On the evening of April 30 or the early hours of May 1, some deranged individual(s) murdered 77 pines in the community of Mirabella in Bradenton.
Residents of this quiet, respectable LEED Platinum neighborhood were visibly shaken.
"I am shocked that almost seven dozen of our trees were slaughtered," said Carla Barr, resident of Mirabella. "We will immediately replant them because trees represent life and our vibrant, compassionate community loves life and especially trees.“
As an "Earth Doctor“ specializing in Earth’s life support systems, I contend daily with ecocide or the willful destruction of nature. Usually, it’s humans looting and plundering nature, often subsidized, under the auspice of government regulated management.
When I encounter acts of urban ecocide, it deeply disturbs me because we need nature – particularly trees to survive.
Allow me to tell you why:
Urban trees are crucial. They provide life-sustaining shade. Trees are vital as homes for animals including bees, which pollinate 75 percent of all crops that we eat. Trees planted around homes reduce cooling costs by 45 percent, thereby lowering the homeowner’s carbon footprint. Urban trees absorb air pollution and create an essential barrier, which also absorbs noise pollution.
Trees are nature’s perfect carbon dioxide warehouses. For every ton of wood, a tree removed 1.5 tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Simultaneously, that tree released one ton of invaluable oxygen.
Communities like Mirabella that have trees are healthier than those without trees.
I strongly encourage everyone to spend 10 quiet minutes, daily, sitting or standing next to a tree while focusing on breathing and listening to the birds. In doing so, blood pressure lowers, anxiety alleviates, and that ensures a more restful night’s sleep.
Premeditated destruction of nature is a crime against all life.
I commend Mirabella for their earnest commitment to replant 77 pines and enrich their city of Bradenton. I also predict that the perpetrator(s) of this ecocide will be apprehended, and face the stiff consequences of the judicial system.
Let me remind you that we are in the midst of the Sixth Great Extinction: The Anthropocene. I urge all citizens to protect nature – the life-sustaining force on our globe!
Dr Reese Halter is a distinguished eco-stress tree physiologist, award-winning broadcaster and author of the upcoming book "Save Nature Now.“
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