Silent Sentinels ~ R.I.P. Conifer Tree.

What do they mean to you, trees? If you are an adult then you probably don't notice their presence as much as you once did as a child. Something that could be climbed up, or a tree house built in, or a place to scratch your initials along with those of a loved one enclosed within a heart, are all probably memories now with a sense of nostalgia attached to them. Nowadays, we're more likely not to really notice them whilst we're walking past them on the street or driving by them on the road. And yet, there they still stand, like silent sentinels, guarding the very ground that we walk upon.

The definition of Sentinel is a soldier, or guard, whose job is to stand and keep watch, and it's a term that is sometimes used, aptly, to describe a tree. They are a source of protection, guarding against erosion. Their root systems act as anchors, holding the soil in place and preventing it from being washed away by rainfall. Their leaves form canopies, preventing further disruption caused by heavy rainfall leading to surface runoff. They are monuments to stability and longevity, safeguarding the fertile land that we rely upon to grow food in that nourishes us, along with the air that we breathe. One mature tree provides enough oxygen to supply one to four people per day. Their necessity to both of these factors is undisputed, and yet, due to the need to build more homes for an increasing population, along with the fact that house building in the U.K. makes a direct contribution to gross domestic product through economic output whilst also supporting a significant employment base and contributing to public finances through the tax revenues that it generates, means that we're losing swathes of mature trees every year to make way for new-build housing estates and bypasses built to accommodate the increase in traffic due to the increased number of cars that come with new residents.

In the gardens of three of the houses I've inhabited in my life, there has been a conifer tree growing at the bottom of the garden on the left-hand side. In these three houses I have had my best 'home life' experiences, and so I've begun to think of them as a totem, or something that's likely to represent that I'm going to feel safe and protected in these homes. I am a bit of a tree-hugger, I have been known to actively do this, usually when no one can see me doing it, but I do love them. It's surprising how cool and peaceful and hugged-back you feel when you put your arms round a tree. The mature trees at the bottom of the garden in the current house I live in were planted by my landlord 30 years ago. They make a beautiful foreground to the sunrise in the early mornings and are a beautiful spectacle even in winter. I'd much rather look at a view that has trees in it that a vast expanse of other people's back gardens. So I was a bit troubled to hear that the landlord of the public house on the other side of the current conifer tree has asked my landlord to fell it so that the customers that sit in the beer garden in summertime don't have to sit in the shade.

My landlord, who doesn't have to ask me if it's okay for him to remove the tree because it's not my property or my garden, came and asked my opinion any way. He also asked would I have a problem with the other mature trees being removed as well. He is of the opinion that the conifer he planted can come down because it's also putting too much shade on his garden but I asked if he would keep the other trees as they are with the possibility that they could just be lopped for their own wellbeing and maintenance instead of completely removed. He's agreed to this but I am sad about the loss of the conifer tree. It seems a mad thing to do but I suppose most people probably don't feel the effects of blistering sun when they've had a few pints so, happy sunstroke to them, I guess. It costs thousands of pounds to fell a mature tree. It should cost more to deter people from doing it.

I'm not unreasonable. I know the benefits and necessity of removing trees for reasons that add to the overall benefits of a thriving woodland environment as well as sometimes the necessity of their removal when they've become dangerous to people on the public highway but I don't see the benefit of removing them for the sozzled masses. Can't they just move instead? Anyway, the tree is going soon so I need to get used to that but in the meantime I've fallen down a wormhole of unpleasant facts related to the removal of trees, as well as arable land in my location in recent years that has led to the flooding that we've experienced, as well as the bigger wormhole of facts related to that of all the new housing estates being created in the U.K. that will probably result in the U.K. being divided into two islands rather than one in the further future as a result of deforestation and the inevitability of global warming. Maybe we should be saving some of the wood from these trees that are being chopped down to build another Noah's Ark because I'm sure that's going to be needed at some point. In fact it would have helped a few of these people out when this happened on our local bypass shortly after it opened.

The fact is that we need rooted, mature trees. Trees are replaced to a certain degree in and around housing estates, though not in the same quantity that have been removed, and it takes years for them to mature and provide the benefits that prevent the degradation of the land surrounding the estates. Replacing the earth with concrete and removing the network of trees means that the heavy rainfall that we experience seasonally which produces millions of gallons of water per year is no longer absorbed by the land and soaked up by the trees. It is cascading down your gutters, into your drains, onwards to sewage systems not updated to deal with the new quantities of water, resulting in local flooding, and into rivers which are rising, breaking their banks and causing regional flooding.

Along with this, the population of wildlife that also plays a factor in maintaining a thriving eco system are also being depleted as we destroy their habitats.

I think I must have been a tree-hugger even when I was a kid, without knowing it at the time, because I remember reading Alan Brownjohn's poem when I was at school and being really shocked to think that in the future, England could be such a scary place that only one patch of green land may still remain with one rabbit living on it. I hope this never becomes a reality, there are measures in place, much more so to protect the rarer species, but for a variety of reasons, including deforestation, land erosion and the impact that humanity has on the planet, we are reducing the numbers of local animal wildlife and that's troubling.

I think what bothers me most relating to the tree at the bottom of the garden is probably more personal, but it is the main reason it's being removed that bother me the most because it seems so unnecessary and is being done for the daftest of reasons. It's not going to increase local trade and encourage more people to shop locally. It doesn't pose a danger to anyone and it's certainly not an eyesore. It is something that comforts me personally and makes me feel safer somehow but, apparently, this is less important than someone's ability to get a suntan. And that says a lot about how far we are from truly respecting nature and understanding that without it, there won't even be any beer or wine left to drink. Maybe that's a better way to get the message across. Forget oxygen and never mind about the view; no land to grow crops - no grapes, no wine. No barley, no beer. No spuds, no crisps. Maybe this would have the desired impact?

Georgina Thornton.