This post was written by Theresa Riley and originally appeared on BillMoyers.com. It is reprinted with permission from the author. The poet Joyce Kilmer once wrote: “I think that I shall never see. A poem lovely as a tree.” Trees in urban settings are more than just lovely, they actually clean the air, reduce noise pollution,… More
Development necessarily creates giant swaths of constructed areas that have no unifying ecosystem. It also disturbs existing natural areas that are part of the natural cycling of water, minerals, chemicals, plants and animals. Yet despite these complications, density is valuable in terms of impact mitigation on a per-person basis, as least as far as pollutant… More
In March the CBC Community Blog asked people whether cell phone towers look better when disguised as trees. The results were pretty clear – over 71 percent of people said yes.
All areas of study and their industries have to cope with inaccurate but often widely accepted mythologies, and arboriculture is no exception. There are a few of these that we encounter again and again. We’ve already busted the myth that tree roots don’t grow very deep, but here’s another one: do deep soils increase the risk… More
In February, the U.S. Forest Service published a report indicating that cities around the country are losing around 4 million trees per year. Of the 20 cities included in the study, 17 showed significant losses of canopy cover, and 16 showed significant increases in impervious hardscape (or paved surfaces that don’t absorb water). At the same time,… More
This post is by Bill Spiewak, an arborist in Santa Barbara, CA, and originally appeared on his blog, Treemendous. Last month in my arboriculture class, I may have implied to my students that this instructor is falling off the deep end. I asked them to stand and assume the yoga position, tree pose. My objective… More
Phytoremediation is the use of green plants and their associated microorganisms to stabilize or reduce inorganic and organic contamination in soils and surfacewater or groundwater. In other words, the process of using trees and other plants as biological filters. It is also a key component of what we mean when we talk about ecosystem services… More
Trees are effortlessly artful. This artfulness may be part of why they have such a calming and restorative effect on people and can elicit such powerful emotional attachment. Trees are also functional infrastructure. You can debate which role is more valuable, but from an economic standpoint, infrastructure usually wins hands-down. That’s one reason why recent… More
There are so many reasons why trees are beneficial in urban areas. This abundance of evidence can have the strange effect of sometimes making the benefits we cite feel like platitudes rather than proven, compelling facts (“trees are so great, here’s a million reasons why…” *staring off in to space*). For that reason, as much… More
New York has an ambitious Green Infrastructure plan, and lately their enhanced bioswales have gotten additional attention. These five foot by twenty foot planters look great from street level, so why do I feel uneasy about them?
There’s no arguing that, at first glance, the Silva Cell just looks like a hunk of black plastic. Its humble and basic form definitely doesn’t reflect the extensive design, testing, and engineering that has gone in to it. Here’s a brief overview of the why the Silva Cell is the way it is.
Snowfall seems to have happened very late all across the country this winter, but now that it’s here, most people are trying to find ways to get rid of it. But salt, while effective for deicing roads and streets, can have extremely detrimental effects on trees, causing things such as necrosis, burned tips, or failure… More
Soil. Stormwater. Sustainable Infrastructure.
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