Election questions about our tree canopy
A hammock stirs thoughts about tree canopy and ways to feed our city’s hungry
I walked into a gas station recently while on a trip to British Columbia, and was accosted by a large, illuminated sign that read, “Bread Garden.” What? It was on a refrigerator with wrapped sandwiches, stamped with long-range, best-before dates. There was nothing offensive about it, except for the liberal use of the word “garden.” I walked out of there with gas, all right.
I’d like to lodge a complaint about the similar use of the G-word where enclosed ice arenas are concerned. Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens, the TD Garden in Boston and, of course, Madison Square Garden in New York are perfect illustrations of how badly the word has been misused. This is not a new thought: my late father used to loudly lament this very complaint.
The word “paradise” was derived from the ancient Persian word pairidaeza, which described none other than a park of royal proportions where gardens were kept and tended. If Maple Leaf Gardens is someone’s idea of paradise, I hope to never go there. Although, I have a son-in-law who loves cheese so much that he visits the cheese counter at MLG’s Loblaws, just to imagine what paradise would be like. That, is another matter.
So here we are in early July — summer is here in earnest. As for the garden, we had better slow down the work activity or it will soon be late summer and time to fix the bare patches in the lawn and divide the peonies. Then, there will be no lounging in the hammock. This, right now, is prime hammock time.
I have enjoyed my share of lounging around lately and I have had some deep and meaningful thoughts that lead to questions for each of our municipal candidates.
What, specifically, will the candidates do to help double the urban tree canopy in their city? This question applies equally to Pickering, Markham and Mississauga as it does to Toronto. I may not live in Beeton but their trees clean my air — and vice versa.
We’re all in this together, comedian Steve Smith’s character Red Green liked to remind us. While Red liked to keep his stick on the ice, we all need to keep our spades in the ground, especially if it puts us up one more tree or shrub. Doubling the tree canopy is absolutely critical to the future of our urban-dwelling grandchildren. It will only happen one tree at a time, and it will take about 40 years before a tree planted today sequesters a measurable amount of carbon. This is a long-range project that requires planning and foresight.
Political candidates often like to say that, by some miracle of economics, there will be money from heaven to pay for the growing, planting and nurturing of our future tree canopy. One candidate for Toronto’s top job has suggested that there will be a new tax on businesses to pay for the new trees. I am sure that every business person in the city is pleased to hear that. Perhaps the same candidate has a plan to deliver clean air to business people on an exclusive basis.
I have another idea: Let’s collaborate. When we bring together existing, not-for-profit tree organizations with thoughtful, committed green businesses (and TD is one of them, so I am not dishing on their Boston garden), plus citizens who volunteer to help green our city, as well as three layers of government who are also committed to doing the right thing for our future environment, we then have resources that will make a difference — and fast.
There is one problem with this concept: The silo mentality of players who would rather play alone with their own ball than be a part of a community of players, on the street with a ball that no one really cares who it belongs to.
Trees For Life, the urban tree coalition, is a group designed to take full advantage of a collaborative effort among all the players. Trees For Life does not want the credit for bringing those people together — rather, it is like the den mother who just wants to see the kids talking and getting along.
“Dreams are the answers to questions that we haven’t yet figured out how to ask.”
FOX MULDER
THE X-FILES
A new organization, Trees For Life has already done some great work. This spring, they assisted in 10,000 Trees For the Rouge, the Adopt-a-Park-Tree program with LEAF and Park People. And beyond that, they are working with several agencies and individuals to create a tree plan for the Toronto waterfront, including Fort York and the reforestation of the Jane/Finch corridor. I would like to hear a municipal candidate say, “I want to meet these people. We could do good work together.” For details, go to treesforlifecanada.org.
Community gardens: Speaking of candidates for the municipal election, I would like to ask all of them this: “How will you support efforts to help hungry people feed themselves by providing access to community gardens?” This is not a fly-by-night scheme. It is working in other cities, including good old, stressed-out Detroit. From the desperate need of that community springs new ideas, energy and a commitment to imagine new solutions that we can learn from and use right here in more prosperous Toronto. For more, go to recoverypark.org.
Will the new government support grassroots efforts such as Not Far From the Tree, which helps collect food from private, urban trees for distribution to hungry people? A pear tree on your street, for instance, likely drops its fruit that rots before anyone can eat it. Go to notfarfromthetree.org for details.
For other ideas about how we can feed ourselves through communitybased urban farming schemes and support of local small farmers, I suggest you visit the Evergreen Brick Works weekend farmers’ market. You’ll find a smorgasbord of small growers and not-for-profit organizations waiting to fill you in on the latest ideas designed to help make urban dwellers healthier.
Get there early to find a parking spot. Then you can leave early, too, and spend the afternoon hanging out in your hammock doing some dreaming of your own.