Last Sunday was a special but sad day. From 5am-5pm I was up in a beautiful 150-year-old tree in Cardiff, trying to help many others save it from the developers’ chainsaws. Ultimately though, we failed.
Thread 1/n
Thread 1/n
There were tears. On the street below local people cried as they cut the neighbouring tree first. My tears came at 2pm when the chainsaws backed away and I thought we may have won, but I was mistaken… 2/
They started to cut the tree down while I was still in it. Such is the dead-eyed resolve of the development machine. (You can see the pictures and videos from @XRCardiff @nspugh and others.) 3/
On the pavement below were hundreds of people watching the events unfold. Their vocal support was uplifting – I did not feel alone in the tree for one moment. 4/
It was an honour to spend 12 hours in the branches of this magnificent beech on its last day of life. We shared sunrise together, with the gently patterned bark continuously changing texture as the sun tracked the southern sky. 5/
At 6am starlings had visited its upper branches with very quiet and gentle melodious chirps. Then tits, pigeons and crows throughout the day… all perhaps paying their last respects. 6/
When it rained in the afternoon, then hailed, the tree’s surface turned from light green to dark, while its huge boughs sheltered me from the worst of the wind. There was no better place in the world to be. 7/
Perhaps I could feel the latent energy of fresh spring life welling up in the branches all around me, ready for the annual miracle in a few weeks’ time. 8/
But it will not happen now. 9/
The chainsaws brought a premature end this 150-year-old tree’s final winter. 10/
Now there is a void where the beech stood. An empty, brochure-friendly skyline to maximise off-plan profits, but at a high price: decades of natural magnificence lost to the local community, the new homeowners and Future Generations. 11/
A valuable home lost to thousands, perhaps millions, of creatures. 12/
A continuation of the destruction of the UK’s decimated natural habitats. @rspb 13/ rspb.org.uk/about-the-rspb…
And perhaps a tug of regret in the hearts of all those responsible.
Because this beautiful tree and many like it did not need to be cut down. It was healthy. It was on the very edge of the site. The wall beside it could have been fixed. The houses could have been built with the trees in place. 15/
On Sunday we could not save this tree, nor the 20-or-so others the developers mowed down on this plot. 16/
But out of the collective sadness grows new bonds, love and community. And resolve. We will return stronger to defend nature, our environment, our communities, our planet – because these things are all connected. 17/
Finally, I wrote this statement on Saturday explaining my reasons for going this far. I was nervous, uncertain, scared. But on reflection I think it was the right thing to do. 18/18
Thanks to @nspugh for this beautiful portrait of the felled trunk, and many others in the thread. 19/18
