By Wendy McDonnell

Dear Editor,

As the representative for the voiceless, I would like to say a few words on behalf of the 213 (four foot diameter) trees that were recently felled on Alexandra Road.

The trees would like to apologize for the inconvenience of being in the way of the massive new developments being built on the once arable land.

Even though they understand that it is important to have homes for those that do not, they quote Henry David Thoreau, “What is the use of a house if you do not have a tolerable planet to put it on?”

The trees show great compassion for those birds, insects and wildlife that have already perished or will perish because their only home and food have now been destroyed.

The trees wonder how the oxygen that our very species needs to breathe will be produced without them releasing it.   Twenty-two trees produce the oxygen needed for one person.  By cutting the trees, Richmond affected 8 people worldwide.

The trees are shocked at how a city, claiming to be reducing its carbon footprint, would allow the very species that absorbs our growing carbon dioxide problem be eradicated.  An acre of trees absorbs enough CO2 over one year to equal the amount produced by driving a car 26,000 miles.  The City of Richmond allowed developers to cut down an acre of trees.

The trees question the water tolerance of Richmond’s drainage without them to drink the excess water produced by large rainfalls and high tides.  Considering homeowners are unable to buy flood insurance in Richmond, and a tree can drink up to 50 gallons of water in a day, it seems ludicrous to cut trees.  But of course, I am only speaking from a simple tree’s perspective.

When the trees saw the arrival of an arborist, one who is trained to protect and understand the tree, they were relieved to know that Richmond was a city with an eye for the future.

But after the arborist completed an analysis of the tree locations, not much of an eye for the future was displayed.  The trees were chopped;  All but one.

So the one tree that remains speaks for them all:  What on Earth were you thinking Richmond?  Do you think that removing those trees will have no ecological effect?  Did you once again disregard the cycle of life that sustains us?

In memory of the Trees of Alexandra,

-A letter written for a friend to the Richmond Review regarding the chopping down of 213 trees for development in her neighbourhood.

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Letters to the Editor by Wendy