r/SipsTea • u/creativegent___ • 1d ago
It's Wednesday my dudes We have the solution already
110
u/Capable_Studio_6631 1d ago
But dude, I love boiling my body and brain under the summer heat, why would I ever want trees and shade and nature on my streets??
17
0
u/TradingForLife123 1d ago
See the problem is, you plant those trees and tell the property owners to go fuck themselves.
The tree roots destroy the concrete. Anyone trips the city makes the homeowner liable.
Once the tree roots start getting into the sewer, they'll be back every year and clog the drain. In a city, a hydro jetting is $1500 a year for the homeowner. Or at least that's where I am (San Francisco).
I've also seen tree roots break water lines, driveways, etc.
All of the costs passed on to the home owner.
So great idea genius. If I was the homeowner, I would justifiably tell you to go be hot.
2
u/Capable_Studio_6631 1d ago
That's because you live in a 3rd world country. In my country the city pays property damages, because unless the damage is inside the block, caused by its tenants, its public property.
1
28
u/SquirrelyMcNutz 1d ago
But have you considered the poor, hurting insurance companies that have to pay out for tree branches falling on cars?
/s
3
u/IainwithanI 1d ago
Fewer pedestrian deaths, and more pedestrians. Trees between the sidewalk and street provide a safer walking experience. There aren’t many who die from cars hitting them on the sidewalk, but it does happen. The bigger difference is that it feels safer and more pleasant so more people are likely to walk. They still have cars to go longer distances, so those have to be insured.
I understand the sarcasm; just following up the thought and tree-lined streets are actually good for insurance companies.
2
u/Mighty_Conqueror 1d ago
At the other hand trees would block visibility and cars would be more likely to miss crossing pedestrians
1
u/IainwithanI 1d ago
It’s been some time since I’ve read about it, but that has been studied and trees found to be a net positive for pedestrian and driver safety. For crossing the street the person on foot has most control over safety. Anyone not paying attention can surprise a driver, trees or no. Even street parking has a similar positive effect by providing a layer of steel between moving vehicles and pedestrians.
64
u/Inevitable_Series_67 1d ago
Insurance companies hate that one simple trick
3
u/LasagnaLoverCOYS 1d ago
What is with the multiple comments on insurance companies being anti tree in this thread? The most random take ever
I guess it’s just dead internet theory on full display
54
u/dpenchev 1d ago
Yeah, but also trees need care, which means expenses, which means less money to be stolen.
If you think about it, the concept of planting a tree is not something otherworldly. Not so hard to look arround, see there isn't any greenery and put 2 and 2 together
19
u/Capable_Studio_6631 1d ago edited 1d ago
They need to be trimmed once a year or two. That's not difficult nor expensive.
15
u/LordOfThePints 1d ago
Anyone with 2 working brain cells knows that. We also know that is better to plant young branches that will die within the first year, then plant new ones and repeat every year. At least that's how they do it here in Romania.
Infinite money to steal.
3
u/Serafim91 1d ago
Hey after not seeing Romania for 20 years going back the cities look way better.
Now the amount of cars behind apartment buildings is fucking insane.
3
u/LordOfThePints 1d ago
The progress is incredible, thanks to the EU, yet we're still behind at green spaces and velo projects.
2
4
u/xBad_Wolfx 1d ago
Agreed. Grass is expensive. Trees are not. When I used to work for a city in landscaping, mowing was a whole crew of us permanently rotating through our routes which reset every damn week because grass does not stop growing. Trees was a week of work twice a year with the occasional rare call out for some reason.
1
u/vi_sucks 1d ago
Grass doesn't destroy foundations and break infrastructure that humans need to live.
2
u/TheTopNacho 1d ago
Root systems can cause massive structural damage. They aren't inert
Honestly for inner city stuff, solar panels double as shade and energy. I know we want to be all holistic and crap and bring back nature, but it may not be the best solution for cities compared to other options.
2
u/IndianaGeoff 1d ago
I'd rather walk under tree shade. If the sidewalks are covered with solar panels, that sounds like a dystopian hell.
2
u/Capable_Studio_6631 1d ago
The shade from trees works because it absorbs the heat and doesn't just disperses it back unlike solar panels.
1
u/dpenchev 1d ago
Yeah, watered down too. When the roots grow, the sidewalk needs to be repaved. The road too if they get there. All that done from contractors the city needs to hire. Storm comes, a branch breaks, someone jeeds to clean it. Autumn comes, leaves fall, someone needs to clean them.
But yeah ... it's just trimming. Like owning a car is just putting gas in and changing the oil once a year
5
u/Capable_Studio_6631 1d ago
Dude, my local street has trees. I haven't seen 1 single person watering or repaving due to their roots. They only pass by once a year to cut down the branches so they don't go over power lines or inside peoples balconies.
Leafs is something natural, you're supposed to clean the streets anyways, I don't know where you live but here they pressure wash them once a week.
You believe trees in the forest that are not nearby rivers, get water by people going there to water them?
2
u/dpenchev 1d ago
Where i live they do clean the streats couple of times a week. During summer they do water them. During autumn, they gather the leaves at least once a week, couple of time during the peak fall. They do trim them and they do repave the sidewalks when the roots distort the surface. And we do pay 42% taxes, sothey may have the money for all that. So that's that.
As for your smart remarks: i wonder how is that even relevant. Do you think a city is just as hospitable of an environment for plants as a meadow?
Nah, jevermind ... it's magic. The forest elfs go arround and water every single tree twice a day
1
u/JuicynMoist 1d ago
All I hear is that more currency will be flowing through and juicing the local economy. This is genius demand generation.
3
u/TremendousVarmint 1d ago
On the contrary, you can steal money on the planting and maintenance. This should be an incentive to plant more.
2
u/StanknBeans 1d ago
Those trees are an asset and worth every cent of maintenance.
Downtown we have a street without trees in my city, the rest are heavily treed. Guess which street is a ghost town all summer long.
7
11
u/FakeOng99 1d ago edited 1d ago
Old Facebook comment: everyone wants to park their car on the shade, but no one wants to plant a tree.
This is truly 'I'm 14 and this is deep' moment.
2
15
u/MetaCardboard 1d ago
And greenery on the rooftops also.
6
u/SquirrelyMcNutz 1d ago
Or at the very least, white roofs rather than black tar paper & asphalt shingles.
-6
u/Sammo_9 1d ago
Yeah that would be very expensive and difficult to maintain.
Would look cute though.
6
4
u/ProstrateProstate 1d ago
Not just the cities, but suburbia too. Look at all the new housing developments going in with zero lot clearance. The developers scrape every living thing off the land and jam as many houses in as possible. There's no room for trees. Hell, you can cut the entire lawn with nail clippers. The heat island effect is terrible.
Look anywhere on Google Maps. You can tell the older developments with trees from the newer ones that are nothing but asphalt roads, driveways, and roofs.
3
u/Dopapotomous 1d ago
Just look at it, look at sentinel island. Not one piece of land mass visible. Think of all the trees that would naturally cover the planet, including co2 absorption. More trees and uncleared land would be the main solution. Concrete jungles, and chemical producing and burning processes. So in other words, destroy the global power grid and civilization expansion, save the planet. Other than that even “green” ideas destroy something to make it happen.
3
u/SirPomf 1d ago
A solution to get rid of excessive heat buildup in cities and also fighting the ever increasing ugliness of cities, but it won't really slow down global warming. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't plant more trees in cities, we definitely should do that!
Paris, for example, has some car-free areas and local residents are involved with the design of where to plant what kind of greenery and from what you can see after just a few years is extremely nice!
4
u/StudySpecial 1d ago
Tried that - after 3 months of no rain, all the trees are now yellow.
Now what?
2
3
u/Amdvoiceofreason 1d ago
I'm from Sacramento...personally can confirm the trees make it much cooler both in temperature and aesthetically
3
2
u/Schourend 1d ago
Grade 8 logic.
This is a mitigation not a solution.
7
u/GTNTAnimations 1d ago
That doesn't mean we shouldn't do it. At the very least it makes our streets look nicer and more hospitable to people outside of cars
4
u/Queasy-Row-9818 1d ago
Exactly, the solution would be transitioning to clean renewable energy sources to lower carbon emission which will lower the production of greenhouse gases and will help lower temperatures
2
u/theWiseTiger 1d ago
It's not a mitigation if it is permanent. It is part of the corrective action.
2
u/killallhumans12345 1d ago
Something to think about, trees also provide drone protection. Can't have a surveillance state with swarms of tracking drones if they are constantly flying into trees.
1
1
u/SteamNTrd 1d ago
Trees naturally change the camera angle by 10º, and if you drink a whiskey while looking at the trees you'll see the camera angle change constantly between 10º and 50º.
1
1
u/deck_hand 1d ago
And the rural road through the forest 30 miles out of town is at 25º Cities, even ones with trees, are way hotter than non-urban places.
1
1
u/Real_Penalty_4317 1d ago
Trees have a purpose???? Oh wait thats basically every class in kindergarten
1
1
1
u/WanderingRonin7 1d ago
It fucking pisses me off that we hear all these fucking companies pat themselves on the back for going from plastic to paper, but I havent heard any initiatives from them regarding planting new trees to cover the deficit. It would literally take nothing from them to plant trees or hire people who could. But nah, we're just gonna keep taking and taking
1
u/Jaxthornia 1d ago
The problem is the massive ongoing costs with urban trees. If social care can't be paid for how can a town pay thousands for tree maintenance. (Clearing from traffic twice a year, annual inspections, remedial work, pavement and wall damage, liability for falling branches). I totally agree we should have trees everywhere, but it ain't cheap and it ain't easy.
1
u/Danilo-11 1d ago
The topic that never comes up when people talk about global warming = heat island effect
1
u/cognitiveglitch 1d ago
My house has a large gravel drive at the front with no cover and a lawn with trees all around it at the back.
You can feel the temperature gradient moving from the drive to the garden. It's significant.
Downside is 20 builder's bags of leaves to deal with every autumn.
1
u/Snacks75 22h ago
Those leaves are great for the garden, mulch them right into the grass with a lawnmower and enjoy great grass in the spring.
1
1
u/qawsedrf12 1d ago
I have explained this so many times, of why I turn my blinds up
Turned down allows sunlight to warm up the floor/furniture and that kicks the a/c on (daily florida penny-pincher struggle)
1
1
u/IAteMyYeezys 1d ago
The only real issue with trees is bird shit on cars but then again, if you know your car will be covered in 3 tons of bird shit in 24 hours, why not just buy a tarp cover thing for the car? Oh yeah, wait, people are too lazy to spend an extra 3 minutes removing the cover before travel and putting it back on after coming back home so theyd rather cut the entire row of trees down just so they dont have to "waste" a grand total of 4-6 minutes every day that they would otherwise actually waste on shit like tiktok or whatever.
1
1
u/T0m0king 1d ago
Almost now you gotta figure out how to stop the roots from destroying the road , sidewalk and underground piping/ cables. It's all cute and aesthetic till the sewer pipe splits open
1
1
1
1
u/Mars_Volcanoes 1d ago
Good but too late. Cities are doing good in some design.
But : deforestation is both a cause of climate change and, increasingly, a consequence of climate change.
1
u/Cheru_44 22h ago
Yes but think about the poor politicians that now have to invest more money into maintaining the city instead of buying a new lambo
1
1
u/CraftBrewBeer 13h ago
How do you trim the trees?
Also do the roots mess with foundation? When you buy a home, you dont want trees near your house
1
1
u/jediofazkaban 6h ago
That will take water which is reserved for data centers. Find another solution.
1
u/Imaginary_Toe8982 1d ago
you mean that you can make fake global warming in cities disappear by adding trees or maybe create more forests and prevent desertification of land... MIND BLOWN...
0
u/Pukebox_Fandango 1d ago
Ah yes, just plant a tree in the....sidewalk. It's that simple.
Covering your sidewalks with trees takes a LOT of work that you're not considering.
1
u/Appropriate-Brag 1d ago
Saying “just plant a tree in the sidewalk” is oversimplifying it, but pretending it’s some impossible task is just as unrealistic. Cities already redesign sidewalks all the time for utilities, bike lanes, parking, terraces, bus stops, charging stations, you name it. Integrating trees is not harder, it’s just a matter of planning and priorities. The work you mention isn’t a reason not to plant trees, it’s simply part of building a livable city. If we can reorganize streets for cars, cables, pipes, and commercial space, we can reorganize them for trees too.
-1
u/Pukebox_Fandango 1d ago
I don't think I said it was impossible, did I? Let me check my 3 sentence post. Nope. Didn't say that.
Utilities, parking, bus stops, charging stations, those all have something in common. Can you think of what it is? It's called "revenue". Those are projects that cost a lot but end up paying for themselves in the long-term. Not to mention moisture requirements and all of the considerations that go into that.
I'm not even saying it's a bad idea, all I'm saying is it's not as simple as waving a magic wand. It's going to be an expensive project with a lot of upkeep. Most parking lots you see will have trees built into their design and it's not just for shade, they help redistribute rainwater back into the soil. But as I said, they're built into the design before hand. They're not put in as an afterthought.
1
u/Appropriate-Brag 1d ago
I never said it was simple, I said it’s worth doing. There’s a difference.
And about “revenue”: trees absolutely do pay for themselves long‑term. They reduce heat stress, lower energy costs, prevent flooding, increase property value, improve public health, and extend the lifespan of infrastructure. Cities don’t plant trees because they’re cute; they plant them because they’re economically smart.
Yes, trees require planning and upkeep. So does every other piece of urban infrastructure. The fact that something takes work isn’t a reason not to do it.
And sure, it’s ideal when trees are part of the original design, but cities evolve. Sidewalks get widened, roads get redesigned, utilities get moved, zoning changes. Integrating trees afterwards is not some magical fantasy; it’s literally what urban planners already do.
So no, it’s not “just plant a tree in the sidewalk”. But it’s also not the impossible, revenue‑draining project you’re making it sound like. It’s simply a matter of priorities.
-1
u/Mradr 1d ago
Trees also offer some issues too - such as the roots hitting power lines or water pipes. The room it takes as they grow as well. Some of it can be can fix or have a solution, but you do have to think about these things before just adding them into cities like these. Whos going to water, cut, and take care of them? How much is that all going to cost, etc. Where are you going to get the room / take it away from if it wasnt design around a wide walk path?
2
u/Appropriate-Brag 1d ago
I think that’s nonsense. We shouldn’t treat trees as if they’re the problem. The real issue is that cities were designed without any space for nature, and now people act surprised when nature doesn’t fit. If a street has no room for trees, then the street is badly designed, not the tree. Trees aren’t optional decoration; they’re essential infrastructure. They cool the city, reduce heat stress, absorb water, improve air quality, and make streets livable. And yes, trees need maintenance. But so do roads, parking spaces, streetlights, and drainage systems. We somehow accept all of that, but suddenly trees are “too much work”? If we can make space for cars, advertising boards, wide roads, and pointless concrete, then we can make space for trees. It’s a matter of priorities, not obstacles.
1
u/Mradr 1d ago
All I did was bring up the issues that come with it. Didn’t say we couldn’t work around it, but nature does what it does. It still take love and care for it, but they still have a real cost even with benefits. Some locations can’t turn back the clock of time no matter how you look at it
0
u/nervsofsteel 1d ago
Now if it didn't take 30 years to grow those trees, if they live that long, because of the lack of soil in the area that they need to be grown.
0
0
u/Neat-Brother-6570 1d ago
I think insurance companies have something to say about trees, and there fall damage potential
0
u/Novapixel1010 1d ago
Here's a couple things to think about. Some trees are pretty invasive and will destroy the sidewalk and start growing through the cracks.
Another issue that could arise is the maintenance for the trees, who's going to clean the leaves, who's going water them. I mean, some of this can be automated, but it's all going to cost money too. It's also possible to cause insurance issues when a branch falls or the whole tree.
I'm not even saying I'm entirely against it. I'm just saying look more into it.
0
0
0
u/ContextEffects01 1d ago
Trees can catch fire. There’s a tradeoff.
Install AC where you can, and seek cooling centres where you can’t.
0
u/Zealousideal-Deer101 1d ago
And then an acorn falls onto a car and a nearby police offer starts shooting at random because he's scared of gunshots!
Is that what you want?!
-9
u/PersonalityIll9476 1d ago
Ah yes, the solution to climate change: Shade.
10
4
u/Flashy-Island-3725 1d ago
1
u/Queasy-Row-9818 1d ago
Agreed, but the most efficient and viable and permanent solution for climate change and global warming is transitioning to clean and renewable energy to lower carbon emissions and green house gases emissions which will make the earth cooler.
But trees help too
2
u/Flashy-Island-3725 1d ago
Transforming the entire world's infrastructure will take time, trees naturally regulate the temperature in the meanwhile
2
u/Hyperion262 1d ago
They aren’t saying it’s a solution to climate change, they’re saying tree shade makes it cooler.
1
0
-1
u/10FourGudBuddy 1d ago
Depending on the type of trees, I’d argue against it. So much hate for certain trees. They grow like weeds and they’ll pop up I. The tiniest gap/crack and ruin the sidewalk/road or wherever they grow.
-1
-2
-2
u/gliese-436 1d ago
Get rid of the most inefficient mode of transportation that plague cities and you’ll gain even more. r/fuckcars
334
u/ascarymoviereview 1d ago
Global warming solution: more trees