For some, there’s a deep emotional reaction to seeing drastic changes to their familiar natural environment. Last year, the felling of a tree became one of the UK’s biggest news stories. When the Sycamore Gap tree along Hadrian’s Wall was illegally cut down, the reaction from the public was not just one of outrage but of profound sadness.
But it’s not just the UK. Across Europe, councils often chop down trees to the dismay of those who have come to love the arboreal cityscape. It’s not just the emotional impact that inspires residents to speak up for this vital symbol of nature.
Their carbon drawdown power is taken away too, along with biodiversity and shade. Here are three first-person accounts from people in Europe about how they have felt when trees have been cut down where they live. It was a hard day.
I heard the saws when I left for work but didn’t dare look. When I got home, it was gone. It was a magnificent , at least 20 metres tall with a broad and beautiful crown.
It must have been hundreds of years old. It stood there alone, framing our street, pulling our gaze up from this dreary suburbia. So many other trees on this street had died recently - heat stress from record-hot summers, droughts or sodden soils, but not this one.
It was too big, too strong to fall - until now. I went over to see what had happened. Two neighbours came out.
They were in a celebratory mood. One said it was blocking the light, the other that the birds caused a mess on their car. .