption, carbon removal. Many of the suburban folks who live in this area do not seem to understand the importance of trees for the health of their yards, their neighborhood, their health and the surrounding region. They moved to this area to be closer to nature, to live in an area of beauty. And yet, by stripping the area of trees and replacing them with endless, chemically-laden stretches of monoculture grass in full sun, they are slowly killing the very beauty and health of the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of my neighbors, wielding a gas-powered leaf blower last November, said to me, “I hate leaves.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did suburban life get this way? There have been many op-eds complaining about America’s obsession with the perfect green lawn (here’s one from 1989<\/a>). And, there is increasing awareness that the chemical-laden, water-hogging turf lawn is quite damaging to the environment. And yet, the obsession continues to tighten. People seem to get crazier and crazier each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, I moved here in the year 2000. That year, I think only one (4%) of my neighbors used a commercial lawn service. One of them was retired and they had recently married and combined their assets, so they could afford the service. Several of us employed the teenager at the end of the cul-de-sac. He used our lawnmower and did no special whacking or blowing- just a cut. Now, 11 (44%) of the homeowners use commercial lawn services and most of those who don’t treat their lawns to the “full treatment” of fertilizers, pesticides, trimmers, blowers. They cut their lawns into regular stripes that look just like a commercial service. Every single day, for multiple hours, the machines roar in this neighborhood. Today, a Saturday in May, a commercial tree-removal service began work at 7:15am, running massive chain saws and mulchers. They are still at it and it’s 4pm. In the meantime, a lawn service began at about 10am and now, there’s still lawn mowing and leaf-blowing going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, I digress. I was going to say a few words about why trees are such wonderous creatures, worthy of cultivating and maintaining, rather than cutting down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n