Is This A Tipping Point?

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Is This A Tipping Point?

Written by Lyn WhiteThursday, 07 January 2010 08:53

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“Have we reached a tipping point in community attitudes?”  Professor Glenn Albrecht, Dean of Murdoch’s School of Sustainability, asked the audience of a recent Murdoch University School of Sustainability lecture.

The subject of Prof. Albrecht’s question was Thornlie resident Richard Pennicuik, who has been living in a tree in his home street since early December 2009.

Richard Pennicuik in 'his' tree

Richard petitioned the City of Gosnells against removing over 20 native trees from his street but when council chainsaws started, he had no choice but to climb into his tree to remain until it was declared safe.

Neighbours and friends are supporting Richard bringing him food, water and clothing.

The City says it identified 22 trees as being possibly dangerous, mainly because of falling branches but according to Mr Pennicuik, the issue is one of  taking a stand for personal choice and environmental survival.

“I don’t mind if other people want their trees down, but I like mine.”

Prof. Albrecht said this decision is indicative of an important social issue.

“This issue is global but also intensely Western Australian. We can have alternate pathways as outlined by Prof. Peter McMahon in the WA2020 vision.

“Richard Branson has offered a million dollars for someone to invent technology to take CO2 out of the air and mitigate climate change. Trees do that naturally. The technology is out there and proven to be safe over billions of years.

“How do we define trees as ‘potentially dangerous’?

According to Mr Pennicuik, two tree experts have declared his tree as nothing more than a perfectly healthy example ofEucalyptus melliodora.

“The council plans to replace the eucalypts with jacarandas, which are native to Brazil. Is this symbolic of the end of indigenous identity?” Prof. Albrecht said.

Mr Pennicuik said his tree has been visited by magpies and cockatoos, with a pair of black-faced cuckoo shrikes raising their young in it.

“The idea that other members of the community have come out to support this guy is interesting, maybe a sign that by 2020 we are going to see the emergence of a humanitarian ethic,” Prof. Albrecht says.

“Richard shows an unusual degree of fitness. There are few people who would be prepared to put their comfort and safety on the line to save a tree, so there is an ethic here of environmental philosophy.

“Here’s a man who felt a sense of overwhelming distress at the possibility that his tree was about to be removed. He’s not willing to be authoritarian and say I’m going to stop everyone else’s tree from being cut down, he just wants his tree. He’s defined it in a sense of his existentialist state and if it’s removed it will cause distress.

“The WA2020 vision takes us away from the simple acceptance of a globalised, homogenously bland environment and the extraction economy, and leads us to think about what it means to be a West Australian."

“With the publication of the Special Report by Prof. McMahon as part of the WA2020 Project and amazing stories in the WA newspaper about the ‘man in the tree’ we are moving in the right direction.

“The dedication and strength of will of people like the ‘man in the tree’ in Thornlie and Prof. McMahon at Murdoch University show a commitment to the sustainability of this place and share a vision for the future which is worth looking at.”

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5th January 2010 – Saved by the Land & Environment Court, maimed by trucks

January 5, 2010 in Uncategorized | Tags: City of Gosnell Council, climate change, Energy Australia, Fig trees, Land & Environment Court, Marrickville South, Richard Pennicuik tree saver, Significant Tree Register, Street trees, streetscape, Thornlie Perth, tree removal,tree removal protest, trees at risk, trucks, vandalism

Large branch sheared off Fig tree

There is a 3 sided block surrounded by large mature Hills Figs in Marrickville South.  One Fig trees is situated on Warren Road, the others along Renwick Street & Carrington Road.  I think there are around 13 Fig trees in total.  These trees would be eligible to be included in a Significant Tree Register, if we had one.  They are a landmark in the area.  Combined with the row of Palms probably planted in the same era (around 80-90 years ago) when the factories along Carrington Road were built, these trees make Carrington Road look far nicer than it would without them.

Two industries used the land for decades, cohabiting comfortably with the trees with large trucks driving in & out.  Unfortunately over the last 15 years the trees have suffered much trauma from severe pruning for the sake of electricity wires. Energy Australia deny pruning these trees & say they were pruned for a loading zone. However, there is a great big long hole through the canopy where the wires travel. (see Energy Australia letters)

Size 9 feet to show dimensions

A DA for the block of land was taken to the Land & Environment Court back in 2008 for a number of reasons, one of which was the proposed removal of 2 of these Fig trees to make way for entrance driveways.  On this issue, Marrickville Council & the community were successful in having the application refused.

Thanks to the Court ruling, these beautiful trees got to live on, with the next threat to their existence being the actual development of the site, which may or may not affect their root system.

This is major damage to this Fig tree

Two months ago, a truck crashed into one of the trees leaving multiple deep gashes in its trunk & causing the loss of one major branch.  A month ago a truck tore off half a tree.  Council had to cut what remained back to the trunk leaving a Fig tree with one branch.  How long before they say this tree is unstable, looks ugly & has to be removed?

Yesterday, I drove by & saw another major branch of one of these trees lying in the gutter.  I can safely assume a truck it ripped off because the area of damage is high off the road.  Council has cut this branch into 3 to make it easier to take away.  I assume they will also have to do work on the tree where the branch was sheared off.

I feel aghast at what is happening to these trees.  There are many trucks that use these streets & their presence is causing a lot of damage. I am sure this is a common story in other areas of Marrickville LGA.

You can see trucks have repeatedly gashed this branch

It is nothing less than vandalism & truck drivers should be required to take more care of street trees & other infrastructure if they are to use these streets.

I blame also the businesses that require the drivers to use extremely large trucks to cut down on the amount of deliveries as a way of increasing profit margin.  While they make money, they are destroying the area.

This was a thriving Fig tree not too long ago. How can this be okay?

If a truck has to drive over a footpath to take a corner, it is too big to be using these narrow streets.  If the driver sees a tree canopy overhead, they can take measures to ensure they do not take branches with them. Council certainly makes sure that the branches of our street trees are high off the ground.  I suspect it wasn’t a passing truck which caused this latest damage.  Many trucks use this area to park overnight.  Seems trying to park a high truck near the kerb brought the vehicle within reach of the canopy and brought the branch down.

It also needs to be said that Carrington Road is a very wide road, certainly big enough for trucks to use & the tree canopy does not restrict passage.

Other news – on 10^th December 09 I wrote about a Perth man who was sitting in a street tree to prevent its removal. (see post This is Commitment)  Well, he is still there.

His name is Richard Pennicuik & he lives in the Perth suburb of Thornlie.  He is protesting the proposed removal of 2 mature native street trees outside his property by the City of Gosnell Council.  Apparently, the Council has chopped down 20 other mature street trees in his street & plans to remove the remaining trees. Richard Pennicuik is refusing to come down from the tree until Council reverse their decision to remove these street trees.

Gosnell Council wrote to Mr Pennicuik saying they would not remove the trees for 3 months if he would come down from the tree & discuss the issue with them.  They have also said they will plant native tree species instead of their original intention to plant exotics.  He says this is insufficient & will not be coming down.  He believes the Council will remove the trees if he does.

Imagine spending 4 weeks up a tree & having so much commitment & love for trees to be willing to stay as long as necessary to save these trees.  Many of the comments on the net have been very derogatory towards Mr Pennicuik, but most of these comments have come from people who also chose to write less than positive comments about trees.  I respect Mr Pennicuik & wish him success.  He believes that the earth needs all its mature trees because of global warming & says he is also protesting for his children’s future.

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as posted here

Protect old trees

05/Jan/2010

Ian Rudd, Roleystone

Comments:

I AM totally behind Richard Pennicuik and the other citizens in Gosnells who have committed themselves to protecting the old neighbourhood trees.

And I applaud the efforts of their MLA, Chris Tallentire, in calling on the Gosnells shire to provide expert evidence of the risks these trees pose to passers by. It is only a pity that the other 20 gum trees were destroyed without this sort of evidence being provided and with very little notice being given to residents and others of the impending tree removal.

For far too long local councils all over the State have embarked on programs to rid their streets of old, sometimes majestic trees. They do this in the name of “safety” without explaining what they actually mean by safety. What are the risks they are really trying to avoid?

What odds are they not willing to accept? One in ten thousand, one in a million? And how much are they prepared to pay to avoid those risks?

It is easy to just cry “safety” and then come in with their chainsaws blazing, as it were, if it only costs a couple of hundred of somebody else’s money to do so.

Civil disobedience too, as Mr Pennicuik has demonstrated, is nowadays the only way to call attention to some of the nonsense going on and with a great deal of perseverance and luck hopefully get the desired result.

And while it seems silly to put so much effort into saving one or two trees when the environment is taking much bigger beatings at the hands of governments and big business throughout the world, we cannot all address everything all the time.

Every little effort counts.

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Gosnells train kills man

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Police are investigating the death of a man who was hit by a train near Gosnells station last night.

A police spokesman said this morning that the man was seen crouching on the tracks near the pedestrian crossing near the station at about 9pm. The driver unsuccessfully attempted to stop the train.

He died at the scene from massive head and upper body trauma.

There will be a coronial investigation into the man's death.



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Armadale, Thornlie trains cancelled this weekend

STAFF REPORTER

January 4, 2010 - 11:28AM

All passenger services on the Armadale and Thornlie train lines will be cancelled this weekend, while Mandurah passengers will also face disruptions this month.

The last service will run from Armadale at 6.47pm Friday, and from Thornlie 18 minutes later, to allow an upgrade of Oats Street station.

Buses will be used in place of trains to run replacement services.

Services will return to schedule on Monday morning.

There will also be no trains running between Mandurah and Rockingham for the four weekends from January 16, to allow tunnel construction on the Mandurah Entrance Road project.

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Car ploughs into house

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A woman was lucky to escape injury when a car ploughed into her home in the Perth suburb of Cannington overnight.

The woman was on a bed not far from where the car entered the home.

The crash happened on Grey Street this morning and police say there are concerns the house is now unstable and may collapse.

State Emergency Service workers have been at the scene, and Western Power has been called to disconnect the electricity over concerns about live wires being exposed.

Police have charged a 25-year-old Maddington woman with driving with a blood alcohol level of more than 0.05 per cent.

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