I live in the suburbs (I know it sucks, but that’s just my current family situation.) and lately I’ve been trying to get outside more for my mental and physical health. The problem is, the suburbs are kind of shit for this. Obviously there’s all the car-centric infrastructure which makes walking more difficult and dangerous, but there’s not much I could conceivably do about that in any reasonable amount of time. However, the other big issue I’ve found, especially as it’s gotten so hot this summer, is there are barely any trees, and thus barely any shade anywhere along the sidewalks. Even the local park doesn’t have much shade aside from a small area in the corner. So it’s really unpleasant to walk anywhere. I get super sweaty even taking a leisurely walk on most days of the summer.
So I was thinking that maybe I could lobby the town to plant more trees such that most of the sidewalks are at least partially shady. I know there are some barriers to this like the tree roots cracking sidewalks and probably some NIMBYs who only view nature as being ornamental, and of course this would cost money to do. So it wouldn’t be a trivial thing, but I don’t think it’s entirely outside the realm of possibility either.
What do you think are some strategies I could use to make this happen? What sort of things do I need to do or account for? Obviously it’s going to be different depending on the town, but if there is any kind of general idea of how to go about this I would appreciate hearing it.
By force, guerilla gardening.
My area was hit by a derecho about 5 years back. We had 140+mph straight line winds for about an hour straight, and it devastated the area. A huge percentage of old growth trees got snapped like toothpicks. A couple years after, the city planted trees in all of the easement for a good portion of the residential area. Had to have been thousands of trees. I got 6 because I’m on a corner.
So my answer is have mother nature tear everything down then they may just do it.
The problem is mother nature tears down giant trees that provide shade (and look nice), and then the city replaces them with crape myrtle, purple-leaf plum, Bradford pear, and a whole bunch of other non-natives that dont grow tall enough to ever provide shade, and dont have any other benefit.
For sure. It was really sad to see 50’ tall oak trees broken in half. Fortunately for us, when they planted trees, they didn’t native species for our area. I think one of mine is an oak, a maple, and maybe a couple smaller trees. I have some red buds I planted myself that are starting to get big enough to provide shade for at least my dogs.
It’s usually pretty easy to get your voice heard in a municipal government. You should look into what the processes are to get on the microphone at a meeting.
In a city, there’s no promise you’ll get the time of day, though. There might be 20 other Karens complaining about too many tree leaves, or not enough open space by the sidewalks.
You need to figure out what land the trees get planted on. If it is private land, you should search if your area has a program to plant trees. If so, then try to assist them in getting trees planted in front yards.
If it is public land, try to identify the location and reach out to the appropriate government agency to convince them to plant trees. Again, there may be private or public programs to plant trees at little/no cost to the land owner.
If your city has committee meetings that are open to the public, try to attend them if you can. If they allow for residents to ask questions or make requests, you can ask there.
Depending on the size of your city or town it might also have a parks and recreation department. If there is one, you can inquire there how you can go about adding more trees to enhance or expand green spaces.
Also, check any community boards you come across. There might be arborist groups that focus on stuff like this. Even if there isn’t one in your city, there might be one that focuses on the county or state (assuming you are in the US, if not, whatever larger land allotment applies to your country).
Basically it begins with networking. Try to find others that share the same desire for more trees and green spaces and the willingness to effect these positive changes, there is power in numbers.
Hope this helps :)
Contact your neighbors on FB and Nextdoor. The more taxpayers you have on your side the better chance you have. One person shouting will be ignored. Fifty people at a city council meeting will get noticed.
Trees are expensive to maintain, in addition to cracking sidewalks and roads, they need water, the leaves need to be cleaned up, they need to be trimmed, and they pose a liability risk so need to be covered by insurance.
I’d like to push back a little on your second paragraph, as most of the listed things mentioned can be remediated with appropriate planning/actions. Of course every case is a different one, this always depends on the local context, but as a general rule:
Trees are expensive to maintain
If you plant native trees, that usually isn’t a big problem, as they have been adapting themselves to those conditions for thousands of years
in addition to cracking sidewalks and roads
You can always select appropriate trees species that don’t have such aggressive root system that tends to crack them
they need water
Once again, native trees are your best bet, in conjunction with water harvesting techniques, I don’t think it will be a problem. I always recommend Brand Lancaster and Andrew Millison work on this subject. See Harvesting Rain Water for more details
If you prefer video format:
“Free water was illegal… He changed that…” [19m15s]
YT link, non YT linkthe leaves need to be cleaned up
I always find this a weird obsession, why do we have to clean them up? In a forest, it usually lies on the floor and becomes nutrients, habitat, reduces water evaporation from the soil, protects the soil from erosion, etc
they need to be trimmed
This one depends a lot on the context, but at least around here, trimming usually means butchering trees and making them completely unbalanced, which makes the population even more upset as your point below becomes the likely scenario
they pose a liability risk so need to be covered by insurance
Healthy trees are not likely to cause problems. Again this one depends on how the city deals with it, but routine check ups should be more common
Considering all the benefits greenery has in our lives, I still think we come out way ahead with it in the long term, even if we were only looking at it from an economic perspective
Well, there’s the guerrilla option, but it’s significantly more difficult with trees than it is with flowers or smaller plants.
Best is if you can find native species that are threatened with extinction or some kind of tree that is beneficial to threatened native insects or birds that enjoy a protected status. Any protected status could help keep the project alive even if it was not sanctioned, but it’s still a struggle to do guerrilla style.
Do some research about the types of trees that will easily grow in your environment without any/much watering or fertilizing beyond getting them established, which can be anywhere from one to five years depending on how harsh the climate is and how tough the tree is.
And for acceptance from the city, go for fruitless varieties. They will typically balk at anything that produces fruit because it attracts rodents and will require maintenance. Also avoid trees that sucker easily or sprout prolifically from seed, especially if they’re going near sidewalks.
Also do the research on how much asphalt, cement, sidewalks, parking lots, etc. contribute to increasing temperatures and the difference when they’re shaded by trees. It’s a substantial difference.
If you can present a plan to whoever is in charge near you that offers them a way to win points on the environmental arguments without adding any type of city workload or responsibility, you might just be able to pull it off with their blessing or even some financial support. You can try framing it as a community project or community outreach project. Try to get the trees discounted or donated by local nurseries in exchange for some kind of advertising. Get the planning and planting done by volunteers. It’s a win-win for everyone.
Alternatively, you can get a bicycle or even an e-bike. The higher efficiency and speed means you’re using less energy and staying cooler doing it. And as a bonus you can explore more widely, covering more ground in the same amount of time, and even use it for transporting things from the store or going to work.
Best of luck to you!
Edited to add: Make sure the planting is at least done under the guidance of someone who knows how to plant trees. It is actually quite easy to fuck that up and ruin the trees prospect for survival.
