Paved Jungles And Tree Sheds
A growing number of townhouse and condo builders are hacking away at all the full-grown trees in subdivisions. I went to three subdivisions in Cavite and you wouldn't believe how extremely hot it was there--and Cavite is supposed to be a province! I noticed how there was not a tree in sight, save some small gardens in cute plant boxes here and there and hanging plants in pots. No wonder subdivisions are getting warmer.
Photo by Dillon Kydd on Unsplash.
Here in Project 8 (QC), there were a lot of patches of forests with tall trees and bamboos when I was a kid. The streets here used to be cool even at noon and early afternoons because of the shade alongside roads provided by huge fruit trees, especially mango and coconut. Every frontage, sidewalk and backyard were planted with trees. We enjoyed this for years until the condo and townhouse developers came in and cut all the vegetation, foliage, greenery and what-have-you. There was a huge, towering and beautiful Nara tree at our street corner where wild birds nested and tweeted sweet, early morning songs to the neighborhood and early morning joggers. Now, I terribly miss that tree. I'm not surprised why subdivisions are getting warmer.
Our neighborhood used to be a haven for fruit-bearing trees, especially mangoes, caimitos, and coconuts. There was even a big Duhat tree. We regularly snacked on them when we were kids and they were easily accessible because all backyards had some kind of thickets bearing local fruits. Now they're gone and all kids today know is snack on junkfood. Most condo and townhouse developers think of is make money out of subdivisions. Not all of them, but a lot are just business people who do not care one bit about the environment. As a result, it's becoming so hot here in our area.
It's so ugly how concrete jungles have cleared out tall trees so that today the only protection from fierce sunlight are what shadows tall buildings cast in the hot mornings and afternoons. But even if you have these protections, the concrete walls and slabs all around create oven-like conditions that keep heat in and circulating till early evening, making the air and wind hot. Trees can neutralize the hot atmosphere where gases are trapped and produce cooler air for us because of their natural transpirating cooling effect--fresh oxygen is produced in addition to the vapors released from the leaves, creating a surrounding of cooling and protective sheds, so to say.
They think planting lawn grass and small shrubberies will compensate for all the mature trees they have killed. There's one mini subdivision here where the streets are so cleared of any tree. The only green living things you see are the manicured grass and small flowering plants in pots. The whole place looks and feels so hot in the day and night time, especially during summer.
And what I hate most about concrete jungles is the fact that wild birds lose their natural habitat. There aren't many butterflies and bees either nowadays. When I was young, our place was practically a haven for droves of butterflies of all sizes, shapes, and colors, of grasshoppers, dragonflies, and even strange insects. Now they're all gone. There used to be lots of frogs and bats, too.
It used to be when you could walk the streets here comfortably even during hot noontime. All you had to do was seek refuge in tree sheds which were present outside each house you passed by. Today, you have to bring an umbrella, and even with that, the heat still pesters a lot, even threatening a sunstroke. I miss those trees very badly.
What Should We Do?
Plant trees again? Probably, for the next generation. It takes at least 10 years to grow a tree to full maturity. And by all means, let's STOP all senseless cutting of trees, especially mature ones. I miss that Nara tree at our street corner. And if you're buying a new house, opt out of those which senselessly cut all the trees. It's a way of protesting against concrete jungles. Let's boycott treeless real estate. It's a way of teaching senseless developers lessons--because they understand only the language of money and profits. If they lose sales because we refuse to buy properties in concrete jungles, they will change strategy and start to preserve mature trees.
To fight global warming locally, planting orchids and lawn grass and flowering plants in pots is NOT enough. What we need are full grown trees planted in our surroundings. We should wake up to the fact why subdivisions are getting warmer each time townhouse or condo units are put up. If not, what would happen to the lives of our kids in the future?
Our neighborhood used to be a haven for fruit-bearing trees, especially mangoes, caimitos, and coconuts. There was even a big Duhat tree. We regularly snacked on them when we were kids and they were easily accessible because all backyards had some kind of thickets bearing local fruits. Now they're gone and all kids today know is snack on junkfood. Most condo and townhouse developers think of is make money out of subdivisions. Not all of them, but a lot are just business people who do not care one bit about the environment. As a result, it's becoming so hot here in our area.
It's so ugly how concrete jungles have cleared out tall trees so that today the only protection from fierce sunlight are what shadows tall buildings cast in the hot mornings and afternoons. But even if you have these protections, the concrete walls and slabs all around create oven-like conditions that keep heat in and circulating till early evening, making the air and wind hot. Trees can neutralize the hot atmosphere where gases are trapped and produce cooler air for us because of their natural transpirating cooling effect--fresh oxygen is produced in addition to the vapors released from the leaves, creating a surrounding of cooling and protective sheds, so to say.
Trees also cool the air by a process known as ‘transpiration cooling‘. As trees release water into the atmosphere from their leaves via transpiration, the surrounding air is cooled as water goes from liquid to a vapor. The process is similar to evaporation pads used to cool greenhouses — except in trees, water moves into the tree’s roots from the soil and travels through the tree’s water-conducting system, eventually being transpired from the leaves. The water that is released in its gas vapor form has a cooling effect on the surrounding air. Source.It's deadly how the concrete jungle mixes with the fumes coming out of vehicles. The result is tripled incidence of asthma and other respiratory diseases in our time, some experts extrapolate. Fumes and other air pollutants can be neutralized if there are lots of big and spreading trees around, but some developers hate all these. They want all the trees out of their sights. They put down what God creates and puts up their creations in place of it.
They think planting lawn grass and small shrubberies will compensate for all the mature trees they have killed. There's one mini subdivision here where the streets are so cleared of any tree. The only green living things you see are the manicured grass and small flowering plants in pots. The whole place looks and feels so hot in the day and night time, especially during summer.
And what I hate most about concrete jungles is the fact that wild birds lose their natural habitat. There aren't many butterflies and bees either nowadays. When I was young, our place was practically a haven for droves of butterflies of all sizes, shapes, and colors, of grasshoppers, dragonflies, and even strange insects. Now they're all gone. There used to be lots of frogs and bats, too.
It used to be when you could walk the streets here comfortably even during hot noontime. All you had to do was seek refuge in tree sheds which were present outside each house you passed by. Today, you have to bring an umbrella, and even with that, the heat still pesters a lot, even threatening a sunstroke. I miss those trees very badly.
What Should We Do?
Plant trees again? Probably, for the next generation. It takes at least 10 years to grow a tree to full maturity. And by all means, let's STOP all senseless cutting of trees, especially mature ones. I miss that Nara tree at our street corner. And if you're buying a new house, opt out of those which senselessly cut all the trees. It's a way of protesting against concrete jungles. Let's boycott treeless real estate. It's a way of teaching senseless developers lessons--because they understand only the language of money and profits. If they lose sales because we refuse to buy properties in concrete jungles, they will change strategy and start to preserve mature trees.
To fight global warming locally, planting orchids and lawn grass and flowering plants in pots is NOT enough. What we need are full grown trees planted in our surroundings. We should wake up to the fact why subdivisions are getting warmer each time townhouse or condo units are put up. If not, what would happen to the lives of our kids in the future?
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