Tiny forests are springing up in urban areas to combat climate change
July 25, 2023 9:10 PM Subscribe
Tiny forests are springing up in urban areas to combat climate change. This one measures just 10m x 10m. (32.8 feet x 32.8 feet) As the race to find new ways of sequestering carbon dioxide from trees intensifies, Wollongong City Council – with the help of students from Dapto High School – is spearheading the creation of tiny forests.
A forest like this was planted near Boston in 2021. Exciting stuff!
posted by cadge at 9:45 PM on July 25, 2023
posted by cadge at 9:45 PM on July 25, 2023
There are a host of benefits from this ...
... but if we're serious about combatting climate change through trees then we need trees that grow fast and grow tall. That means trees in forests, not in cities.
posted by happyinmotion at 10:03 PM on July 25, 2023 [7 favorites]
... but if we're serious about combatting climate change through trees then we need trees that grow fast and grow tall. That means trees in forests, not in cities.
posted by happyinmotion at 10:03 PM on July 25, 2023 [7 favorites]
Trees everywhere! Except next to your house because forest fires.
posted by Peach at 10:40 PM on July 25, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Peach at 10:40 PM on July 25, 2023 [3 favorites]
In a new clearing in a typical forest, for example after a large tree dies and falls, plants do grow close together, until the winners choke out the survivors... if that doesn't happen naturally here, planting can still be thinned later.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 10:56 PM on July 25, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 10:56 PM on July 25, 2023 [5 favorites]
> ... but if we're serious about combatting climate change through trees then we need trees that grow fast and grow tall. That means trees in forests, not in cities.
The perfect is the enemy of the good.
When a group plants a tiny forest in a community, that helps drive that community to plant trees in a forest.
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:00 PM on July 25, 2023 [36 favorites]
The perfect is the enemy of the good.
When a group plants a tiny forest in a community, that helps drive that community to plant trees in a forest.
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:00 PM on July 25, 2023 [36 favorites]
Not to mention that trees in cities are well documented in guarding against the urban heat island effect, and make for more liveable cities.
Fighting climate change is an affair that requires many arrows, not a single sword. Urban trees is one arrow. Preserving forests and rehabilitation degraded or fragmented ones is another.
posted by Jilder at 2:15 AM on July 26, 2023 [22 favorites]
Fighting climate change is an affair that requires many arrows, not a single sword. Urban trees is one arrow. Preserving forests and rehabilitation degraded or fragmented ones is another.
posted by Jilder at 2:15 AM on July 26, 2023 [22 favorites]
One of my favorite things about London is the tradition (?) of allowing old cemeteries to turn into forests. Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park near Mile End, for instance. And Abney Park Cemetery in Stoke Newington. These aren't tidily manicured formal gardens and woods. These are multi-height, full-canopy miniature forests, with native trees growing where seeds land, species succession, windfall branches, understory plants, wildlife... the first thing I notice when I walk into them is the sound of a real canopy, leaves and branches gently rubbing each other in the breeze along with an absolute cacophony of birdsong. Bird species are drawn by all the different biomes and niches, and they bring in all manner of seeds, and there are foxes and dormice and wild garlic and it's just wonderful without even thinking about carbon sequestration.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 2:48 AM on July 26, 2023 [12 favorites]
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 2:48 AM on July 26, 2023 [12 favorites]
Beautiful!
If anyone is inspired to try something similar, please consider planting a jujube tree. They are fast growing, they are heat and drought resistant, they are a fantastic medicinal food, super tasty, and they feed or provide habitat for a wide, wide range of insects and small fauna. And some varieties grow quite tall. I have a secret desire to sneak into every backyard and plant one jujube tree, they provide that much benefit to soil, urban pollinator and wildlife sustainability, and human health.
( For those now curious about jujubes - they are incredibly sweet and crunchy fresh, they are easy to dry and store and last a long time, you can make a tea out of the dried ones, but I also add a couple to soups and stews because they add a wonderful roundness to flavors. Harvest them when they are half green and half brown. They produce an abundance of fruit, so no worries about sharing they with your wildlife friends).
posted by Silvery Fish at 4:11 AM on July 26, 2023 [7 favorites]
If anyone is inspired to try something similar, please consider planting a jujube tree. They are fast growing, they are heat and drought resistant, they are a fantastic medicinal food, super tasty, and they feed or provide habitat for a wide, wide range of insects and small fauna. And some varieties grow quite tall. I have a secret desire to sneak into every backyard and plant one jujube tree, they provide that much benefit to soil, urban pollinator and wildlife sustainability, and human health.
( For those now curious about jujubes - they are incredibly sweet and crunchy fresh, they are easy to dry and store and last a long time, you can make a tea out of the dried ones, but I also add a couple to soups and stews because they add a wonderful roundness to flavors. Harvest them when they are half green and half brown. They produce an abundance of fruit, so no worries about sharing they with your wildlife friends).
posted by Silvery Fish at 4:11 AM on July 26, 2023 [7 favorites]
This is pretty interesting. I live on a densely populated island that also has endemic plants and animals found nowhere else. I think adding as many native plants to urban areas as possible (backyards, neighborhoods) is potentially valuable as a way of increasing the amount of habitat and resources available to native species. There are also a variety of issues that make it difficult to reforest on undeveloped land here. So making it appealing for people to do on their own property or in their neighborhood is very interesting to me.
posted by snofoam at 4:27 AM on July 26, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by snofoam at 4:27 AM on July 26, 2023 [5 favorites]
I don't know that I'd want to plant Jujube's without considering whether they are considered invasive locally. I'm not a "native" tree purist for urban trees but in some subtropical areas of Australia they are considered an invasive species (because they grow so well in the wild there).
posted by atrazine at 4:34 AM on July 26, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by atrazine at 4:34 AM on July 26, 2023 [9 favorites]
Yes, I am now curious about jujubes, but they aren't from my area and probably wouldn't like it here anyways. Maybe hickory trees (not very fast-growing though) or some types of berry bush would fit the bill for NE USA
posted by Baethan at 5:02 AM on July 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Baethan at 5:02 AM on July 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
I could've sworn this was where I first read about Miyawaki forests! Ever since first hearing about them, I've wanted to plant one! But I think my yard is too small. But I support the idea of having little forests everywhere!
posted by mittens at 5:06 AM on July 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by mittens at 5:06 AM on July 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
I'm not a "native" tree purist for urban trees
I am. Please do not plant (new) trees that aren't (reasonably) native to your local area.
posted by Press Butt.on to Check at 5:13 AM on July 26, 2023 [16 favorites]
I am. Please do not plant (new) trees that aren't (reasonably) native to your local area.
posted by Press Butt.on to Check at 5:13 AM on July 26, 2023 [16 favorites]
Aronia is a good berry option for wildlife support in the eastern U.S. Plain old black cherry (Prunus serotina) is even better. Not sure how well they do in cities.
posted by Press Butt.on to Check at 5:25 AM on July 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Press Butt.on to Check at 5:25 AM on July 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
I am. Please do not plant (new) trees that aren't (reasonably) native to your local area
Yes, if a tree isn't native to your state, you shouldn't plant it anywhere outside an orchard or a botanic garden...
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 5:25 AM on July 26, 2023 [5 favorites]
Yes, if a tree isn't native to your state, you shouldn't plant it anywhere outside an orchard or a botanic garden...
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 5:25 AM on July 26, 2023 [5 favorites]
June berries to the rescue, these guys are native across north America and have a wonderful berry, like a cross between a blueberry and a cherry.
I would love to plant a forest.
posted by rebent at 5:33 AM on July 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
I would love to plant a forest.
posted by rebent at 5:33 AM on July 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
> Aronia is a good berry option for wildlife support in the eastern U.S.
!
I was doing a grocery run last night, when I encountered my across-the-street neighbors. They were making (aronia) chokecherry jam, but had run out of sugar.
Their backyard chokecherry tree is apparently a good producer.
Here in Ottawa, https://www.ontario.ca/page/tree-atlas/ontario-southeast?id=6E-12, the city has been planting mountain ashes (rowan) and some maple variety locally, and giving people serviceberry saplings to plant.
Serviceberries are not nearly as tasty as mulberries, but are apparently good for local birds and beasts.
posted by sebastienbailard at 5:39 AM on July 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
!
I was doing a grocery run last night, when I encountered my across-the-street neighbors. They were making (aronia) chokecherry jam, but had run out of sugar.
Their backyard chokecherry tree is apparently a good producer.
Here in Ottawa, https://www.ontario.ca/page/tree-atlas/ontario-southeast?id=6E-12, the city has been planting mountain ashes (rowan) and some maple variety locally, and giving people serviceberry saplings to plant.
Serviceberries are not nearly as tasty as mulberries, but are apparently good for local birds and beasts.
posted by sebastienbailard at 5:39 AM on July 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
Often, I’m told, native pollinators need native plants, which is another important reason to plant trees that are more-or-less native to your area (with an eye toward species that will be better able to adapt to whatever climate change is doing to your region, for long-living plants such as trees, I would imagine). (Eg. I’m told that the whole “let your dandelions grow”/no-now May thing is not very helpful here in North America because native pollinators need other, native, early flowering trees and plants. That you’d be much better off planting a butterfly & pollinator garden or yard; but that also you have to be careful of generic wildflower seed mixes since they aren’t regionally specialized.)
posted by eviemath at 5:59 AM on July 26, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by eviemath at 5:59 AM on July 26, 2023 [5 favorites]
Also, native trees are adapted for the available soil/climate (although the latter), and are somewhat more likely to thrive, assuming you have options that are somewhat resistant to pollution.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:03 AM on July 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:03 AM on July 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
Edmonton Alberta is going on a nice tree planting binge
2 million trees in 8 years!
posted by Acari at 6:14 AM on July 26, 2023 [5 favorites]
2 million trees in 8 years!
posted by Acari at 6:14 AM on July 26, 2023 [5 favorites]
When a group plants a tiny forest in a community, that helps drive that community to plant trees in a forest.
While the small urban "forests" concept is a great thing and people should plant lots more of them, I am very doubtful about this assertion. People doing one good thing doesn't create an automatic connection to doing another good thing. Like, recycling is a net positive, but someone putting recyclables in a bin doesn't necessarily lead to other, more impactful changes.
Basically, these seem like great contributors to urban quality of life, combating heat islands and adding a wide range of ecosystem services, but negligible relative to climate change, which is the framing of the article.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:29 AM on July 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
While the small urban "forests" concept is a great thing and people should plant lots more of them, I am very doubtful about this assertion. People doing one good thing doesn't create an automatic connection to doing another good thing. Like, recycling is a net positive, but someone putting recyclables in a bin doesn't necessarily lead to other, more impactful changes.
Basically, these seem like great contributors to urban quality of life, combating heat islands and adding a wide range of ecosystem services, but negligible relative to climate change, which is the framing of the article.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:29 AM on July 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
> When a group plants a tiny forest in a community, that helps drive that community to plant trees in a forest.
Does it though? When a group plants a tiny forest in a community, I think it could just as easily drive that community to say, "Why do we need to do this expensive re-forestry project when we could just do tiny forests."
(Sorry, but as I get older my patience for half-measures wears thinner. I don't see a better-something-than-nothing solution. I see marketing.)
posted by AlSweigart at 7:02 AM on July 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
Does it though? When a group plants a tiny forest in a community, I think it could just as easily drive that community to say, "Why do we need to do this expensive re-forestry project when we could just do tiny forests."
(Sorry, but as I get older my patience for half-measures wears thinner. I don't see a better-something-than-nothing solution. I see marketing.)
posted by AlSweigart at 7:02 AM on July 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
I am. Please do not plant (new) trees that aren't (reasonably) native to your local area.
Yes, I'm in England though which has been so thoroughly integrated into the global biosphere that it can be a little complicated to make this judgement. I.e. I've seen people make the claim that rabbits are an invasive in England, but they have been seen here since 1066 (the Normans brought them) and some claim that actually they date back to the Romans.... and they are attested in the fossil record before the most recent ice age.
Certain plant and animal species are found in the pollen record during and before previous ice ages, disappear for a few tens of thousands of years, and then get re-introduced before we have recorded human history.
So it's a little more complex than it is in the Americas and Australia where clearly invasive Eurasian species have been introduced in recent history often by people who we can literally trace in the record.
That's why I said I'm not a purist, especially for urban trees, England is a heavily man-made and continuously1 cultivated landscape in a way that Australia or (New)-England isn't so while I think it is important to *prefer* native species, I also think that we can think of that in a more complex way here than e.g. planting European trees on a California street.
(I am engaged in a small-scale battle with my local government to take seriously a rhododendron infestation in our local woods so I do care about invasives where I think they really matter)
There is also a lively debate currently ongoing, triggered by the work done by Frans Vera on whether "forest" or instead "wood-pasture" is the closest to the native ecology of NW Europe (including England) and this ties into the work done on re-wilding / wilding which again is a lot more complicated in Europe than it is in the settler-colonial states of the New World and Australia.
Attitudes on "restoration" are going to be shaped by that as well since the idea of "pristine nature" becomes a little absurd with in such cases. I note that in the cases of Australia and North America, nobody ever proposes restoring the ecosystem to a pre-human-settlement status, the target is usually before modern colonial settlement and we don't have such a clear time to select in the European case.
Anyway! That's why I'm not a purist on the matter in my own local case and I agree with you, it's just that here the parentheticals (new) and (reasonably) are such that they don't admit a purist perspective.
(1) In much the same way, if at a different scale than now and by more or less the same people. There are records of my family farming in a particular part of The Netherlands that go back to the middle ages and depending on your particular prehistorical hypothesis on the spread of Indo-European culture, "they" have been doing that for thousands of years. Certainly somebody was. That's different than Australia which regardless of how you regard the ideas of Bruce Pascoe has clearly had a massive discontinuity in the way the land has been managed in such a way as to create a sensible "before" to which one might want to return or which can at least be kept in mind as an ideal.
posted by atrazine at 7:26 AM on July 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
Yes, I'm in England though which has been so thoroughly integrated into the global biosphere that it can be a little complicated to make this judgement. I.e. I've seen people make the claim that rabbits are an invasive in England, but they have been seen here since 1066 (the Normans brought them) and some claim that actually they date back to the Romans.... and they are attested in the fossil record before the most recent ice age.
Certain plant and animal species are found in the pollen record during and before previous ice ages, disappear for a few tens of thousands of years, and then get re-introduced before we have recorded human history.
So it's a little more complex than it is in the Americas and Australia where clearly invasive Eurasian species have been introduced in recent history often by people who we can literally trace in the record.
That's why I said I'm not a purist, especially for urban trees, England is a heavily man-made and continuously1 cultivated landscape in a way that Australia or (New)-England isn't so while I think it is important to *prefer* native species, I also think that we can think of that in a more complex way here than e.g. planting European trees on a California street.
(I am engaged in a small-scale battle with my local government to take seriously a rhododendron infestation in our local woods so I do care about invasives where I think they really matter)
There is also a lively debate currently ongoing, triggered by the work done by Frans Vera on whether "forest" or instead "wood-pasture" is the closest to the native ecology of NW Europe (including England) and this ties into the work done on re-wilding / wilding which again is a lot more complicated in Europe than it is in the settler-colonial states of the New World and Australia.
Attitudes on "restoration" are going to be shaped by that as well since the idea of "pristine nature" becomes a little absurd with in such cases. I note that in the cases of Australia and North America, nobody ever proposes restoring the ecosystem to a pre-human-settlement status, the target is usually before modern colonial settlement and we don't have such a clear time to select in the European case.
Anyway! That's why I'm not a purist on the matter in my own local case and I agree with you, it's just that here the parentheticals (new) and (reasonably) are such that they don't admit a purist perspective.
(1) In much the same way, if at a different scale than now and by more or less the same people. There are records of my family farming in a particular part of The Netherlands that go back to the middle ages and depending on your particular prehistorical hypothesis on the spread of Indo-European culture, "they" have been doing that for thousands of years. Certainly somebody was. That's different than Australia which regardless of how you regard the ideas of Bruce Pascoe has clearly had a massive discontinuity in the way the land has been managed in such a way as to create a sensible "before" to which one might want to return or which can at least be kept in mind as an ideal.
posted by atrazine at 7:26 AM on July 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
Like, recycling is a net positive, but someone putting recyclables in a bin doesn't necessarily lead to other, more impactful changes.
At the very least, recycling made me realize how much plastic we use and how little choice I have in how much plastic wrap is used for store bought food. It definitely made me rethink my plastic use, and I'm sure it did for others too.
Planting nature in the city may encourage the neighborhood to take a look at their own yards and gardens to bring some nature back. Or to encourage more parks or gardens in the city as well.
But I think you need to be participating in the original project to get those juices flowing. If its only kids at the school planting the forests, I dont think the encouragement to the wider community is as strong as if they are also participating.
posted by LizBoBiz at 7:27 AM on July 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
At the very least, recycling made me realize how much plastic we use and how little choice I have in how much plastic wrap is used for store bought food. It definitely made me rethink my plastic use, and I'm sure it did for others too.
Planting nature in the city may encourage the neighborhood to take a look at their own yards and gardens to bring some nature back. Or to encourage more parks or gardens in the city as well.
But I think you need to be participating in the original project to get those juices flowing. If its only kids at the school planting the forests, I dont think the encouragement to the wider community is as strong as if they are also participating.
posted by LizBoBiz at 7:27 AM on July 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
American filbert/hazelnut is doing well for me in the US upper midwest. I have a five-year-old one whose tallest branches are taller than I am.
(Maybe a little too well -- I'm having to ward off critters from that one because they're breaking branches in search of tasty, tasty hazelnuts. They can have the nuts, I don't mind, but I don't want them breaking the tree!)
Elderberry is also doing well for me. I've tried aronia, but it doesn't seem to like the soil in my yard.
Gonna start trying for a native pollinator garden this fall.
posted by humbug at 7:43 AM on July 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
(Maybe a little too well -- I'm having to ward off critters from that one because they're breaking branches in search of tasty, tasty hazelnuts. They can have the nuts, I don't mind, but I don't want them breaking the tree!)
Elderberry is also doing well for me. I've tried aronia, but it doesn't seem to like the soil in my yard.
Gonna start trying for a native pollinator garden this fall.
posted by humbug at 7:43 AM on July 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
Every so often, I look at the edges of our yard (hackberries, elms, locusts, mulberries, and eastern cedar) and identify saplings. At some point, I will have the gumption to start transplanting them into the open spaces of the front. I cut/rooted/planted elderberry canes last year, and they're doing quite well so it's just a matter of getting time for the rest. Maybe this fall.
posted by jquinby at 7:46 AM on July 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by jquinby at 7:46 AM on July 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
A couple of local tree nurseries have gone out of business in the last decade. The trees they were growing were just left to flourish, and they've naturally created small forests without any further human intervention.
They're very lovely, and my spouse and I keep wanting to do the same, but lack the land required. Maybe someday...
posted by SunSnork at 8:33 AM on July 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
They're very lovely, and my spouse and I keep wanting to do the same, but lack the land required. Maybe someday...
posted by SunSnork at 8:33 AM on July 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
Agree and support knowing and avoiding invasive species in your area, but “non-native” needs some context.
Yes, ideally planting native species is the best, first option — but in parts of the US southwest, a number of native tree species have been decimated by diseases and insect infestations that have been caused, in part, by climate change. And some of those species of trees are very slow-growing and will not create the benefits of a mature plant for a half century or so, even if you could magically protect them from the pathogenic agents.
Re-planting the same species is a fool’s gambit in some places. We have been unable to control the pests and diseases. Getting roots in the ground IS important tho, for all of the sequestration, water retention, shade and cooling, and habitat reasons. There’s a lot of hard decisions being made about how to proceed given the current conditions and resource limitations. A one of the hard truths is: some species that thrived for the last 200 years in this region no longer can. Hard stop. And the next question is: what other flora can fill its ecological niche without causing an invasive imbalance?
As I came to in another related thread, in some places in the world, at least, I think we are to the stage where prioritizing systemic stability means we have to accept some things are already lost.
posted by Silvery Fish at 8:58 AM on July 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
Yes, ideally planting native species is the best, first option — but in parts of the US southwest, a number of native tree species have been decimated by diseases and insect infestations that have been caused, in part, by climate change. And some of those species of trees are very slow-growing and will not create the benefits of a mature plant for a half century or so, even if you could magically protect them from the pathogenic agents.
Re-planting the same species is a fool’s gambit in some places. We have been unable to control the pests and diseases. Getting roots in the ground IS important tho, for all of the sequestration, water retention, shade and cooling, and habitat reasons. There’s a lot of hard decisions being made about how to proceed given the current conditions and resource limitations. A one of the hard truths is: some species that thrived for the last 200 years in this region no longer can. Hard stop. And the next question is: what other flora can fill its ecological niche without causing an invasive imbalance?
As I came to in another related thread, in some places in the world, at least, I think we are to the stage where prioritizing systemic stability means we have to accept some things are already lost.
posted by Silvery Fish at 8:58 AM on July 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
It feels like the "urban forest" idea could easily be weaponized by NIMBYs to prevent more housing, so I'm a little bit skeptical. Street trees on every street, lots of trees in urban parks. Empty lots full of trees? I'm ambivalent at best.
posted by grumpybear69 at 10:07 AM on July 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by grumpybear69 at 10:07 AM on July 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
It feels like the "urban forest" idea could easily be weaponized by NIMBYs to prevent more housing, so I'm a little bit skeptical.
Yep. "Locally, we can't have Missing Middle or Affordable housing because then that one tree will have to be taken down." Is a rally-cry in all the local news forums
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 10:31 AM on July 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
Yep. "Locally, we can't have Missing Middle or Affordable housing because then that one tree will have to be taken down." Is a rally-cry in all the local news forums
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 10:31 AM on July 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
I've got a small Juneberry/Serviceberry tree in front of my house and it's always nice to eat some of the fruit in June but the birds are very quick in eating them. When we put in our front garden the plan was to use as many native plants as possible, more because I didn't want to have to take special care of them than anything else but the fact that insects and animals get more out of it that way is a nice bonus. A couple of weeks ago my son said he was looking forward to eating some of the berries and I had to tell them that they'd already come and gone.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:26 PM on July 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:26 PM on July 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
just crossed my elseweb:
"nonnative plant introductions are a major driver of insect invasions, and that insect invasions lag behind plant invasions. In the near future, new insect invasions are estimated to increase by 35% worldwide based on recent nonnative plant introductions."
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2221
Non-native but native a ways continuously south of me, maybe?
posted by clew at 4:52 PM on July 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
"nonnative plant introductions are a major driver of insect invasions, and that insect invasions lag behind plant invasions. In the near future, new insect invasions are estimated to increase by 35% worldwide based on recent nonnative plant introductions."
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2221
Non-native but native a ways continuously south of me, maybe?
posted by clew at 4:52 PM on July 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
clew, great information. Thanks.
posted by Silvery Fish at 7:14 PM on July 26, 2023
posted by Silvery Fish at 7:14 PM on July 26, 2023
Yep. "Locally, we can't have Missing Middle or Affordable housing because then that one tree will have to be taken down." Is a rally-cry in all the local news forums
I am all for affordable housing and medium density housing, but suburban tree loss is a real problem, not just NIMBY-ism.
My suburb (and my city) is losing trees at a rate of knots, partly because people who are building new houses can't be bothered to design them around existing established trees, and the loss of tree canopy can add up to a 6 degree Celsius (42.8F) difference in heat in summer, which can be the difference between life and death in a heatwave if the power goes out. (Not to mention the increased carbon emissions from all that air-conditioning.)
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 9:51 PM on July 26, 2023 [7 favorites]
I am all for affordable housing and medium density housing, but suburban tree loss is a real problem, not just NIMBY-ism.
My suburb (and my city) is losing trees at a rate of knots, partly because people who are building new houses can't be bothered to design them around existing established trees, and the loss of tree canopy can add up to a 6 degree Celsius (42.8F) difference in heat in summer, which can be the difference between life and death in a heatwave if the power goes out. (Not to mention the increased carbon emissions from all that air-conditioning.)
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 9:51 PM on July 26, 2023 [7 favorites]
They’re a little hard to find, but if you’re in central Texas (which… I hope you’re not) the Bigtooth Maple is native, hardy, heat and cold tolerant and doesn’t have many natural pests. They grow reasonably fast, are long-lived, and as a bonus, have bright fall foliage.
If you’re motivated, there’s an orchard on hiway 16 just past the Kerrville Folk Festival grounds that has then in 5-gallon buckets in the fall.
posted by Devils Rancher at 12:55 PM on July 30, 2023
If you’re motivated, there’s an orchard on hiway 16 just past the Kerrville Folk Festival grounds that has then in 5-gallon buckets in the fall.
posted by Devils Rancher at 12:55 PM on July 30, 2023
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