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Can you see three trees?

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Re: Can you see three trees?

#151

Post by Nnnes »

gpvos wrote: post #84
lmf4lol wrote: post #8

One thing that I really really like about living in Amsterdam, is that we have trees and plants everwhere. Also, for 2 years now, city stopped cutting most of the plant growth in parks and on the side of roads. Its so beautiful green and colourful now and insects are having a great time. I counted this year already 6 different sorts of humblebees in my garden.

Still, apparently Amsterdam somehow doesn't satisfy the 30% criterion at all. Can anyone find detailed numbers? I live there and my street is lined with large trees.

This is the dataset they used: https://land.copernicus.eu/en/products/high-resolution-layer...

Re: Can you see three trees?

#152

Post by gpvos »

maxldn wrote: post #148
ricardobeat wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was thinking the same. There must be some glitch in how this is calculated, as we definitely have >30% tree coverage in every city. Maybe the vast areas of shrub-filled countryside and farmland are skewing the data.

Not sure. 30% sounds like a lot. The streets in central Amsterdam _might_ have 30% cover if you don’t count the water, but what about the houses, gardens, etc?

True, but then I wonder how other cities get that high without essentially being a park with a few buildings dotted here and there.

Re: Can you see three trees?

#153

Post by Timwi »

I'm not surprised the Ruhr area (the cluster of cities in West Germany surrounding Essen) sweeps the “30% greenery” benchmarks.

This area was especially rich in coal deposits, leading to massive coal extraction during the industrial revolution. There was air pollution and industrial waste everywhere. The area quickly gained a reputation as the dirtiest, most polluted place on the planet. The colloquial term “Ruhrpott” (Ruhr cauldron) came out of this.

So in the 2000s, the city governments (Essen, Bochum, Duisburg, Dortmund, etc etc) decided on an ambitious project to counteract this perception. This paid off. Essen made the top three “Europe’s greenest city” three years in a row and won in the third (2015–2017).

Sometimes, a history of being known as the worst in something leads to greater enthusiasm to become the best.

Re: Can you see three trees?

#154

Post by Windchaser »

gpvos wrote: post #152
maxldn wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure. 30% sounds like a lot. The streets in central Amsterdam _might_ have 30% cover if you don’t count the water, but what about the houses, gardens, etc?

True, but then I wonder how other cities get that high without essentially being a park with a few buildings dotted here and there.

trees over roads, parking lots, etc.

But then, as you scale towards higher density (e.g., replacing parking lots with garages), you end up with less space for trees. Unless you put them on top of buildings, ofc.

Re: Can you see three trees?

#155

Post by phatskat »

thewebguyd wrote: post #123
phatskat wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve done this both on and off psychedelics, and both are lovely experiences. I also dated someone who wasn’t a particularly “crunchy” hippy type, but she did like to randomly hug trees on our walks to show appreciation. I do it now too, there’s something oddly calming and connecting about it - it may look weird, but that’s par for the course for me as it is

There's actually some research to back that up. (Forest bathing & the effects of phytoncides https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2793341/ ) Nature, physical touch (even with non-human objects), and being near or touching a big stationary natural object triggers our parasympathetic nervous system too, helps reduce stress. Everyone should go hug a tree! It's not completely woo woo, there are real biological benefi…

They should! It’s genuinely nice. I know to some this all probably comes off as corny and to that I say: I hope those folks can hug a tree someday, it’s nice.
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