Editor:
It was a sad irony to read about the removal of 33 mature trees on Gibsons Elementary school ground, the same day I read about a UBC study that correlated incidence of ADHD in children in Metro Vancouver with accessibility to green space. Children in areas with limited green space were twice as likely to manifest ADHD. As someone who has loved nature since childhood, this comes as no surprise – the sustenance I felt in nature as a child has drawn me back constantly over my 71 years of living.
Since we moved to Gibsons, we have seen forests fall at both ends of our street and at nearby Gospel Rock and the George sites. The clearing might be tolerable if they resulted in affordable housing, but the lack of trees allows developers to charge premium prices for the view homes constructed there. Also, the clearing seems to occur years in advance of any actual development, leaving unsightly clear-cuts, bereft of habitat. Song birds we used to hear from our house are no longer singing here.
Apparently the tree removal is to reduce risk of injury from trees falling. Might I offer that risk to children could be as effectively reduced by awakening their awareness to the world around them, the dynamism of nature and the conditions that could lead to trees falling. This might work better than trying to remove every conceivable risk from their lives. Also when trees are felled do we not make the remaining trees less wind-firm?
I urge the School District to reconsider this decision. As climate change wreaks extreme weather upon us, it seems irrational to remove carbon storing mature trees. This seems a greater risk to children. I urge common sense and liveability, and perhaps less preoccupation with liability.
Elizabeth Neil, Gibsons
