This morning Grassmarket locals and their supporters dropped banners from trees within the square in protest of the councils plan to fell them, as part of a proposed gentrification of the area.
The trees in question are a mix of London Planes, Poplars, Ash, and Norway maples. Residents are enraged as the council had previously indicated the trees would only be removed if they posed a danger to public safety, however at the most recent public meeting it was revealed the true nature of the plans.
The residents have repeatedly tried to compromise with the council and had constant dialogue with councillors and planners in order that the area can be transformed whilst holding on its unique character.
The trees have been growing in the site for around 60 years and have a further life span of around 20-60 years, yet the council claim the trees should be replaced “We have a budget now to plant new, healthy trees but we can’t guarantee that there will be funding later.”
Local residents are furious that the council have repeatedly argued that the trees are only in fair condition for their age yet the report also states “Little or no arboriculture management appear to have been carried out in recent years.”
Residents argue that with the right management the trees could live on as they are and be replaced if need be in the future. The trees in the Grassmarket not only act as a carbon sink they deal with massive amounts of rainwater run off due to their position, replacing these trees in a time of increased rainfall would be madness as young trees are not as effective as mature trees in this role.
Local environmental activist Dave said “It is important that trees are seen as more than aesthetical decoration, each individual tree supports it’s own eco-system and their ability to absorb pollution and capture carbon are of increasing importance in this time of climate uncertainty. The council, if they were to meet the concerns of the people, would be increasing the number of Grassmarket trees not cutting them down.”
For more information on the campaign to save the Grassmarket trees contact wendyhebard@yahoo.co.uk
Comments
Tree Preservation Order
By Makhno
I would have suggested getting a Tree Preservation Order, except that they are granted at the discretion of the council planning department, which clearly already wants the trees removed!
So i guess the only realistic option is making it seem like an election issue, and worry the politicians into protecting the trees. Not very sexy, or 'radical', but a potential tactic.
Other options could be doing a tree sit, perhaps. And of course, some people have spiked trees, by hammering metal or ceramic spikes into the tree, to discourage people from cutting the tree. Although the tree spiking can often backfire, and make the environmentalists seem careless, and endangering the people cutting the tree down.
An issue like this is a good one to bring a community together, and a really good thing to come out of such an event, win or lose, is the community solidarity. A permanent residents group could grow out of this struggle too, and could keep that solidarity and cooperation going - im sure there are many other issues that bother people in that area.
Good luck though! Keep us posted on what you plan to do to protect the tree, im sure quite a few folk would be up for helping.
Re: Edinburgh Grassmarket trees face axe
By bawbag mcmink
I wonder what people from Bilston would think of the tree sit idea? Not much i suspect...
With respect, I'd like to see mackno up that tree sit on a friday night, soaked, grimly holding on to his tree house much to the amusment of passing drunks. I'd gladly bring him a mug of steaming bovril (or vegan alternative)
Bawbag
Re: Edinburgh Grassmarket trees face axe
By Anonymous
Despite what you may think, bawbag, there is no need to be a complete dick all of the time.
[Insert inevitable 'just having a laugh' comment here].
Question
By CH
So what reasons are the council giving for the replacement of the trees? It's not clear from the report.
Re: why the council wants the trees to be cut down
By Makhno
"Experts have found some decay in the trees, and say they could only last a few more years."
from the Scotsman
And from a council publication the Grassmarket newsletter:
"There were two surveys of the trees in the Grassmarket in 2005 – one by the Council and the
other on behalf of Grassmarket residents. Both reports found problems with:
• the health of some trees: for example poplar trees are now generally not considered good
trees for urban environments
• the safety of some trees: currently, the poplars must be closely monitored as their limbs are
prone to snap off in windy weather
• the age of the trees: the poplars in particular are reaching the autumn of their lives and replacing
them is inevitable."
But reading in between the lines, I think they need the trees out of the way to redevelop the grassmarket in the way that they want. They want to make it a market/festival area, and prioritise pedestrians etc.. I dont really know enough about it to judge the worth of the development, but it does briefly mention the plans in the Grassmarket newsletter.
The Grassmarket Area Traders Association like the development, because it will potentially bring more income from increased tourists and festival-goers. And the council say they are designing the area to help reduce anti-social behaviour by installing CCTV (i didnt see any other measures in the proposal). It is a bit of a munter-fest on a fri and sat night.
Re: Edinburgh Grassmarket trees face axe
By Anonymous
hey anonymous!
wind your neck in, mackno is a big boy and can look after himself - online anyway
having said that i sort of don't give a shit about this issue: trying to prettify something so fundamentally ugly? a couple of plastic trees and suddenly it's all ok - we're not alienated from 'nature' any more? aye right!
water run off issue - bullshit
carbon sink issue - something better than nothing maybe true, but essentially bullshit
mackno! when are you going to show us your true colours and run for councillor????
hey this site is great, i'm really enjoying this!
xx
bawbag
Re: Edinburgh Grassmarket trees face axe
By old senty
Hahahaha Makhno for president
Spiking can kill or at least seriously wound trees so would actually be doing the job for the cutter-downers
I agree with your comment bawbag. Why bother with a couple of trees it makes no difference on the fact that cities are totally unsustainable and the result of mass deforestation and lead to species extinction and eco-collapse (im not being melodramatic here these two things are currently happening). If we are crying about the aesthetics of our prison walls then we are truly pacified and colonised.
Cities as prison walls?
By CH
Nice. Misanthropic much?
Re: Edinburgh Grassmarket trees face axe
By bawbag mcmink
It is BLATENTLY the case that the worlds urban populations have been forced by capitalistic, patriarchal, industrial forces to the cities, can we at least agree on that?
Whats going to happen to the population if we just continue? By most accounts - we're fucked. Or have i missed something.
What diff alientated from nature? Why don't you see for yourself: go into a wild space and just live there for a month or two. Now come back and see how you feel about the urban mess then. You might feel glad you can ram a hamburger into your gob but the stillness, the space, the richness of birdsong.... Some have described our plight as one of mass psychosis. I'm glad you raised this as it is a huge point that some (eg President McNobcheese with fries) seem to perpetually miss. This is the real incalculable loss of our way of life. The lack of a harmonious relationship with place, land, animals, seasons, water. As an example you can ask an urban kid where eg a bit of meat comes from they might tell you mcdonalds etc.
As for the shite you spouted about man shaping nature and being part of nature! What a fucking mess we make! Look at the McNuclear industry. In fact look at any industry. Do you really want to call what the chinese have done to the yangsee river shaping nature? I think the idea of a natural 'system' is that it self regulates and is mutually supportive. Man tends to steam in and bloot the whole thing, sell it, usually half way round the world. Elephants are known to reshape savannah land, change the course of rivers etc but they don't sell shit for personal agrandisment do they, or at least not to my knowledge. Stop trying to hide behind some dialectic. Man as a species is out of control. Even the 'good guys' are apt to defend his exploits. We need to recognise pronto that just relentlessly going 'forward' towards eco rape is and slavery is a fucking daily disaster.
As for some strategy for achieving this end of reclaiming our relationship with 'nature'? Why a gradual process of rewilding, land distro, decomissioning of industries (except computers!) (only joking) and rapid assassination of key figures within world farming (only kidding). I mean of course none of this is bound to happen strangled as we are by the heinous military industrial partiarchy...
And look fuck off with your nihilistic tag. It's nihilistic to keep going the way we are: Here is something truly nihilistic - 'Don't worry mr indian farmer, just take these terminator seeds and go drink some pesticide, your family can pay your bills later!' Wise up Indymedia people and look out for the new Anti Farming Alliance Zine 'Farmers Fuck Off!' at Nae Borders bookstores soon (maybe) (probably not actually)
Stop mixing-in insults with debate
By CH
"It is BLATENTLY the case that the worlds urban populations have been forced by capitalistic, patriarchal, industrial forces to the cities,"
When do you date the start of capitalism to? It's often pinned on Dutch merchants in the 1600s, long after the formation of cities.
"Whats going to happen to the population if we just continue?"
Continue what? Living in cities altogether, or living an unsustainable lifestyle. The 2 things are not the same.
"go into a wild space and just live there for a month or two"
That's never been my way of life. I don't think isolated individuals in a "wild space" has ever been the human way of life either. It's a romantic myth. We are, and always have been, social beings. We live in groups. That is our "nature". I could equally argue that you're alienated from society.
"man shaping nature and being part of nature! What a fucking mess we make!"
We're beavers with dynamite. You might not like the shapes we make but you either view human beings and their actions as separate from nature (therefore un-natural) or you accept that we are human animals who exist in our environment. Part of who we are is tool use and shaping our environment. This isn't dialectics, it's a fact of who we are as human animals. The apes who swapped trees for grassland, and long arms for big brains. It's our unique evolutionary feature. Now we need to use that genius to stop ourselves from massive environment-prompted die-off.
That's all aside from how we shape the environment and what we shape it to, which is where the current system, run on capitalist principles, is such a disaster. But that's down to social relations and the existence of power-over people not something inherent to language, technology, cities, or human beings.
The key isn't "reclaiming our relationship with nature". (We are part of the natural world whether you like what we do or not.) It's learning to live within planetary means. This requires getting rid of production for profit, which requires getting rid of the capitalist class that lives off of that profit.
If you locate the problem as being something that is inherent to who we are as a species, then the only solution you can propose is an end to us as a species. That's why you get called nihilistic.