Photo by Frances Litman
We are in a climate crisis. Daily we witness or hear about climate disasters all over the world. A recent windstorm in Italy wiped out over a million trees that were 200 years old. Currently in California drought conditions have caused horrific wildfires resulting in a loss of lives, of homes, of trees, plants and wildlife.
We can no longer continue with business as usual. A crisis demands decisive and immediate action. We cannot wait for 2020, 2030 or even 2050 to get a serious climate action plan in place.
Chris Hedges comments in The Tyee, if you are not in some state of despair about the world, you are not facing the reality around you. He indicated that the antidote to despair is some form of resistance.
Verna speaking to the Victoria City Council with shovel at the ready to volunteer her services as an urban tree planter.
So here is my challenge to City of Victoria mayor and councilors: Can you take immediate action now to save our existing urban greenspace, and our existing urban trees? Too much of what makes our cities healthy is being lost in the name of development.
Trees do so much for free. They remove carbon from the atmosphere, and mature trees remove more carbon than young trees. Trees provide shade and air conditioning. The shade from trees provides protection to sidewalks and pavement, so that they last 30% longer. Trees help retain soil and they absorb and store water. Trees provide bioremediation, removing and storing toxins from the soil. Trees are habitat for wildlife. Trees are key to both our physical and mental health.
We are all in this together. Preserving trees should not divide us politically. Every tree must be seen as a vital asset in our effort to mitigate the effects of climate change. Every tree matters. I will say it again for the charm: Every tree matters.
And the loss of greenspace and biodiversity matters. We need healthy diverse ecosystems. Instead of so much grass on our boulevards we could be reintroducing native plants, many of which are drought tolerant. This helps bees, butterflies and birds. We should be planting more drought tolerant trees because the climate is already changing here. In addition, even if a tree is within the perimeters of where a developer wants to build, it should have a value, so much so that if it cannot be preserved, then a huge price should be paid for removing it. Developers need to be encouraged to save the trees and find creative ways to build around them.
I will say it again. We are in a climate crisis. Even though major disaster has not landed right on Victoria’s doorstep in the way of fires, severe flooding and horrific windstorms, our actions and/or inactions are impacting the planet.
I have lived in this city for over 30 years, and I in the last few years I have seen the destruction of nature ramped up as never before. Many trees have been lost in my immediate neighbourhood, and many more will be falling to the developer’s axe in the near future. It is like the city is on steroids with so much frenzied activity going on. There seems to be little thought or action with regards to preserving and enhancing what makes Victoria such a great place to live.
I will end with a quote by Wendall Berry from The Long-Legged House:
We have lived our lives by the assumption that what was good
for us would be good for the world. We have been wrong.
We must change our lives so that it will be possible to live by
the contrary assumption, that what is good for the world will
be good for us. And that requires that we make the effort to
know the world and learn what is good for it.