Vandalism in THE Guise of Environmentalism

VANDALISM IN THE GUISE OF ENVIRONMENTALISM

I have an acquaintance that tears branches off trees in British public parks, and on public roads & footpaths. He often simply clamours up a tree and rips branches off the tree trunk. It looks like wilful vandalism, but if challenged about his activity, my acquaintance insists that he is doing the tree some good as its over-stretched branches can harm it and he is doing for free a job the local government Council tree surgeons ought to be doing.

Suddenly, my anger is therefore cast into doubt. Is he a vandal or someone acting from genuine environmental passion, and actually achieving some good? Somehow, I have doubts and reservations. Surely proper tree surgery involves more than applying weight to a branch and just wrenching it off, leaving exposed bark free gashes in the tree. I also wondered how much such action he indulges in without a convenient audience to be seen performing before.

I looked online for pages about the right to commit acts of guerrilla pruning and tree stripping. There are quite a few people who do it, mostly by stealth. The general public reaction to such behaviour is anger and shock, and concern for the sanity of the self-appointed tree saviour. The general indication is that it does the tree more harm than good and that it can often mortally wound a tree.

Tearing down branches that overhang into your own garden, or pose a threat to high sided vehicles like buses and lorries makes sense, but simply wrenching off a tree branch because it looks big and heavy is just lunacy. Nature decides whether a tree can cope with its branch weight, without the help of just any bloke passing by acting on a whim. Besides, most trees belong to someone, be it the Council, the parks commission or a private landowner. No one should have the right to just butcher a tree branch because they don’t like it. Permission should be sought and if the permission granter says no or offers no reply, tough, your responsibility ends.

The more I see my acquaintance commit such acts in front of our mutual friends, the more inclined I am to feel concern rather than respect. The ‘right on’ environmentalism front he puts on gives him an excuse to take his personal petty frustrations out on the trees. If challenged, he gives the challenger a lot of flannel about the environmental needs of the tree, but his DIY surgery on a tree just tends to leave it looking sorry for itself. The more I think of it, the more I think any such environmental reasoning he has ever offered me is just an excuse for the violence against nature.

Only fear of upsetting mutual friends has prevented me taking action against him myself

Arthur Chappell

The same individual has been seen gashing the paintwork on people’s parked cars with his keys. I suspect no ‘save the planet’ excuses can justify that one.