Plans to Fight Global Warming Face an Obstacle in Paris: Trees
PARIS — Long a favorite spot for picnics and sunbathing, the lawns surrounding the Eiffel Tower have recently become the scene of furious protests. First came a social media campaign. Then a rally by dozens of local residents. Before long, a protester had hunkered down in a nearby plane tree for a hunger strike.
The source of their anger? A plan to cut down more than 20 trees, some over 100 years old, around the tower as part of an effort to build a huge garden and ease tourist congestion.
The controversy is just the latest in a series that has engulfed Paris City Hall as it tries to green the city, a task that appears all the more urgent as scorching temperatures bear down on the French capital, and on the rest of Europe.
Trees are considered some of the best defenses against the radiation that contributes to the heat waves that are on the rise everywhere because of global warming. They provide much-needed coolness in dense cities like Paris, where temperatures were in the high 90s in the afternoon Monday and expected to go higher.
“Without the trees, the city is an unbearable furnace,” said Tangui Le Dantec, an urban planner and co-founder of Aux Arbres Citoyens, a group protesting the felling of trees in Paris.
https://tnewstimes.com/2022/07/18/world/plans-to-fight-global-warming-face-an-obstacle-in-paris-trees/
The source of their anger? A plan to cut down more than 20 trees, some over 100 years old, around the tower as part of an effort to build a huge garden and ease tourist congestion.
The controversy is just the latest in a series that has engulfed Paris City Hall as it tries to green the city, a task that appears all the more urgent as scorching temperatures bear down on the French capital, and on the rest of Europe.
Trees are considered some of the best defenses against the radiation that contributes to the heat waves that are on the rise everywhere because of global warming. They provide much-needed coolness in dense cities like Paris, where temperatures were in the high 90s in the afternoon Monday and expected to go higher.
“Without the trees, the city is an unbearable furnace,” said Tangui Le Dantec, an urban planner and co-founder of Aux Arbres Citoyens, a group protesting the felling of trees in Paris.
https://tnewstimes.com/2022/07/18/world/plans-to-fight-global-warming-face-an-obstacle-in-paris-trees/
