Urban Blight

Goodbye, Sidewalk Trees
RONDA KAYSEN

Facing expensive upkeep costs when towering trees cause sidewalk hazards, some suburban towns opt to uproot them entirely.

Like many New Yorkers who left the city for the suburbs, I was drawn to my block, an otherwise forgettable street, for its soaring sidewalk trees — pin oaks, lindens and ash — that shade it in the summer and stand like barren giants in the winter.

So I was stunned to step outside a few weeks ago on a bitter winter afternoon and see a line of white X’s spray-painted across their trunks. The next day, my next-door neighbor, Stacey Millett, whose home shares the corner with a ginkgo whose leaves turn golden in the fall, called the town forester and learned that all the trees would be cut down as part of a repaving project.

“ALL of them,” Ms. Millett, 41, who has lived on this block of West Orange, N.J., with her family since 2010, texted me. “He wasn’t kidding.”

Look out an apartment window in the city and the trees certainly add color, texture and life to the streetscape. But the view is often dominated by the architecture of the skyline and the street life below. In the suburbs, trees play an outsize role, offering not just shade and beauty, but sometimes the richest character on a block, particularly one like mine with mostly smaller, unmemorable homes.

They also improve the environment — and property values. A 2009 study in Portland, Ore., found that the presence of street trees boosted the sale price of a home by close to $9,000 and reduced its time on the market by 1.7 days.

The years, however, have not been kind to our leafy friends. Over the last decade, the Northeast has lost millions of trees to storms, drought and disease, reshaping and reducing the canopy. In one storm alone in March 2018, West Orange lost 116 of its roughly 10,000 trees, according to John Linson, the town’s forester.

In the six years that I’ve lived here, I can count a dozen that have died on the square block that circles my property. A curve carved in the sidewalk in front of my house is all that remains of a tree that stood in front of my home until it died some years ago. Just a few days ago, high winds knocked a tree onto a power line a few blocks from my house.

Despite these losses, I had not expected to lose so many at once. And yet, West Orange is grappling with a problem faced by communities around the country. Street trees planted decades — and in some cases, a century — ago were not ideal species for a paved environment and are now large, mature and in need of maintenance. With little soil available beneath the sidewalk, roots interfere with drainage systems, and buckle concrete. Utility companies aggressively prune tree limbs away from power lines, leaving awkward, and potentially unstable, V-shaped trees.

“We’ve created a system that is not healthy for trees,” said Mike Brick, the chairman of the West Orange Environmental Commission, who suggested that homeowners plant trees in their yards instead, where the roots have more space to grow. “It is a compromised system, at best, and no one paid attention to it.”

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And so, the iconic Norman Rockwell-style streetscape is fading away. As West Orange replaces sidewalks and curbs, it often removes old town-owned trees and plants new species that are more compatible for the location, if homeowners request them. “Over the next 20 or 30 years, there won’t be any tall trees where there are overhead wires,” Mr. Linson said.

Conservationists espouse maintenance methods that could protect more trees, like permeable sidewalks and more careful pruning. While these efforts are often costly for cash-strapped towns, they could preserve a resource that cleans particulate matter from the air, absorbs runoff and reduces the heat index. “The benefits to society far outweigh the costs” of higher maintenance, said Robert McDonald, the lead scientist for the Global Cities program at the Nature Conservancy.

West Orange does make some accommodations. Some trees, like those far from utility wires or set back from the curb, where their roots are not compromised, may stay. For smaller repaving projects, the trees may not be affected at all. If a property owner asks for the tree in front of his or her house to be spared, the town will try to save it by leaving the existing curbing or using an alternative curb material like a steel plate, which is less attractive than the typical Belgian block, but does not require the deep footings that cut into root systems. The town may also cut the sidewalk out around the trunk or build an incline over the roots, or simply leave that portion of the sidewalk unrepaired. But if the tree stays, the homeowner would be responsible for the cost of any future sidewalk repairs.

Repairing a sidewalk is not cheap, costing a homeowner an average of $1,318, according to HomeAdvisor. Delaying work could mean tickets from the town, or a lawsuit, if someone trips and falls.

In 2016, West Orange residents Miriam and Mark Reimer were warned by their homeowner insurance company to repair their damaged sidewalk or face a rate hike or a loss of coverage. Soon after, West Orange sent them a separate letter, saying that as part of a sidewalk replacement project, the town planned to remove the tree in front of their house, along with most of the others on the block of large, stately trees. The town would pay to replace the sidewalk. The Reimers didn’t contest the plan (nor did their neighbors), and requested that a new tree be planted.

“If we hadn’t gotten that letter, maybe we would have chosen to keep some of those trees” on the block, said Ms. Reimer, 38, a freelance editor, who described the new look of her street as “barren.”

West Orange removes roughly 300 trees a year, and plants about 100 new ones. “It’s a deficit,” Mr. Linson said. “It’s mainly because people don’t want a tree” in front of their property, and the town will not plant a tree a homeowner does not want. Some homeowners see the trees as a nuisance, with leaves that need to be raked, roots that may eventually upend sidewalks, and branches that could come crashing down in a storm.

I don’t mind the raking, and I see trees as a gorgeous marker of time. With none in front of my house and the prospect of losing the others on the block, I added my name to the request list. Ms. Millett said she planned to request two trees, and to ask the town to leave the ginkgo, even though she was told that it could eventually damage her driveway.

But for all the hope for the future a sapling may represent, I wonder if I will be here long enough to see these new young ones fill out and replenish my block. Instead, I may only get to experience them as sparse reminders of the giants that have been lost.

Related video: Beetle forces loggers to race against time (provided by The Associated Press)

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no Force stronger than White Men;s Traditional Contempt for Mother.

Border fences have been terrible for wildlife and plants

Since 1994, the US government has been erecting barriers to keep people and drugs from Mexico and beyond out. By 2010, about one-third of the border had been fenced with materials ranging from barbed wire to steel, bollard to wire mesh, and chain link. In addition, the Department of Homeland Security has built hundreds of miles of roads to allow the Border Patrol to access remote regions, both fenced and unfenced.

All of this construction has sliced and diced a lot of protected land along the border. And ever since the passage of the Real ID Act of 2005, DHS has had the power to waive most environmental reviews in the name of national security.

So, unlike most federal infrastructure projects, these fences have received little or no input from the public, land managers, conservation groups, or other agencies. Experts had no chance to assess beforehand what impact the fence might have on wildlife, plants, and rivers. Only after the fact have researchers documented instances where fences have interrupted wildlife corridors, and caused erosion and other damage to fragile ecosystems, as well as flooding.

But what evidence we do have is alarming. For instance, Lasky and his co-authors found that the biggest risk comes when fences bisect the range of a small population of a species with a specialized habitat, leaving the majority of the population on one side and the others adrift. His paper found 45 species and three subspecies that the current fence has affected this way... By Eliza Barclay and Sarah Frostenson Updated Oct 29, 2017, 9:16am EDT

Biker, Tianna Brinton in a desert, October 20, 2018 

This is a striking picture of Tianna Brinton. As captivating as it is it is disturbing. Behind this scene is a deeply embedded way of looking at the world that excludes the connections between Nature, and Humanity, and most disturbing the lack of connection Europeans hold with the Earth, who is not their Mother!...

This is a deep input. But, it is on my mind pondering the complexity of how President Trump processes his thoughts with a time worn belief system that holds life, land and women in contempt... - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 1/15/19

To Beware is Awareness.

I share this video.


I have long agreed with the many solutions to resolve the environmental problems facing the planet. Over the decades it became clear how dark the white power structures become to wage war against each threat to their wealth and sense of lordship over the Earth, our Mother. Tens of thousands of non-white people have been murdered trying to preserve clean water, healthy land and fresh air, by white men. For hundreds of years my Ancestors have spoke to their hearts about their beliefs and behaviors to no avail. 

Not even God is listened to, so what can be done, or do we stop focusing on white men in power, and their dark spiritual force and look in the right directions, where true powers live and end this another way?... - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 10/14/18 


A white man to beware of: Brett Kavanaugh.

Ancient Teacher.

10 Hindu Environmental Teachings

By Pankaj Jain, Ph.D.

1. Pancha Mahabhutas (The five great elements) create a web of life that is shown forth in the structure and interconnectedness of the cosmos and the human body. Hinduism teaches that the five great elements (space, air, fire, water and earth) that constitute the environment are all derived from prakriti, the primal energy. Each of these elements has its own life and form; together the elements are interconnected and interdependent. The Upanishads explains the interdependence of these elements in relation to Brahman, the supreme reality, from which they arise: “From Brahman arises space, from space arises air, from air arises fire, from fire arises water, and from water arises earth.”

Hinduism recognizes that the human body is composed of and related to these five elements,
and connects each of the elements to one of the five senses. The human nose is related to earth, tongue to water, eyes to fire, skin to air and ears to space. This bond between our senses and the elements is the foundation of our human relationship with the natural world. For Hinduism, nature and the environment are not outside us, not alien or hostile to us. They are an inseparable part of our existence, and they constitute our very bodies.

2. Ishavasyam — Divinity is omnipresent and takes infinite forms. Hindu texts, such as the Bhagavad Gita (7.19, 13.13) and the Bhagavad Purana (2.2.41, 2.2.45), contain many references to the omnipresence of the Supreme divinity, including its presence throughout and within nature. Hindus worship and accept the presence of God in nature. For example, many Hindus think of India’s mighty rivers — such as the Ganges — as goddesses. In the Mahabharata, it is noted that the universe and every object in it has been created as an abode of the Supreme God meant for the benefit of all, implying that individual species should enjoy their role within a larger system, in relationship with other species.

3. Protecting the environment is part of Dharma. Dharma, one of the most important Hindu concepts, has been translated into English as duty, virtue, cosmic order and religion. In Hinduism, protecting the environment is an important expression of dharma.
In past centuries, Indian communities — like other traditional communities — did not have an
understanding of “the environment” as separate from the other spheres of activity in their lives.

A number of rural Hindu communities such as the Bishnois, Bhils and Swadhyaya have
maintained strong communal practices to protect local ecosystems such as forests and water
sources. These communities carry out these conservation-oriented practices not as “environmental” acts but rather as expressions of dharma. When Bishnois are protecting animals and trees, when Swadhyayis are building Vrikshamandiras (tree temples) and Nirmal Nirs (water harvesting sites) and when Bhils are practicing their rituals in sacred groves, they are simply expressing their reverence for creation according to Hindu teachings, not “restoring the environment.” These traditional Indian groups do not see religion, ecology and ethics as separate arenas of life. Instead, they understand it to be part of their dharma to treat creation with respect.

4. Our environmental actions affect our karma. Karma, a central Hindu teaching, holds that each of our actions creates consequences — good and bad — which constitute our karma and determine our future fate, including the place we will assume when we are reincarnated in our next life. Moral behavior creates good karma, and our behavior toward the environment has karmic consequences. Because we have free choice, even though we may have harmed the environment in the past, we can choose to protect the environment in the future, replacing environmentally destructive karmic patterns with good ones. 

5. The earth — Devi — is a goddess and our mother and deserves our devotion and protection. Many Hindu rituals recognize that human beings benefit from the earth, and offer gratitude and protection in response. Many Hindus touch the floor before getting out of bed every morning and ask Devi to forgive them for trampling on her body. Millions of Hindus create kolams daily — artwork consisting of bits of rice or other food placed at their doorways in the morning. These kolams express Hindu’s desire to offer sustenance to the earth, just as the earth sustains themselves. The Chipko movement — made famous by Chipko women’s commitment to “hugging” trees in their community to protect them from clear-cutting by outside interests — represents a similar devotion to the earth. 

6. Hinduism’s tantric and yogic traditions affirm the sacredness of material reality and contain teachings and practices to unite people with divine energy. Hinduism’s Tantric tradition teaches that the entire universe is the manifestation of divine energy. Yoga, derived from the Sanskrit word meaning “to yoke” or “to unite,” refers to a series of mental and physical practices designed to connect the individual with this divine energy. Both these traditions affirm that all phenomena, objects and individuals are expressions of the divine. And because these traditions both envision the earth as a goddess, contemporary Hindu teachers have used these teachings to demonstrate the wrongness of the exploitation of the environment, women and indigenous peoples. 

7. Belief in reincarnation supports a sense of interconnectedness of all creation. Hindus believe in the cycle of rebirth, wherein every being travels through millions of cycles of birth and rebirth in different forms, depending on their karma from previous lives. So a person may be reincarnated as a person, animal, bird or another part of the wider community of life. Because of this, and because all people are understood to pass through many lives on their pathway to ultimate liberation, reincarnation creates a sense of solidarity between people and all living things.

Through belief in reincarnation, Hinduism teaches that all species and all parts of the earth are part of an extended network of relationships connected over the millennia, with each part of this network deserving respect and reverence.

8. Non-violence — ahimsa — is the greatest dharma. Ahimsa to the earth improves one’s karma. For observant Hindus, hurting or harming another being damages one’s karma and obstructs advancement toward moksha — liberation. To prevent the further accrual of bad karma, Hindus are instructed to avoid activities associated with violence and to follow a vegetarian diet.

Based on this doctrine of ahimsa, many observant Hindus oppose the institutionalized breeding and killing of animals, birds and fish for human consumption.

9. Sanyasa (asceticism) represents a path to liberation and is good for the earth. Hinduism teaches that asceticism — restraint in consumption and simplicity in living — represents a pathway
toward moksha (liberation), which treats the earth with respect. A well-known Hindu teaching — Tain tyakten bhunjitha — has been translated, “Take what you need for your sustenance without a sense of entitlement or ownership.”

One of the most prominent Hindu environmental leaders, Sunderlal Bahuguna, inspired
many Hindus by his ascetic lifestyle. His repeated fasts and strenuous foot marches, undertaken to support and spread the message of the Chipko, distinguished him as a notable ascetic in our own time. In his capacity for suffering and his spirit of self-sacrifice, Hindus saw a living example of the renunciation of worldly ambition exhorted by Hindu scriptures.

10. Gandhi is a role model for simple living. Gandhi’s entire life can be seen as an ecological treatise. This is one life in which every minute act, emotion or thought functioned much like an ecosystem: his small meals of nuts and fruits, his morning ablutions and everyday bodily practices, his periodic observances of silence, his morning walks, his cultivation of the small as much as of the big, his spinning wheel, his abhorrence of waste, his resorting to basic Hindu and Jain values of truth, nonviolence, celibacy and fasting. The moralists, nonviolent activists, feminists, journalists, social reformers, trade union leaders, peasants, prohibitionists, nature-cure lovers, renouncers and environmentalists all take their inspirations from Gandhi’s life and writings. 

(Acknowledgement: Adapted from the essays by Christopher K. Chapple, O. P. Dwivedi, K. L. Seshagiri Rao, Vinay Lal, and George A. James in Hinduism and Ecology: The Intersection of Earth, Sky, and Water and Jainism and Ecology: Nonviolence in the Web of Life, both published by Harvard University Press. Thanks also to the essays by Harold Coward and Rita DasGupta Sherma in Purifying the Earthly Body of God: Religion and Ecology in Hindu India, published by SUNY Press. I am also indebted to
kind comments by Reverend Fletcher Harper and for his invitation to write this article.)

A version of this post was published originally via GreenFaith: Interfaith Partners for the Environment.

Follow Pankaj Jain, Ph.D. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ProfPankajJain

SEAGULLS Belong...

Seagull by the Turkish photographer, Safak Yavuz. (2017).

Seagull problem.

Long after we are gone off the face of the Earth, if that happens, a modicum of Life will remain. Among the remnants will be seagulls, rats, crows and vultures. They will help build life anew with restorative powers. Let's awaken from within before then. . . - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 9/28/18

ICE vs. Arrogance,

Often advocates for stopping the industrial intrusion upon the Earth, our Mother are the grandchildren of the people, whose non-relationship with the Earth, are at the forefront of environmental movements and it was their people whose beliefs and practices led the world here. Typically, from the perspective of those of the darker races, white Americans and Europeans are angry about what their people's value system has done to the Earth, and angrier more at the politicians and business people who continue the tradition. On the surface, it appears good, but within our circles is a shimmering rage, even amongst the healers. Why that is, and how it affects the globe are not of much concern to our white relatives. 

What I've said sounds like a diatribe; it is, but it goes beyond that to point out the depths of denial we endure hearing from this group. At the beginning of any process of undoing, of unlearning are steps ignored by our Euro-Americans. It is a riddle only because of the denial playing with a mindset unable to connect with the people, and entities offended by their traditions of destruction, of taking. In our circles questions arise mulling over these things. Being upset about them, out of earshot, is more of a trained defense mechanism, and therefore not much help encased in silence. The question comes: "How can the two conflicts resolve to become answers?"

 It is a fair question, but it never reaches a fair resolution because the roles established during the Euro conquest are still in place. Unraveled they offend the Earth the way European custom denied the importance of women and flooded the waters with blood. That legacy led us here and political advocacy and spiritual awareness are only good tools, not answers. White Americans and their relatives in Europe, and Australia need to unlearn all they know, believe and practice from the view of conquerors! The rest of us need to do other things...

- Gregory E. Woods 

'Dawn Wolf', Keeper of Stories 

Sirmiq Aattuq Wisdom Keeper
September 22, 2018

Angaangaq Angakkorsuaq (center in white coat) in Søndre Strømfjord, Vestgronland, Greenland sitting with other Elders, in this photo taken by Adam Lyberth. June 24, 2018.