Eastern weekend proved to be an ideal opportunity to be lazy at one of the city parks. I settled for ‘Mushroom Farm’ a short walk away. Johannesburg is a garden city in itself - its skyline defined not by hills, or building structures, but trees all around.
It was wish shock that in this city that should attract nature-lovers I found myself confronted by the vandals that target the eldest of trees. The type of actions we read about in the newspapers!
‘Mushroom Farm’ has two of the tallest eucalyptus I had ever seen, easily as tall as 20 stories high building. Impossible to photograph without a special lens, the one tree towers over my favorite bench. It was such impotence to see the tree covered in some sickening chemical, rotting its trunk this weekend. And a brush with insanity having someone explain old trees are chauvinist, and promote gender discrimination… Or worst, trees this old know a version of Genesis that is too controversial for some religion fanatics. I guess never-mind science …
We all know plants and trees play an essential role in the planet’s atmosphere. Photosynthesis resulting in the oxygen we need to stay alive. It is my understanding older trees affect other elements in the atmosphere, its role more difficult to define, yet important to a balanced environment.
There was apparently a list of thirty trees over a thousand years old around the world. Twenty of them have been destroyed in the last decade. How can anyone provide restitution on something that cannot really be replaced for years to come? And how can we discount the impact in the environment, without full understanding of their contribution to the very air that we breathe…
