I'm A Tree Hugger ... Sue Me

One thing I love about living in Smallville are all the trees. We must have over two hundred different trees on our property here, with every kind of tree from a Dogwood to a Pine, from Oaks to Crepe Myrtle and Magnolia. So, I'm a tree lover and a tree hugger, which is why this story bothers me.

After being flown into Los Angeles International Airport, the space shuttle, Endeavor, will find its permanent home at the California Science Center. And there's going to be a big to-do to celebrate Endeavor’s arrival, including a parade.

Nice, huh?

Except, in order for the shuttle to make its way through city streets on its way to the museum, several obstacles must be removed, including four-hundred trees.

Not, removed, and then replanted after the parade, but chopped down. And residents along the parade route aren't feeling happy about it.  Many of the trees are large, decades old, magnolias, firs and pines, and even though the California Science Center has promised to replant twice as many trees along the route, that is little comfort to residents.

See, they aren't transplanting full-grown trees to replace the ones removed; they're planting saplings that will take many years to grow into what will be cut down in a day for a parade.

Now, there were other options to avoid removing these grand trees, one of which would be dismantling the shuttle and rebuilding it on site. But some say that taking it apart to move it would permanently damage parts of the shuttle, and airlifting something that heavy from LAX to the museum is nearly impossible. In addition, the shuttle wouldn't fit under overpasses on freeways, so surfaces will have to do.

And the trees will have to go. Inglewood will lose 128 trees, and communities in South Los Angeles about 265 trees, though the exact number has not yet been determined. One route, originally set for the "parade" was scrapped because it would have meant the removal of trees that were planted in honor of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

When are we going to learn that we can't continue to rape the planet and hope that she'll get better? This isn't progress, this is ridiculous. I personally don't see what's wrong with taking the shuttle apart and then reassembling it. It’s not like one day, in the distant future, we're going to send Endeavor back into space.

Why not save some trees. They're the only things being harmed by this.

via Treehugger