interesting aerial view of how trees grow in urban areas

[pinkytoe]

http://grist.org/list/you-can-identi...ds-from-space/

[Gardenarian]

Very important information. This is something that we can all help change, and should.
Thank you for sharing.

[ApatheticNoMore]

This matches my experience. And, things like that are why I can never really be fully on board with voluntary poverty as it were, as in a deliberate choice not just to give up excess things but to be poor.

Stuff like: "go live in the ghetto to save money etc.". Well there's a price to that, though it's not immediately visible, you won't even get as much nice oxygen from trees for instance. Really though that shows in health statistics etc.. Your neighborhood will be the one most likely to host a toxic dump etc. (they put that stuff in poor neighborhoods). The poor do die sooner, and it's not all health insurance, it's many things. So to choose voluntary poverty in America (and maybe according to the pics elsewhere too) is to choose a lot of bad things.

And no, I don't think all poverty is voluntary or anything, I'm addressing the type of ideas sometimes discussed here.

[Tussiemussies]

Thanks for posting this, it would never have occurred to me. Very sad though...

[iris lily]

Egad there are so many things I could say in response to this subject, being the urban tree hater that I am.

My experience is different. In my quest for urban garden space I spend a fair amount of time assessing the urban landscape for suitable garden properties. Trees are, of course, The Enemy to gardeners.

The ghetto properties that I eye for cheap buying usually have a LOT of junk trees on them. In fact I was scoping out a vacant lot over the weekend that I think is for sale, and there it stood in all of it's south facing glory with one big ole fat tree on the north end. Now, a tree all the way back on the northernmost end wouldn't be a hinderence to sunlight. But I could just hear DH's disgusted voice in my ear "that's a $2,000 take down!" because the sucker is BIG and it is old with lots of dead parts, and the liability it presents isn't something that we, non-ghetto dwellers with assets, wish to take on.

When you live in the ghetto you let junk trees like Alienthus come up and drop branches, limbs, and eventually entire tree trunks her there and everywhere.

[bae]

You might not like gardening here Iris :-)

[Mrs-M]

Very sad.

[pinkytoe]

Trees are, of course, The Enemy to gardeners

We could not garden at all here without the filtered light that trees provide. They provide some relief from the glaring sun.

[peggy]

The difference is stark, but I think their assessment is a bit off. By the article, it is assumed that it's the city that is planting all those trees in the better off neighborhoods but really, it's more likely it's the homeowners who are planting the trees. It's not just poverty but attitude towards your home and neighborhood. Getting trees cheap or free isn't difficult. Most cities have programs in place for homeowners who want to green up their neighborhood. But the homeowner has to invest time and willingness to do the work, as well as care for the tree, water etc...
I'm not saying there isn't a difference, but the cause isn't so black and white, or discriminatory as the authors want you to believe.

[artist]

A lot has to do with the population per square mile as well. I live on the edge of the poorer section of town. Houses in my neighborhood are mostly single family homes (though not all) and have at most .25 acres of land. By the time to you get half a mile from my house, going downtown, the houses are multifamily or tenaments and have maybe two or three feet between them and maybe a small paved alleyway for parking cars. Where there were trees there is a building or pavement. The further away from the downtown area you go, the larger the singe family home, more land per home you will see and the more trees you will see. Upside to the neighborhood where I live. 325 acres of wooded walking/biking trails (state park land) is within walking distance of this part of town.