All over the country the destruction of fine mature trees continues for Elf ‘n Safety reasons, including a whole wood of lovely trees in Yorkshire.
It is more or less impossible to argue against this.
What if you said "Leave those trees alone' and weeks later someone was killed by a falling branch, it would be your fault, wouldn't it?
Actually, no, it wouldn't.
Trees fall, and drop their limbs, and sometimes people are hurt or killed by this, but usually the event is so unpredictable that nobody could possibly have foretold it. I personally enjoy walking through woods when a high wind is blowing, listening to the majestic roaring sound, so much that I don't mind the small risk involved.
Elf ’n Safety would no doubt regard this attitude as irresponsible, and prevent me from doing it if it knew how.
Logically, if we are to live in fear of trees like this, then we will simply have to cut them all down, or place them behind high protective fences.
In reality, there are just some risks we have to take, unless we are to go quite mad, and this is one of them. Trees are so beautiful, and do us so much good, and make our countryside and towns so much better, that we should do all we can to keep them.
Yet this absurd logic is leading to the needless destruction of untold numbers of fine mature trees
It brings to mind the final chapters of 'The Lord of the Rings', with the spiteful and small-minded hacking down of trees in The Shire by Saruman and his allies, and the joy (alas impossible in this world) when they are miraculously replaced by Sam and his little box of magic dust.
I have the music to "Don't sit under the Apple Tree with anybody else but me" but it is in a Glenn Miller album and I'm afraid, no cover picture.
4 comments:
I love trees, and I love woodland. I think what's needed is for people to go out more as children and learn to avoid the dangers. Our park lake is partly fenced off now, to stop people drowning, whereas I think if they must have warnings "Don't swim in here or you'll drown" would be a better approach.
We couldn't live without trees. They are part of our nature.
Thw willow is my fav.
Couldn't agree more...If we had more trees in the world they would absorb all this carbon dioxide that everybody is worried about.
I have trees all around my garden although some of the old apple trees have given up the ghost!
Comment from Foody:-
"I read your post about 'elf 'n safety. I totally agreed. The whole thing has been taken too far and it's a crying shame about those trees. I've forgotten all I learned about tort but there would have to be reasonable foreseeability of harm being caused as a result of the branch falling etc etc (or soemthing like that) which would be decided by a judge. the law isn't cut and dried and previous similar cases would be taken into account so it's not cut and dried. I suppose the owner/occupier just doesn't want the possibility of the case going against him. However the sensible thing would have been to temporarily close the path or the wood until remedial works had been carried out and thereafter keep a warning notice at the entrance. People ought to be takig more responsibility for themselves - and their children.
I should have put this as a comment on your post. Maybe I could cut and paste it but not sure how."
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