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The Sycamore Gap tree held a particularly deep place in people's hearts

economist.com

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Re: The Sycamore Gap tree held a particularly deep place in people's hearts

#21

Post by sp332 »

doctorpangloss wrote: post #10

In my community: I love the cutsie pootsie Victorians everywhere, the time-capsule 1910s look. Some people want to make it easier to demolish this stuff and build whatever house you want - the rule is you have to keep the facade or whatever - and I sympathize with that. But nobody gives a fuck about the brutalist structures being torn down, like the VA in Chicago or the Federal Building in Boston, because they're ugl…

People still make brutalist buildings. The replacement VA in Chicago is not technically brutalist, but it still blends in with the neighborhood. https://www.mmarchitecturalphotography.com/chicago-architect... No one is going to replace an old Victorian with something similar.

Re: The Sycamore Gap tree held a particularly deep place in people's hearts

#22

Post by teruakohatu »

jfengel wrote: post #13
doctorpangloss wrote: post #10

In my community: I love the cutsie pootsie Victorians everywhere, the time-capsule 1910s look. Some people want to make it easier to demolish this stuff and build whatever house you want - the rule is you have to keep the facade or whatever - and I sympathize with that. But nobody gives a fuck about the brutalist structures being torn down, like the VA in Chicago or the Federal Building in Boston, because they're ugl…

It's notable that this tree was probably a few hundred years old. That's not especially old by European or tree standards, and this tree was of no real historical significance. But it's older than any of those structures you describe. The brutalist structures might one day be beloved. Perhaps a few centuries from now. They're certainly built for it; one problem with them is that they're hard to demolish. (And often l…

> which is hard to retrofit

This is a great feature. I had a fantastic private office with a view in a brutalist building when most of the staff, far more senior than I, had to use open workspaces, because this particular building was not able to be retrofitted.

Re: The Sycamore Gap tree held a particularly deep place in people's hearts

#24

Post by jacquesm »

politelemon wrote: post #7

Is the motive behind the felling still unknown?

Two people have been arrested, and there is a ton of speculation but those suspected deny having anything to do with it.

https://www.perthnow.com.au/travel/europe/sycamore-gap-was-t...

(that's an Australian site but I've yet to see a UK one with the same level of balance and detail)

Re: The Sycamore Gap tree held a particularly deep place in people's hearts

#25

Post by a-dub »

a-dub wrote: post #18
atum47 wrote: post #17

In the old days young people (mostly boys) would to stupid things to make their friends laugh; i can help to feel like that social networks elevate that behavior up to eleven. People now a days do all kinds of stupid shirt just to get views. I think the destruction of this tree was an example of that.

people have been doing shitty things for a very long time. people have been talking about how "things are worse nowadays" also for a very long time. not much to do now other than try to science it back into existence, replace it with a similar one, plant a new one and wait or declare it done and move on.

oh jeez, i almost forgot the most important option: create a new british detectives television series around the event where they drive around in small cars across the english countryside while discussing the case and making prodigious use of their mobile phones.

include use of gen z messaging platforms and a lovable geriatric millennial character who plays the role of the senior inspector.

Re: The Sycamore Gap tree held a particularly deep place in people's hearts

#26

Post by cipheredStones »

jacquesm wrote: post #24
politelemon wrote: post #7

Is the motive behind the felling still unknown?

Two people have been arrested, and there is a ton of speculation but those suspected deny having anything to do with it. https://www.perthnow.com.au/travel/europe/sycamore-gap-was-t... (that's an Australian site but I've yet to see a UK one with the same level of balance and detail)

To summarize, the 69-year-old man who was arrested (in addition to a 16-year-old boy) is a former lumberjack who had been in a legal battle to continue leasing land that had been in his family for many years, and lost the case just before the tree was cut down.

Re: The Sycamore Gap tree held a particularly deep place in people's hearts

#27

Post by pdpi »

crtified wrote: post #14

I wish the tree had not been felled. A very sad and poignant act. Also, as I pointed out in another conversation here, and in the name of reciprocal repetition will do so again here, it is quite easy to find reports of equally heartbroken locals, the world over, lamenting the deliberate felling of any number of special, beloved, prominent trees, in the name of the routine building of a new road or factory or housing…

At least felling trees to build things serves a purpose. Are those things worth the cost? Debatable, but at least there’s some attempt at justification.

This one is particularly heartbreaking because you can’t even apply that cynical utilitarian logic to it. It seems like a completely wanton act of vandalism.

Re: The Sycamore Gap tree held a particularly deep place in people's hearts

#28

Post by ionwake »

I once decided it would be a cool idea to walk in straight line across England and began wondering how I would plan it.

For some reason I noticed and realised my half way mark was a few meters away from this tree. As in if you look at a map the tree sits in the center of England where its diameter is at its narrowest - check it out. An odd thing.

Looking at the topography from google maps and I remember thinking what an oddly beautiful tree in the middle of nowhere.

I even noticed it had a Wikipedia entry.

It was a few years ago and I never got round to trying to walk it.

Now a couple years later I hear it’s been destroyed and I grow more concerned for the future of man.

Re: The Sycamore Gap tree held a particularly deep place in people's hearts

#29

Post by andrewstuart »

There was a local project here on the railway lines.

As part of the project they had to cut down a long row of giant pine trees in the park next to the train line.

So when the railway project was complete I took my 8 year old son to the native nursery about bought ten mountain ash seedlings.

Together we planted them in a long line in the park.

Here's pictures of how big mountain ash gets:

https://wilderlands.earth/stories/mountain-ash-the-giants-of...

https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/science-envir...

https://weareexplorers.co/australias-tallest-tree-joins-100m...

My theory is if you are angry about trees being cut down then take revenge by planting giant trees everywhere.

Sadly I think only one or two of the seedlings have survived - I'll have to replant them.

The point being: where the Sycamore Gap Tree was - go there and plant a forest of the same type of tree. Plant 1,000 of them.

Re: The Sycamore Gap tree held a particularly deep place in people's hearts

#30

Post by oooyay »

andrewstuart wrote: post #29

There was a local project here on the railway lines. As part of the project they had to cut down a long row of giant pine trees in the park next to the train line. So when the railway project was complete I took my 8 year old son to the native nursery about bought ten mountain ash seedlings. Together we planted them in a long line in the park. Here's pictures of how big mountain ash gets: https://wilderlands.earth/st…

In Portland they recently started cutting trees down to widen the road for extended bus and bike lanes. That spawned a conversation that we've lost a third of our tree cover due to various things and the city hasn't kept up. That week I started burying cones from my Douglas Firs, which aren't nearly as big as the Mountain Ashes you planted, but are fairly large. With any luck I'll have five in my yard.
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