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Can you see three trees?

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Re: Can you see three trees?

#131

Post by lstodd »

sandworm101 wrote: post #124

Alternative approach: Screw parks. Parks are not nature. Parks are a sanitized parody of the natural world. They are a simulation meant to make us humans feel better about ourselves. They are gated grass farms, not wild areas, useful only to a select few animals (nothing bigger than a raccoon). Creating a park inside a urban area diverts land from actual nature. So, rather than build parks inside cities, we should de…

Sounds like someone who never tried to walk in a true wild forest.

Where if don't have a machete you ain't going nowhere. And while you're pitifully trying to make some way, a bear bites your ass off.

Re: Can you see three trees?

#132

Post by ErroneousBosh »

graemep wrote: post #88
alt227 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is very much a true thing in the UK. Deer are overpopulated and causing damage to their environment. As you have pointed out the solution is to eat more venison, but most local butchers stock hardly any of it because of low demand.

I do not understand the low demand. It can be cheaper than beef and tastes good and is lean. Maybe it needs some promotion? The same arguments that have promoted vegetarianism (healthier and green) are applicable. British eating habits have become really narrow over the years. Its hard to find offal (healthier and greener than just eating muscle meat). Rabbit seems to have pretty much disappeared too.

It's so good for you and it's incredibly sustainable because those damn things breed like rabbits.

Re offal I actually just did a really nice mutton liver curry the other day, something you won't find in your average "brown spicy glop for white people" takeaway but which you can get in the south side of Glasgow. Absolutely brilliant stuff, even better the second day if you can leave it alone that long. Four quid for about half a kilo of lamb liver out of the reduced section in the supermarket!

Re: Can you see three trees?

#133

Post by __MatrixMan__ »

zahlman wrote: post #129

> Every home, school and office should have a view of at least three trees, be in a neighbourhood with 30% tree cover, and be within 300 metres of a park. The middle one seems a lot harder to me than the other two.

Me too. The native trees around here aren't very tall and don't do a lot of covering. I'd love 30% but my neighborhood just isn't rich enough to have each yard contributing to a forest to that degree.

Maybe if we buried the power lines and turned the utility easements into open space.

Re: Can you see three trees?

#134

Post by anal_reactor »

Vivtek wrote: post #127

I live in a rain forest, so this post confused me for a minute. I was expecting some kind of on-screen optical illusion, but it turned to be asking about actual physical trees outside my window. Yeah, I can see trees. I can see about fifty trees without standing up from my desk. I cut down more than three trees a month, probably. The weirdest ones are yagrumo - in about five years they can be fifty feet tall and the…

What do you think of life there in general? Do you think it's a reasonable idea, or one of those things that sound great on paper but then turns out only very specific types of people will actually enjoy it.

Re: Can you see three trees?

#135

Post by roughly »

ruszki wrote: post #109

It’s maybe a good rule of thumb, but as I’m just outside of Helsinki for a while now, I’ve just realized what’s the difference between here and everywhere in central and south Europe: the trees are large and old. Even if there are trees in Vienna, Budapest, Brussels etc they are small, and very young compared to here. Even in the greener small Belgian villages, they are not that green than here, just outside of Helsi…

As they say, the best time to plant a tree was 20 (or 200) years ago…

Re: Can you see three trees?

#137

Post by tetha »

mlsu wrote: post #111

I had a moment a few years ago (while on vacation) after a long flight. We set a blanket out under a huge tree and napped in the park all afternoon. I was staring up at a massive tree for probably 3 or 4 hours straight, basically doing nothing else. It is remarkable how calming it is to just sit there and stare at a tree. Now everywhere I live has to have a big tree somewhere nearby. There’s one right outside and I s…

I've started something similar in my life. Chris Boltendhal (Founder of Grave Digger) has been criticizing how streaming services had turned music into a wallpaper, and others have too. Something that's just there in the background, but not fully appreciated.

So now I've been making room in my week for new albums of bands I enjoy and listen to. Just an hour or two of nothing, but listening to this album, while sitting in a hammock or somewhere else entirely relaxed.

I can only recommend this. For example, Heilung(1) or Wardruna(2) are already great on theri own, but one of their new songs, but I was listening to one of their songs in a park over here, sitting at a tree and suddenly a little noise was nearby. Turns out, there was a squirrel looking at me and then scampering by. Later on a little bird also was exasperated I looked at him as he chased a bug. Very fitting to these bands.

Sometimes balancing the speed of our lives indeed seems like a very good idea.

1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64CACoHNBEI

2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEizKmZlUAw

Re: Can you see three trees?

#138

Post by ruszki »

Vivtek wrote: post #125
ruszki wrote: post #109

It’s maybe a good rule of thumb, but as I’m just outside of Helsinki for a while now, I’ve just realized what’s the difference between here and everywhere in central and south Europe: the trees are large and old. Even if there are trees in Vienna, Budapest, Brussels etc they are small, and very young compared to here. Even in the greener small Belgian villages, they are not that green than here, just outside of Helsi…

Depends on what part of Budapest. One of the reasons people like Zugló (14th district) is the many trees. And farther out it's even better, of course. But a lot of the trees in Hungary just don't grow that big, maybe the most marked difference when I first saw it after growing up in Indiana. When we lived in the 16th district of Budapest, there was one neighborhood I used to walk the dog in that had these massive old…

Since my current permanent address is exactly in that district, and I lived most of my life near Ors: no, it’s not comparable. Zuglo is nowhere near what’s here.

And also, many would grow that big. They are just not allowed. They are cut almost to trunk periodically over there. There are a few trees there which were as high as those 10 floor high rises, but they cut them down or even out, because somehow it’s dangerous there what’s completely fine in Finland.

Re: Can you see three trees?

#139

Post by w10-1 »

> Every home, school and office should have a view of at least three trees, be in a neighbourhood with 30% tree cover, and be within 300 metres of a park

Something like this has always been a driver of my home search. I've been lucky/glad to find something, but it's always been a stretch.

But as a more realistic policy I would start with homes and with ensuring schools have a play area with plants larger than the kids and too dense to see through.

I think the secondary effects on planning are just as important: urban planning goes awry when it fails to consider livability and beauty. Livability includes walkability, non-car transportation, and parking for car-dependent transportation -- things you need to do most days. Beauty has obvious direct effects, but indirectly it also encourages people to take care of the place, and to avoid being seen e.g., as a litterer.

As policy encouraging changes, it would be good to start with environmental enhancement sections in each permit, and (if possible) to publish them before they are finalized for people to contribute proposals. This expertise is rare in developers so advice would be welcome, and providing the opportunity would probably encourage people to contribute, with ideas and perhaps funding. (There should be no provision for blocking permits, to avoid adverse NIMBY incentives.)

Re: Can you see three trees?

#140

Post by garethrowlands »

jamiecurle wrote: post #24
luuundonjk wrote: post #7

I was walking in central London and something felt wrong. I couldn't quite tell what though, but I had this constant feeling of unease. It took me a few days to understand - there are no trees in central London (the City). Sure, you have a small/big park here and there, but no random trees on side walks. It's literally a (beautiful) concrete/glass wasteland. Note: I only walked a few of the main streets, I'm sure I'm…

Maybe we're both right and wrong at the same time. Here's a map of the canopy data. https://apps.london.gov.uk/public-realm-trees/explore

That's awesome. Though, it doesn't seem to think Hampstead Heath has any trees. Nor Croydon, not even Thornton Heath. The Wilderness in Richmond Park seems to be a missing spot, as are some of the plantations (maybe Isabella Plantation, my map fu is failing me). Maybe the royal parks keep their own records?
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