Gregory's Server
 27 comments
 @DJHVII @breadandcircuses A street gains so much more from those trees than money can express. At a moment in time when we are losing topsoil, tree leaves are a good thing. We need mulch. We need compost. We need messy trees. @breadandcircuses @DJHVII This is indeed an issue. Nonetheless then resources should be diverted to maintaining trees from building new highways  @DJHVII @breadandcircuses that's not a cost, it's a benefit. It creates an employment opportunity which will boost the local economy. > Maintenance costs,tree pruning,leaf sweeping etc? If you want cheap, try a world where humans don't exist. Without any concept of money, everything will cost literally $0! And, good news, our current economic efforts seem to possibly point to such a glorious, low-cost future.  @breadandcircuses We'll have to do large awnings, too, or even completely cover streets in some cases. @breadandcircuses I can personally attest to this truth. I am recently semi retired and set up a wood working bench under the trees at the edge of where I live next to a pasture sometimes populated by cows. The walk across the yard in the middle of the day here in TN in the summer is HOT. Once I get to the trees it instantly feels cooler. It may still be humid, but it IS cooler immediately. We need more trees everywhere!  Just cycling beside a woodlot after being out in open farmland one gets a reprieve of 3-4 degrees. Every bush and tree is natural solar-powered a/c at work. And for those curious, that temperature drop is quite real—and far less from the shade provided than from that vegetation drawing down solar energy and storing it in hydrocarbon form. Imagine a large tree burning top to bottom - that’s the heat energy captured and stored in a single one of them. @f800gecko @breadandcircuses In my youth it was always a reprieve from the hot hay/grain field work to spend the day in the woodlot getting firewood for winter. The work was just as strenuous, but the air was cooler. Downside were the deer flies that sting like hell when they bite.  @breadandcircuses I think about this every time I walk/run in the neighborhood near my apartment with almost zero sidewalk shade. Meanwhile those homeowners happily water their sterile grass yards. I think the only way to change these suburban hellscapes (that shouldnt exist) is by lowering their estimated house price. Maybe through low "walkability scores" for no shade? @jon_giraffe @breadandcircuses Beautiful neighborhoods have big trees with kissing canopies.   @breadandcircuses Smaller roads are a good start. We don’t need four lane wide city streets, which are ugly, loud & car centric. I’d love for cities to invest in beautiful, clean, free public transportation. Some cities have been playing with asphalt. Changing the color to decrease heat.  @breadandcircuses Put white or aluminum flake paint on black roofs and install white sheet roofing when it's time to replace. This increases roofing lifetime and keeps buildings cooler. And unlike trees, reflective roofs send solar radiation back into outer space. Dark surfaces absorb light, heat up, and emit infrared. A significant part of that infrared is trapped by atmospheric global warming gases. Also, some really hot cities are painting pavement with white paint for the same reason.  @breadandcircuses and if you ride your bicycle through that tree shaded road it will be even cooler: 10°C or more. A little wind is a lot of ventilation and cooling.  Green is the key. Green trees and especially green kelp and seaweed. Much more important than green $$. |
@breadandcircuses Maintenance costs,tree pruning,leaf sweeping etc?