Sir, – While the world heats up and we reflect on what we can do to impact the global climate crisis, I have been appalled by the number of healthy trees I have witnessed being felled in Dublin.
In the housing estate where I live, I count at least a dozen healthy, large trees that have been removed from the street or the green in the last year alone in an effort to keep the estate “tidy”. They were not ill or significantly overgrown. In Marlay Park, near our home, there has been rampant destruction of large, healthy trees over the last two years – and incompetent trimming of others to the point that I question their ability to survive.
Ireland has comparatively few large trees in a country which should be covered with them. A recent study published in the journal Science showed that planting over a trillion trees on the planet could significantly slow the climate crisis, or even stop it.
According to that study, Ireland has one of the largest potentials in Europe for tree planting. Instead, we are chopping them down. It’s shockingly insular and shortsighted thinking both for our planet and our society.
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Let’s prefer the survival of our global civilisation on this planet to “tidy” estates. – Yours, etc,
KARL MATTHIAS,
Ballinteer,
Dublin 16.