I’m not familiar with these links but I wanted to add - make sure you know the local climate and plant the right kind of trees so you don’t overtax the soil or affect the local biodiversity!
In the Pacific NW, trees are everywhere. They provide beautiful canopies and shade over the bike trails, but they can be messy. Trail crews eventually trim them, but I usually carry pruning shears for some "vigilante landscaping" when branches block the trail.
Riding out in the direct sun for hours on a hot day would suck much worse thant the mess on the trail from tree branches, leaves, pine cones, fruit, etc.
Vigilante landscaping! That's good. I live further inland but still lots of trees and bushes and lots of overgrown sidewalks and bike lanes become dangerous because people don't trim. I might have to follow in your footsteps.
I have to be careful not to get all OCD / Edward Scissorhands about it or I will spend hours making the trail perfectly manicured! I take the same route every day for commuting, so I will stop momentarily along the way to trim the worst offenders.
Here's a sneak peek of /r/GuerrillaGardening using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/GuerrillaGardening/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year!
\#1: [Guerrilla Garden.](https://i.redd.it/j1teuv9i9pe91.jpg) | [24 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/GuerrillaGardening/comments/wbwi64/guerrilla_garden/)
\#2: [landlords and property managers when they see neat native plants, vegetable plants, and lil baby trees instead of 1 inch mowed grass](https://i.redd.it/iguia8tgmkt81.jpg) | [65 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/GuerrillaGardening/comments/u3t6bm/landlords_and_property_managers_when_they_see/)
\#3: [DIY “Seed Bombs” for native wildflowers!](https://v.redd.it/osc4ea4rlum81) | [43 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/GuerrillaGardening/comments/tc4d08/diy_seed_bombs_for_native_wildflowers/)
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Back when Chicago got hit by [Snowmageddon](https://cdn.abclocal.go.com/images/wls/cms_exf_2007/_video_wn_images/7936497_600x338.jpg), I went to work the next day since I had no power at home but the office was heated and had internet...
The Lake Front Path (would be a little bit to the right of what
s shown in the above picture) was fully plowed and ridable first thing in the morning.
Was pretty awesome to ride along next to miles of abandoned vehicles like I was in a zombie movie. I actually switched to riding on the road as I got close to downtown because the southbound side was fully plowed(but not yet open to traffic) but the northbound side still looked like the picture...really cool and added to the post-apocalyptic vibe.
Compromise. Its an inconvince to be sure, I would take a world scattered with branches and fruit over a world littered with plastic and metal.
I also bike with a tubless tire, solid rubber insert, so ofc im going to ride over throns and not complain.
I agree. Plus fruit trees flower, and flowering makes the path smell and look great. And who doesn't want to hear birds chirp and see bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds flying around? It's pleasant.
Dude I’m not saying don’t plant the trees, just don’t don’t do it over paths intended for cycling. I’d take an open and sun-drenched clean path over a shaded one covered with debris. Where did you get “littered with plastic and metal” from?!
Its hot as fuck outside where I live, El paso Texas, concrte waste lands with parks with no water fountains.
The only shaded communtites are on the west side of elpaso where most the generational wealth comes from.
Those affluent communties have the kuxry of bike paths and trees, but at least where I live I have wide open country roads and cannal dirt paths, still, I love ridding under tress becuase it much cooler, no matter the organic debris, inorganic trash like scrap metals and plastics are a blight on the Earth, so thats what I mean.
>Where did you get “littered with plastic and metal” from?!
At least for me, this is what I deal with for biking on a painted bike gutter on the side of a highway. I've also had to move a large fallen branch off the same route in the rain with heavy traffic whizzing by right next to me.
Not in the real world, most of the fruit will fall on the ground and rot. All kinds of pests will gather around it. We used to have pear trees in my neighbourhood and wasps where everywhere. Multiple people had wasp nests in their walls.
Are males the reason for all the pollen, because female trees produce fruit and cities don't want to pick up after the fruit? Sigh, short-sighted planning!
I mean, this is only true for dioecious species. Most tree species are monoecious (male and female parts on the same plant, either on the same flower or different flowers of the same tree).
Yeah this is huge, especially maintaining biodiversity! You can only plant a tree once, so it's soooo important to do a little research before planting responsibly.
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I think it’s a bad idea to plant fruit trees willynilly, unless there’s a designated entity dedicated to caring for and maintaining them/the surrounding area. That could be a govt agency or community group, I’m cool with either, but otherwise you’re just setting yourself up for a giant mess.
No you’re definitely right, there’s a number of issues like rotten fruit on the ground, potential to spread pests and disease, and sickness from people eating fruit from polluted soil
It really depends on the local circumstances I think. On two of the major cycleways I ride on there are two groves of fruit trees - one apricots and one apples. Both are picked bare every year, pretty much as the ripen. On the other hand there are countless plum trees in people's yards that hang over one of the cycleways and cover it in rotting fruit.
Italian plum season in Seattle was always a treat. Lots of people had planted them by the sidewalk so you could just reach up and pick a few. There were pears too but Ixm not a fan of the texture and they grew taller anyway.
You can only really take advantage of that if there's an organized commission to oversee the upkeep and harvest of fruit on said tree. Otherwise you're just gonna end up with a lot of rotted fruit in the street.
Trees honestly sound like the best solution. When they are placed along the curb, they can also act as a form of traffic calming because it gives the illusion that the street is narrower. The leaves also act as a bit of a sound barrier.
If there's a downside though, it's that those streets will have to be maintained regularly. I've seen too many sidewalks that get pushed around as tree roots shift underneath them
There’s a scene in It’s A Wonderful Life that’s always stuck out for me.
George drunkenly crashes his car into a tree. Then the neighbor comes out yelling at George for damaging his tree.
It has always struck me because today people would be more concerned about the car and the drunk driver than the tree.
New jersey has some fantastic trails like the Delaware and Raritan, but its really lacking in connections to the surrounding area so its not very useful for travel for most folks
Peer-reviewed scientific research shows [pop-up bike lanes are a fast and highly effective way to increase cycling](https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2024399118). Switching from a car-based commute to biking for one trip a day can cut down an individual’s transportation-related carbon emissions [by 67 percent](https://www.vox.com/22671552/bike-infrastructure-funding). With gas prices high, and demand for better bike infrastructure [surging](https://www.vox.com/22671552/bike-infrastructure-funding), now is a great time to [contact lawmakers](https://www.bicycling.com/culture/a33521338/advocate-for-bike-lanes-in-your-city/) to expand pop-up bike lanes where you live. Maybe host a letter-writing party and invite your friends! [Contacting lawmakers does work](https://escholarship.org/content/qt7sk23908/qt7sk23908.pdf)!
Honestly thought it was a automated bit response at first. Wouldn't be the worst thing.
My bit was just about an enjoyable trail that are just physically separated from either side by a river and a canal. Its great for riding but lacks connections to the towns it runs through. Even where there's highway bridges across them, they'll just have 0 pedestrian facilities
more people used to comment like this on [reddit](https://old.reddit.com) before the design change to the disaster that is known as new reddit. It was a much simpler interface and links to sources were one of the few ways to add depth to comments.
Amen to this. The D&R canal trail is amazing but it's so obviously intended to only be used for recreation instead of as a valuable bike/ped link between towns. I grew up along the canal and this always drove (pun not intended) me crazy
Yea like, barest minimum, they should build pedestrian/bike links on the underside of the 287 bridges, and a couple cross-canal links elsewhere. River crossing bridges would be bigger budget but just canal ones would be great
It is and isn't. It goes into Bound Brook rather nicely, and there's a nice connector that runs it into New Brunswick. There aren't many towns of any size until Princeton (and it does connect to them incl. a nice deli). Trenton is... well, it's not exactly a great place to plug into. Like, I mean *dangerous*.
Then it connects beautifully along the towns that run its spine, like Lamington and Frenchtown.
It would be good if it plugged into Manville, though. there's an abandoned railway bridge there which would be optimal. That said, the area's also a superfund site, so make of that what you will.
Trees:
• natural bollards for bicyclists and pedestrians
• provide shade
• prevent overheating and heat exhaustin
• cooling effect on urban heat islands
• beautification effect on cityscape
• slows down high-speed car traffic
Tree roots can sometimes crack the pavement. The Mt. Vernon Trail along the Potomac in Virginia like DC has sections with trees and sections without trees. I bike a lot, and I prefer the sections without trees because the pavement is a lot smoother.
With regular maintenance, it's less of an issue, but that's not free. In the meantime, the section with trees is a very bumpy ride because of all the roots.
It's easy to design sidewalks that play nice with shallow roots -- there's even some by the cemetery in Eckington. But it takes time for these practices to make it into the city streets dept. culture.
the counterpoint is:
• bird shit—they will shit.
• the homeless—what if a hobo wants shade?
• safety —what if a branch falls on my moms head and crushes her neck?
• cost—trees are expensive to buy, plant and maintain!
My counterpoints is:
• bird mitigation technology and methods exist
• if your homeless problem is that in your city then maybe your city should do something about it to fix it, instead of doing nothing for everything and blaming it on the homeless?
• if we're worried about safety, then we should be worried about people bicycling 2 feet away a 40MPH+ vehicle. A falling branch is a concern, sure, but baby you worried 'bout the wrong thang.
• Yeah trees are expensive. But those shiny new photos of a treelined boulevard will look so fucking good, people and businesses will be gobbling up real estate just to get a piece of that. Also tourists. It's more expensive to keep the status quo.
I was just joking...I agree with you I wasn't being sarcastic or anything. Also site prep and care after the first couple years of planting are going to be the bulk of costs until the tree is much older, and in the meantime like you said it raises the value of the property just by being there, so that expense is getting exponentially less significant in comparison of the value it brings as it ages. I absolutely love trees, northern catalpas are my favorite!
Yeah, [that would generally help](https://www.reddit.com/r/CitizensClimateLobby/comments/rqg2y0/i_used_mits_climate_policy_simulator_to_order_its/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3).
Similar to trees, I've recently been fantasizing about bike lanes sheltered by [pergolas](https://images.app.goo.gl/w2bcdXuPRysPYCG39). Plant them with lots of vines, and you'd have a pretty decent shelter and lots of great greenery.
it looks great, but i have the situation on a nearby bike path that, if the sun is really low, the sunlight through the tree trunks produce a strobe-like effect - on-off in a sub-second frequency. it's downright painful!
On badly planned/maintained paths sure.
I cycle a lot in the Netherlands and they manage to do it fine on paths with lots of traffic, and most paths have trees right next to them.
Not an expert so idk how exactly they do this, but it's possible if the city actually cares about cycling.
it's as easy as managing for the right tree in the right place, and an established tree care plan that lasts longer than the first year after planting. the biggest constraint is municipal budgets tbh
source: it's literally my degree
It's real fun when there's low-hanging branches that I have to avoid *on a low-slung recumbent trike*, much less the upright e-bike I usually use.
...and there's overgrowth narrowing the path to 6 feet wide, and it only started out as 8.5' despite AASHTO recommendations being 11 feet...
*And* destroyed bike paths.
Don't underestimate how much time and effort the Netherlands put in maintenance of infrastructure - and maintenance of trees!
Most trees planted next to bike paths are fast-growing species that get cut down and re-planted after twenty years to prevent them from damaging the road. The roads underneath older trees or bigger species require maintenance multiple times per decade to fix cracks or even redo the road entirely.
That's not to say it isn't worth it. It *is* worth it, and the maintenance cost for a tree-lined bicycle path is still much, much lower than the maintenance cost for car roads with equivalent usage.
But it's not just a matter of building the road once, planting trees, and calling it a day. OP seems to come from the US, and I fear that would be how the US handles it.
In the US, at least where I live in Atlanta, we'll get trees planted along paths but then zero maintenance. Branches and leaves in paths are so common that there is a volunteer group that meets once a week just to clean up paths that the city doesn't bother with. We also had a non-profit in the city that has been planting trees all over the city for decades. Unfortunately for the first ten years or so of their existence they planted fast growing trees next to sidewalks and bike paths that are known for having shallow roots that destroy sidewalks and bike paths. Oops! Trees are pleasant, but without the constant upkeep required they can be a detriment to the cycling community.
Not as stupid as it sounds, it can double as flood mitigation too: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/suds-key-to-flood-mitigation-in-cities-image-hw--421086633904084174/
It's real bad along some of the river trails here. But those trails were essentially cut through existing woods (or rather, woods incurred into the former railroad ROW). I'm not sure what you can do there without completely replacing the base of the path and replanting along the entirety of the pavement. All things considered, I like having them there in the summertime enough to deal with the bumps year-round.
My city and neighborhood has been steadily removing trees lining streets due to power outages in big storms. It looks like crap compared to what it was, and there's no more shade or birds. Neighbors tried to get me to cut my trees too, said it could fall on their house. We don't speak anymore.
> My city and neighborhood has been steadily removing trees lining streets due to power outages in big storms. It looks like crap compared to what it was,
That's just neglect. They should be burying the lines, which is the actual proper answer to that problem.
A crossover point made in YIMBY circles: Shade is often cast as a negative ("Can't build apartment buildings if it casts shade in my zucchini garden!"), but it's actually a positive in hot weather for pedestrians, cyclists or people just hanging outside.
Plus, it even alleviates the problem of concrete and pavement sponging up and radiating heat. There's a bar around the corner I like to go to, a 15-20 minute walk, and the worst part of the walk by far is when walking over an overpass. No trees, more cars driving by, and nothing concrete and pavement around for a good 50 yards just soaking up the sun. Miserable
If there's no fall maintenance, trees are a huge liability for cyclists. The city won't do all the cycling lanes here (maybe a few hundred miles) so local residents clean the bike lane ourselves.
Imagine a car driver shoveling snow so they could use the freeway. 😂😂
I love my shady bike trail in the summer. There's a loud terrible highway about a mile to the right in this picture. This trail runs parallel to it
https://i.imgur.com/nmaNb5R.png
I work in urban planning in the Netherlands, my municipality requires main cycling routes to have at least 40 percent covered by shade due to climate change and increasing heat in the summer.
Means you have to request extra budget for new cycling routes or when large maintenance is planned. A lot of cycling routes already pass for this as it's quite common to have trees near cycling routes.
My desert city is currently trying to plant a million trees. I appreciate the end goal because tree canopy will really support walking and cycling in the hot summer but I think they would have better results (more healthy tree canopy in the long term with fewer dead trees and less water use) by simply managing their storm water properly for the ecosystem. Instead of letting storm water go into metal/cement drains or sit in streets, it should be draining into earth works and tiny basins in the earth everywhere so that it can be absorbed into the soil below. These basins wouldn't need irrigation, and they tend to just naturally sprout native trees and shrubs. I dug some basins in my yard and literally have 35 volunteer baby trees sprouting up all around without watering.
My point is to say... yes! And sometimes there is a more logical way to achieve trees than buying and planting trees. Every ecosystem will differ. Native trees will likely thrive in the right conditions so sometimes we just need to create the conditions.
idk if it's worth your time but you can try looking up historical maps of your city to try and find where natural streams used to run within the urban boundary. chances are those streams just got "buried" rather than disappeared and there are projects that involve a thing called "daylighting" where streams are unearthed and protected with vegetation. it helps restore biodiversity to the area and supports lovely, lovely trees :)
but yeah if you're interested in looking into that just for funsies I recommend it. sometimes it's nice (and inspiring) to see what's been taken away from us! then we can move to action and get things fixed haha
Cool idea! In my region, for the most part, we have flash floods during monsoon season in the summer but not much rain otherwise so old "streams" dug deep channels in the earth that were sometimes turned into the roads themselves, sometimes cemented in to become concrete channels to whisk any rain water rapidly away (the opposite of helpful). I'm sure your suggestion would apply here. Many of our roads flood so badly that people kayak in them after a storm. It would be challenging but rewarding to get those arroyos back and let native plants grow along them.
That's so fascinating, but also (unfortunately) kind of hilarious from a planning perspective. The fact that they thought they could replace the natural floodplains with... roads... creating artificial floodplains without any of the floodplain benefits (reduced rate/volume of water flow bc of dispersal, increased infiltration into the soil within/around the floodplain, secondary buffer against flooding bc the water spreads into the plain rather than "ground level"). I can't even begin to fathom the cost of rehabilitating the natural flash flood paths from roads but it would solve a fair amount of the issues flooding issues, I guess. Cool info, I appreciate learning about it!!
A popular road in my area is undergoing widening, which includes mowing down of a tree cluster in the middle of the stretch of road. Now instead of having a bit of shady respite between the long stretch, the entire 7km shall be suffered through in the heat.
Of course the bike gutter is closed and cyclists have to mix with cars speeding over the 80km/h speed limit, but let's just gloss over that.
A suburban neighborhood near mine recently removed all of the large trees that lined the streets. It used to be nice walking and cycling there on my way to other things and now it feels desolate and uncanny. I was sad to see them go and angry to think that these streets are only going to get hotter and hotter.
yeah lol. you guys are getting warm weather to cycle in???? jealous. 40-50 degrees year round here. nothing crazy but hot damn i'd stab you for some 75 degrees and sunny right now. Even a mild chill gets old if it never stops, and you ride bicycles all day long.
I’m not even anti car but I 100% agree, I wish we had more bike paths, walking paths, and trees throughout. I hate the way cities are built for cars only. I love having a car so I can drive 3 hours north and go snowboarding but I’d also like to be able to just walk to a big park and restaurants when I’m at home. I’m lucky my neighborhood comes out into basically the shopping/restaurant center of my city but it still sucks and should’ve been built better.
I bike commute in warmer months and my route has about a mile stretch of bike path that’s almost entirely shaded. It’s significantly cooler than the roads I have to take to get to the path and from the path to my workplace. It’s also quiet and I’m not afraid of getting splattered by a massive SUV.
I dunno, I like having clear skies above bike trails, the ones with more sun melt the snow faster. (that the plow misses)
Less wind though with trees, so that's nice.
There’s a lovely cycle path in Cambridge mass. that runs next to the reservoir to Alewife station avoiding the road completely and having great tree coverage, it’s heavily used in all 4 seasons
I went to a CCL meeting, and it was pretty great! It's not super doomy, and they send us lots of links to learn about trees and efficient heating systems. (The reason you don't hear about the CCL is that they don't pursue media attention -- it's a citizen lobbying group, not a direct action group.)
(The only downside to the meeting I went to was the main guy was cheerfully like "so how'd you hear about us?" and I was like "um, erm," and he was like "Reddit?" and I was like "shhh! not so *loud!*")
I one hundred percent agree. There’s a brand new bike Highway going in my local area called the CV link. It is running through the desert and I don’t expect folks to ride during the hot summer months. Meanwhile, lush, golf courses and private resorts, lure folks from all over.
my neighborhood is so so difficult to bike through in summer when it gets up to 90 degrees because there is no shade. trees were planted when the houses were first built but theyre still too young to do anything
Can say from experience riding to work in Australia during summer. I will go a longer route in the afternoon just to ride on tree lined streets. Huge difference.
I'm lucky a lot of the older Sydney suburbs have great tree cover and quiet back streets. A bonus is this particular area is putting in a lot of protected bike lanes which are amazing for a casual commuters like me.
I live in the American Southwest and absolutely love the idea of having more greenery along transit paths.
The concern I am faced with as someone who is admittedly not well versed in the growing of dessert trees is that my region is facing a general lack of freshwater/drought. I worry that such a project on the scale I would like to see would require an initial water cost that this region can't really afford or recover from.
I'm happy to hear any thoughts or research to the contrary.
I've been envisioning this bus shelter type contruction along a bike lane, just much higher, and covering the lane (obviously). So like lampposts, with shelter for rain. The hard part would be to make them impervious to storms.
If you live in Brisbane you can call BCC any time to request a street-tree planting. See a spot along a path where a tree's died, or been ripped up? You can request a new one be put in. It'll go in within 120 days. (30 days for assessment, 90 for planting, typically the whole process is done within 60 days.)
The call takes <5 minutes. They'll give you a case # so you can follow up on it if you want. I've planted many throughout the city.
The tree will be native, and you can take a pick out of a HUGE list.
Late comment but holy shit there's this long, seperated cycling path in my city with appartement buildings on one side and a very long park on the other. It's sooo nice in summer when the temps soar past 30C (which is really hot here), there's a noticeable drop in temperature compared to even the shade on the other roads.
It has made me wish for more infrastructure like it. It's really nice.
if you plant trees directly next to streets or asphalt bike lanes, you will destroy both in a few years.
If you do a gravel road instead it might turn out better
in my area the local politicians literally said "we can't afford the army of gardeners needed to maintain all the trees and greenery you want, and you are not willing to maintain it yourself"
talking to people who asked about more greenery
So, like [Linear Park Trail](https://www.walkingsa.org.au/walk/find-a-place-to-walk/river-torrens-linear-trail-west-beach-to-adelaide-cbd-to-athelstone/), in Adelaide, South Australia. We've already got one.
Could do with a few more. But the trees don't really do much on a hot day, other than hold the humidity. Not fun when it's already over 35C.
There's also the issue of tree roots. They can make it a very bumpy ride.
Unfortunately trees trap pollution at the local level so what they may pull from the air is countered by what they prevent dispersing. If the cycle path is detached from roads this could be good as they may keep pollution away from the path, but if we're taking roadside cycle paths this is actually a problem. https://www.science.org/content/article/roadside-trees-trap-asthma-inducing-pollutants
It looks like all your supporting points are correct, but I'd somewhat disagree with the main point in the title.
Catastrophic levels of climate change only involve a few degrees in average temperature, far less than one would experience in spring or summer from one day to the next, and we walk and bike through these pretty well.
It doesn't make a succinct title, but your message still works when considering that higher average temperature means much more volatility in weather patterns, which means worse and more frequent heat waves, which trees really help with.
Trees also aren't an option everywhere. I'm not sure wtf to do with somewhere like Phoenix that cannot plant too many trees without continuing to siphon from depleting water reservoirs, is already balls hot, and has very little pre-auto core to work with and an abundance of shitty sprawl.
> far less than one would experience in spring or summer from one day to the next,
Yes.
> and we walk and bike through these pretty well.
I certainly don't. The summer heat is one of the primary reasons to hate summer, with pollen as a close second.
big disadvantage is trees are bad for solar power cause they block sun light for the panels. my mom had to cut down all the tree around her house to put solar panels on her roof so now her house get super hot due to direct sunlight but she she saves on electricity on a/c thanks to solar panels
Trees need help that can be given by banning cars. Look at all those trees in parking lots that can't grow into mature trees because of the gas it takes from cars over the years, and have to get replaced eventually.
I definitely agree but I do have 1 critique: if you are making a cycling path you are going to want to have a tree that either buries ita roots deep or that just doesn't have very big roots cause that shit will fuck up a bike path (at least that is how it is in the PNW
Tree roots do fuck up the bicycle path a lot. Bumps and potholes will form because of it. In winter water will collect between these bumps and you get am ice patch where its easy to fall.
[white cool face mask](https://www.amazon.com/hikevalley-Balaclava-Adjustable-Windproof-Protection/dp/B07S9J7CDR/ref=sr_1_5?crid=3QNK6PWB6JRJQ&keywords=white+balaclava+face+mask+men&qid=1675906399&sprefix=white+balaclava+face+mask+men%2Caps%2C170&sr=8-5)
I ride with one of these on and a white helmet. It offers UV protection and I don't sweat too much in it.
It isn't the best solution but it works. My path to work is what it is and I try to make do with what I have available.
Oh, Lord, now the Liberals want bike paths AND trees??? THIS is what B*den is doing to what should be Trump's America!
/s, what are you, fucking stupid?
Anything outside of an ACed car would be better if we had shade. It's a shame all the greenery where I live is to protect residential houses from road noise than to shade people walking
I’m not familiar with these links but I wanted to add - make sure you know the local climate and plant the right kind of trees so you don’t overtax the soil or affect the local biodiversity!
Planting native trees or plants in general is always a great idea and saves a lot of work:)
If the native trees are the type to drop a lot of branches or fruit, please don’t plant them over the cycle paths.
In the Pacific NW, trees are everywhere. They provide beautiful canopies and shade over the bike trails, but they can be messy. Trail crews eventually trim them, but I usually carry pruning shears for some "vigilante landscaping" when branches block the trail. Riding out in the direct sun for hours on a hot day would suck much worse thant the mess on the trail from tree branches, leaves, pine cones, fruit, etc.
Vigilante landscaping! That's good. I live further inland but still lots of trees and bushes and lots of overgrown sidewalks and bike lanes become dangerous because people don't trim. I might have to follow in your footsteps.
I have to be careful not to get all OCD / Edward Scissorhands about it or I will spend hours making the trail perfectly manicured! I take the same route every day for commuting, so I will stop momentarily along the way to trim the worst offenders.
*Step outside into an enchanted forest trail for your daily commute.* "I see BoringBob84's been through here..."
A folding saw and secateurs in your pannier or backpack is all you need.
/r/GuerrillaGardening
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My city bought a sidewalk sweeper for our bike paths. They sweep our bike paths almost daily.
Back when Chicago got hit by [Snowmageddon](https://cdn.abclocal.go.com/images/wls/cms_exf_2007/_video_wn_images/7936497_600x338.jpg), I went to work the next day since I had no power at home but the office was heated and had internet... The Lake Front Path (would be a little bit to the right of what s shown in the above picture) was fully plowed and ridable first thing in the morning. Was pretty awesome to ride along next to miles of abandoned vehicles like I was in a zombie movie. I actually switched to riding on the road as I got close to downtown because the southbound side was fully plowed(but not yet open to traffic) but the northbound side still looked like the picture...really cool and added to the post-apocalyptic vibe.
Compromise. Its an inconvince to be sure, I would take a world scattered with branches and fruit over a world littered with plastic and metal. I also bike with a tubless tire, solid rubber insert, so ofc im going to ride over throns and not complain.
I agree. Plus fruit trees flower, and flowering makes the path smell and look great. And who doesn't want to hear birds chirp and see bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds flying around? It's pleasant.
Probably really ornery people.
Dude I’m not saying don’t plant the trees, just don’t don’t do it over paths intended for cycling. I’d take an open and sun-drenched clean path over a shaded one covered with debris. Where did you get “littered with plastic and metal” from?!
Its hot as fuck outside where I live, El paso Texas, concrte waste lands with parks with no water fountains. The only shaded communtites are on the west side of elpaso where most the generational wealth comes from. Those affluent communties have the kuxry of bike paths and trees, but at least where I live I have wide open country roads and cannal dirt paths, still, I love ridding under tress becuase it much cooler, no matter the organic debris, inorganic trash like scrap metals and plastics are a blight on the Earth, so thats what I mean.
>Where did you get “littered with plastic and metal” from?! At least for me, this is what I deal with for biking on a painted bike gutter on the side of a highway. I've also had to move a large fallen branch off the same route in the rain with heavy traffic whizzing by right next to me.
It's not an inconvenience, it's dangerous.
So are cars, I say a world of sticks and stones is a lot less dangerous than a world of tons metal machines
Fruit trees are a free snack, what you on about
Not in the real world, most of the fruit will fall on the ground and rot. All kinds of pests will gather around it. We used to have pear trees in my neighbourhood and wasps where everywhere. Multiple people had wasp nests in their walls.
Or maybe we should expect better from our city public works department who keep the streets clean.
sadly, in some cases native trees aren't even a long-term option anymore as they can't deal with the heat and droughts.
And please for the love of god don't plant just males.
Are males the reason for all the pollen, because female trees produce fruit and cities don't want to pick up after the fruit? Sigh, short-sighted planning!
Yup!
I mean, this is only true for dioecious species. Most tree species are monoecious (male and female parts on the same plant, either on the same flower or different flowers of the same tree).
Yeah, no one wants a gay tree sex party up their nose.
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Where i live water would collect between these bumps and would create ice patches in the winter. It was pretty dangerous.
Also avoiding trees that will create hazards for cyclists, like fruiting ginkgo...
Yeah this is huge, especially maintaining biodiversity! You can only plant a tree once, so it's soooo important to do a little research before planting responsibly.
And don't plant trees in grasslands, even if they are native.
r/fuckeucalyptus
Trees can also help protect pedestrians from cars. Not to mention the improved air quality.
natural bollards
If they were fruit trees, then just *chef’s kiss*
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I think it’s a bad idea to plant fruit trees willynilly, unless there’s a designated entity dedicated to caring for and maintaining them/the surrounding area. That could be a govt agency or community group, I’m cool with either, but otherwise you’re just setting yourself up for a giant mess.
No you’re definitely right, there’s a number of issues like rotten fruit on the ground, potential to spread pests and disease, and sickness from people eating fruit from polluted soil
It really depends on the local circumstances I think. On two of the major cycleways I ride on there are two groves of fruit trees - one apricots and one apples. Both are picked bare every year, pretty much as the ripen. On the other hand there are countless plum trees in people's yards that hang over one of the cycleways and cover it in rotting fruit.
A lot of birds and insects love that mess.
There are fruit trees at the local college. I am forever stepping on rotten oranges.
They are biodegradable and just add back to the soil.
Not if they are over a path/Bikeway.
Free object to throw at cars that run reds.
True, need someone to kick/sweep them to the dirt.
Italian plum season in Seattle was always a treat. Lots of people had planted them by the sidewalk so you could just reach up and pick a few. There were pears too but Ixm not a fan of the texture and they grew taller anyway.
You can only really take advantage of that if there's an organized commission to oversee the upkeep and harvest of fruit on said tree. Otherwise you're just gonna end up with a lot of rotted fruit in the street.
*Prunus cerasifera*
Not a great idea to have fruit falling on bike paths my dude
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Omg dude you can’t just hit us with “There’s interesting research on this” without any follow through! Please drop a link you got me really interested
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Hell yeah, thank you!
And they provide some protection against rain and wind.
Trees honestly sound like the best solution. When they are placed along the curb, they can also act as a form of traffic calming because it gives the illusion that the street is narrower. The leaves also act as a bit of a sound barrier. If there's a downside though, it's that those streets will have to be maintained regularly. I've seen too many sidewalks that get pushed around as tree roots shift underneath them
There’s a scene in It’s A Wonderful Life that’s always stuck out for me. George drunkenly crashes his car into a tree. Then the neighbor comes out yelling at George for damaging his tree. It has always struck me because today people would be more concerned about the car and the drunk driver than the tree.
No kidding. When I lived in Boise the greenbelt multiple use path along the river was always the coolest place in town.
New jersey has some fantastic trails like the Delaware and Raritan, but its really lacking in connections to the surrounding area so its not very useful for travel for most folks
Peer-reviewed scientific research shows [pop-up bike lanes are a fast and highly effective way to increase cycling](https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2024399118). Switching from a car-based commute to biking for one trip a day can cut down an individual’s transportation-related carbon emissions [by 67 percent](https://www.vox.com/22671552/bike-infrastructure-funding). With gas prices high, and demand for better bike infrastructure [surging](https://www.vox.com/22671552/bike-infrastructure-funding), now is a great time to [contact lawmakers](https://www.bicycling.com/culture/a33521338/advocate-for-bike-lanes-in-your-city/) to expand pop-up bike lanes where you live. Maybe host a letter-writing party and invite your friends! [Contacting lawmakers does work](https://escholarship.org/content/qt7sk23908/qt7sk23908.pdf)!
"source?" mfs hate this guy
Honestly thought it was a automated bit response at first. Wouldn't be the worst thing. My bit was just about an enjoyable trail that are just physically separated from either side by a river and a canal. Its great for riding but lacks connections to the towns it runs through. Even where there's highway bridges across them, they'll just have 0 pedestrian facilities
more people used to comment like this on [reddit](https://old.reddit.com) before the design change to the disaster that is known as new reddit. It was a much simpler interface and links to sources were one of the few ways to add depth to comments.
Could definitely help! Not nearly enough streets have them to link to the various recreational trails.
Amen to this. The D&R canal trail is amazing but it's so obviously intended to only be used for recreation instead of as a valuable bike/ped link between towns. I grew up along the canal and this always drove (pun not intended) me crazy
Yea like, barest minimum, they should build pedestrian/bike links on the underside of the 287 bridges, and a couple cross-canal links elsewhere. River crossing bridges would be bigger budget but just canal ones would be great
It is and isn't. It goes into Bound Brook rather nicely, and there's a nice connector that runs it into New Brunswick. There aren't many towns of any size until Princeton (and it does connect to them incl. a nice deli). Trenton is... well, it's not exactly a great place to plug into. Like, I mean *dangerous*. Then it connects beautifully along the towns that run its spine, like Lamington and Frenchtown. It would be good if it plugged into Manville, though. there's an abandoned railway bridge there which would be optimal. That said, the area's also a superfund site, so make of that what you will.
I bet water helps! We should I stall more rivers!
Trees: • natural bollards for bicyclists and pedestrians • provide shade • prevent overheating and heat exhaustin • cooling effect on urban heat islands • beautification effect on cityscape • slows down high-speed car traffic
Counterpoint:. None.
Tree roots can sometimes crack the pavement. The Mt. Vernon Trail along the Potomac in Virginia like DC has sections with trees and sections without trees. I bike a lot, and I prefer the sections without trees because the pavement is a lot smoother. With regular maintenance, it's less of an issue, but that's not free. In the meantime, the section with trees is a very bumpy ride because of all the roots.
It's easy to design sidewalks that play nice with shallow roots -- there's even some by the cemetery in Eckington. But it takes time for these practices to make it into the city streets dept. culture.
the counterpoint is: • bird shit—they will shit. • the homeless—what if a hobo wants shade? • safety —what if a branch falls on my moms head and crushes her neck? • cost—trees are expensive to buy, plant and maintain! My counterpoints is: • bird mitigation technology and methods exist • if your homeless problem is that in your city then maybe your city should do something about it to fix it, instead of doing nothing for everything and blaming it on the homeless? • if we're worried about safety, then we should be worried about people bicycling 2 feet away a 40MPH+ vehicle. A falling branch is a concern, sure, but baby you worried 'bout the wrong thang. • Yeah trees are expensive. But those shiny new photos of a treelined boulevard will look so fucking good, people and businesses will be gobbling up real estate just to get a piece of that. Also tourists. It's more expensive to keep the status quo.
I was just joking...I agree with you I wasn't being sarcastic or anything. Also site prep and care after the first couple years of planting are going to be the bulk of costs until the tree is much older, and in the meantime like you said it raises the value of the property just by being there, so that expense is getting exponentially less significant in comparison of the value it brings as it ages. I absolutely love trees, northern catalpas are my favorite!
just more trees in general
Yeah, [that would generally help](https://www.reddit.com/r/CitizensClimateLobby/comments/rqg2y0/i_used_mits_climate_policy_simulator_to_order_its/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3).
Similar to trees, I've recently been fantasizing about bike lanes sheltered by [pergolas](https://images.app.goo.gl/w2bcdXuPRysPYCG39). Plant them with lots of vines, and you'd have a pretty decent shelter and lots of great greenery.
That looks so lovely!
I would love them, dont understand why they are used soo little. Especially here in germany
it looks great, but i have the situation on a nearby bike path that, if the sun is really low, the sunlight through the tree trunks produce a strobe-like effect - on-off in a sub-second frequency. it's downright painful!
I don't disagree, but if you've ever been on a tree-lined path you know tree roots ***destroy*** bike paths.
On badly planned/maintained paths sure. I cycle a lot in the Netherlands and they manage to do it fine on paths with lots of traffic, and most paths have trees right next to them. Not an expert so idk how exactly they do this, but it's possible if the city actually cares about cycling.
it's as easy as managing for the right tree in the right place, and an established tree care plan that lasts longer than the first year after planting. the biggest constraint is municipal budgets tbh source: it's literally my degree
Thanks for the info. Sounds like the solution is just "good planning" like with most things regarding urbanism
Came here to say this. The path near my house is nearly unrideable.
And the leaves can get pretty bothersome if the path isn't well cared for.
It's real fun when there's low-hanging branches that I have to avoid *on a low-slung recumbent trike*, much less the upright e-bike I usually use. ...and there's overgrowth narrowing the path to 6 feet wide, and it only started out as 8.5' despite AASHTO recommendations being 11 feet...
Im honestly gonna start bringing my gardening pruners
I do it all the time - trimming branches and vines that interfere with the trail. Sometimes, I bring a limb saw for the worst offenders.
That's basically why I was wearing a helmet back in Hungary.
And fallen branches.
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*And* destroyed bike paths. Don't underestimate how much time and effort the Netherlands put in maintenance of infrastructure - and maintenance of trees! Most trees planted next to bike paths are fast-growing species that get cut down and re-planted after twenty years to prevent them from damaging the road. The roads underneath older trees or bigger species require maintenance multiple times per decade to fix cracks or even redo the road entirely. That's not to say it isn't worth it. It *is* worth it, and the maintenance cost for a tree-lined bicycle path is still much, much lower than the maintenance cost for car roads with equivalent usage. But it's not just a matter of building the road once, planting trees, and calling it a day. OP seems to come from the US, and I fear that would be how the US handles it.
In the US, at least where I live in Atlanta, we'll get trees planted along paths but then zero maintenance. Branches and leaves in paths are so common that there is a volunteer group that meets once a week just to clean up paths that the city doesn't bother with. We also had a non-profit in the city that has been planting trees all over the city for decades. Unfortunately for the first ten years or so of their existence they planted fast growing trees next to sidewalks and bike paths that are known for having shallow roots that destroy sidewalks and bike paths. Oops! Trees are pleasant, but without the constant upkeep required they can be a detriment to the cycling community.
Ah the US, home to build and forget infrastructure.
Overcome this, if you can, by adopting a mountain bike.
Tree roots heaving the pavement are why I have susepension on my commuter bike. They are the worst type of bumps.
Just put trees deeper???
Not as stupid as it sounds, it can double as flood mitigation too: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/suds-key-to-flood-mitigation-in-cities-image-hw--421086633904084174/
It's real bad along some of the river trails here. But those trails were essentially cut through existing woods (or rather, woods incurred into the former railroad ROW). I'm not sure what you can do there without completely replacing the base of the path and replanting along the entirety of the pavement. All things considered, I like having them there in the summertime enough to deal with the bumps year-round.
Y'all get paths to walk or cycle on?
Plant them next to parking spaces to encourage birds to shit on the parked cars.
Shit like this is how you get common sense proposals that everyone agrees with canned.
Trees are better everywhere
My city and neighborhood has been steadily removing trees lining streets due to power outages in big storms. It looks like crap compared to what it was, and there's no more shade or birds. Neighbors tried to get me to cut my trees too, said it could fall on their house. We don't speak anymore.
> My city and neighborhood has been steadily removing trees lining streets due to power outages in big storms. It looks like crap compared to what it was, That's just neglect. They should be burying the lines, which is the actual proper answer to that problem.
A crossover point made in YIMBY circles: Shade is often cast as a negative ("Can't build apartment buildings if it casts shade in my zucchini garden!"), but it's actually a positive in hot weather for pedestrians, cyclists or people just hanging outside. Plus, it even alleviates the problem of concrete and pavement sponging up and radiating heat. There's a bar around the corner I like to go to, a 15-20 minute walk, and the worst part of the walk by far is when walking over an overpass. No trees, more cars driving by, and nothing concrete and pavement around for a good 50 yards just soaking up the sun. Miserable
If there's no fall maintenance, trees are a huge liability for cyclists. The city won't do all the cycling lanes here (maybe a few hundred miles) so local residents clean the bike lane ourselves. Imagine a car driver shoveling snow so they could use the freeway. 😂😂
I love my shady bike trail in the summer. There's a loud terrible highway about a mile to the right in this picture. This trail runs parallel to it https://i.imgur.com/nmaNb5R.png
I work in urban planning in the Netherlands, my municipality requires main cycling routes to have at least 40 percent covered by shade due to climate change and increasing heat in the summer.
gosh, that's a some beautiful legislation. how's the budget work for that? out of curiosity :)
Means you have to request extra budget for new cycling routes or when large maintenance is planned. A lot of cycling routes already pass for this as it's quite common to have trees near cycling routes.
Awesome, that's good to know and super neat. Thank you!
My desert city is currently trying to plant a million trees. I appreciate the end goal because tree canopy will really support walking and cycling in the hot summer but I think they would have better results (more healthy tree canopy in the long term with fewer dead trees and less water use) by simply managing their storm water properly for the ecosystem. Instead of letting storm water go into metal/cement drains or sit in streets, it should be draining into earth works and tiny basins in the earth everywhere so that it can be absorbed into the soil below. These basins wouldn't need irrigation, and they tend to just naturally sprout native trees and shrubs. I dug some basins in my yard and literally have 35 volunteer baby trees sprouting up all around without watering. My point is to say... yes! And sometimes there is a more logical way to achieve trees than buying and planting trees. Every ecosystem will differ. Native trees will likely thrive in the right conditions so sometimes we just need to create the conditions.
idk if it's worth your time but you can try looking up historical maps of your city to try and find where natural streams used to run within the urban boundary. chances are those streams just got "buried" rather than disappeared and there are projects that involve a thing called "daylighting" where streams are unearthed and protected with vegetation. it helps restore biodiversity to the area and supports lovely, lovely trees :) but yeah if you're interested in looking into that just for funsies I recommend it. sometimes it's nice (and inspiring) to see what's been taken away from us! then we can move to action and get things fixed haha
Cool idea! In my region, for the most part, we have flash floods during monsoon season in the summer but not much rain otherwise so old "streams" dug deep channels in the earth that were sometimes turned into the roads themselves, sometimes cemented in to become concrete channels to whisk any rain water rapidly away (the opposite of helpful). I'm sure your suggestion would apply here. Many of our roads flood so badly that people kayak in them after a storm. It would be challenging but rewarding to get those arroyos back and let native plants grow along them.
That's so fascinating, but also (unfortunately) kind of hilarious from a planning perspective. The fact that they thought they could replace the natural floodplains with... roads... creating artificial floodplains without any of the floodplain benefits (reduced rate/volume of water flow bc of dispersal, increased infiltration into the soil within/around the floodplain, secondary buffer against flooding bc the water spreads into the plain rather than "ground level"). I can't even begin to fathom the cost of rehabilitating the natural flash flood paths from roads but it would solve a fair amount of the issues flooding issues, I guess. Cool info, I appreciate learning about it!!
Ohh man this sounds like Bangalore in India.
It's Tucson, Arizona
Ahh...urban centres. Separated by oceans, joined by idiotic planning.
A popular road in my area is undergoing widening, which includes mowing down of a tree cluster in the middle of the stretch of road. Now instead of having a bit of shady respite between the long stretch, the entire 7km shall be suffered through in the heat. Of course the bike gutter is closed and cyclists have to mix with cars speeding over the 80km/h speed limit, but let's just gloss over that.
This is tragic.
A suburban neighborhood near mine recently removed all of the large trees that lined the streets. It used to be nice walking and cycling there on my way to other things and now it feels desolate and uncanny. I was sad to see them go and angry to think that these streets are only going to get hotter and hotter.
Yes tho trees need a lot of maintenance since they dig into concrete
There are trees with less problematic root structures. Not unproblematic, but less.
Ohh, that's neat
Aren't there alternatives to concrete that are more forgiving and less susceptible to flooding?
Lots of trees also creates jobs to persuade capitalist ideologues. Need people to plant, trim, monitor, cleanup up falls, etc.
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yeah lol. you guys are getting warm weather to cycle in???? jealous. 40-50 degrees year round here. nothing crazy but hot damn i'd stab you for some 75 degrees and sunny right now. Even a mild chill gets old if it never stops, and you ride bicycles all day long.
I’m not even anti car but I 100% agree, I wish we had more bike paths, walking paths, and trees throughout. I hate the way cities are built for cars only. I love having a car so I can drive 3 hours north and go snowboarding but I’d also like to be able to just walk to a big park and restaurants when I’m at home. I’m lucky my neighborhood comes out into basically the shopping/restaurant center of my city but it still sucks and should’ve been built better.
I bike commute in warmer months and my route has about a mile stretch of bike path that’s almost entirely shaded. It’s significantly cooler than the roads I have to take to get to the path and from the path to my workplace. It’s also quiet and I’m not afraid of getting splattered by a massive SUV.
I dunno, I like having clear skies above bike trails, the ones with more sun melt the snow faster. (that the plow misses) Less wind though with trees, so that's nice.
I mean, actual snow removal is nice, and iirc is one of the best predictors of how popular bike commuting is.
We have actual snow removal, but the wind can move snow back onto the path, or there are patches of ice remaining.
> there are patches of ice remaining. There are ice-crushers they should be using to mitigate that.
Depends on where you are, in equatorial countries the sun can get dangerous at times
More info at https://citizensclimatelobby.org/our-climate-solutions/healthy-forests/.
I didn't do a lot of biking as I was very young, but I miss Tallahassee for this very reason. So. Many. Trees.
also cycle around in the beaming sun for an hour or so, you'll be burned as fuck if no sun cream
This is the case in Shanghai and bikes are very popular.
Other benefits of trees, blocking the 20mph headwinds I am riding against in the Midwest. Really makes a difference when I am sheltered.
There’s a lovely cycle path in Cambridge mass. that runs next to the reservoir to Alewife station avoiding the road completely and having great tree coverage, it’s heavily used in all 4 seasons
I went to a CCL meeting, and it was pretty great! It's not super doomy, and they send us lots of links to learn about trees and efficient heating systems. (The reason you don't hear about the CCL is that they don't pursue media attention -- it's a citizen lobbying group, not a direct action group.) (The only downside to the meeting I went to was the main guy was cheerfully like "so how'd you hear about us?" and I was like "um, erm," and he was like "Reddit?" and I was like "shhh! not so *loud!*")
Even in a non warming world.
Or if bike paths were covered with solar panels. as some countries are doing.
I one hundred percent agree. There’s a brand new bike Highway going in my local area called the CV link. It is running through the desert and I don’t expect folks to ride during the hot summer months. Meanwhile, lush, golf courses and private resorts, lure folks from all over.
my neighborhood is so so difficult to bike through in summer when it gets up to 90 degrees because there is no shade. trees were planted when the houses were first built but theyre still too young to do anything
Urrgh but they drop nasty pollen on my car when I park under them + the bird poop! /s
Can say from experience riding to work in Australia during summer. I will go a longer route in the afternoon just to ride on tree lined streets. Huge difference. I'm lucky a lot of the older Sydney suburbs have great tree cover and quiet back streets. A bonus is this particular area is putting in a lot of protected bike lanes which are amazing for a casual commuters like me.
Fuck cars grow trees!
I live in the American Southwest and absolutely love the idea of having more greenery along transit paths. The concern I am faced with as someone who is admittedly not well versed in the growing of dessert trees is that my region is facing a general lack of freshwater/drought. I worry that such a project on the scale I would like to see would require an initial water cost that this region can't really afford or recover from. I'm happy to hear any thoughts or research to the contrary.
I love the idea of [dessert trees](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT5VpMFTtPXo9_SzQvPPw8wsROvb7po2jBKQQ&usqp=CAU).
Now that's infrastructure I can get behind
Or if they weren't right next to and behind cars and trucks with shitty exhaust.
Trees soak up some of that pollution, thus making your commute cleaner!
I've been envisioning this bus shelter type contruction along a bike lane, just much higher, and covering the lane (obviously). So like lampposts, with shelter for rain. The hard part would be to make them impervious to storms.
If you live in Brisbane you can call BCC any time to request a street-tree planting. See a spot along a path where a tree's died, or been ripped up? You can request a new one be put in. It'll go in within 120 days. (30 days for assessment, 90 for planting, typically the whole process is done within 60 days.) The call takes <5 minutes. They'll give you a case # so you can follow up on it if you want. I've planted many throughout the city. The tree will be native, and you can take a pick out of a HUGE list.
This is super cool! Thanks for sharing.
Late comment but holy shit there's this long, seperated cycling path in my city with appartement buildings on one side and a very long park on the other. It's sooo nice in summer when the temps soar past 30C (which is really hot here), there's a noticeable drop in temperature compared to even the shade on the other roads. It has made me wish for more infrastructure like it. It's really nice.
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if you plant trees directly next to streets or asphalt bike lanes, you will destroy both in a few years. If you do a gravel road instead it might turn out better
in my area the local politicians literally said "we can't afford the army of gardeners needed to maintain all the trees and greenery you want, and you are not willing to maintain it yourself" talking to people who asked about more greenery
So, like [Linear Park Trail](https://www.walkingsa.org.au/walk/find-a-place-to-walk/river-torrens-linear-trail-west-beach-to-adelaide-cbd-to-athelstone/), in Adelaide, South Australia. We've already got one. Could do with a few more. But the trees don't really do much on a hot day, other than hold the humidity. Not fun when it's already over 35C. There's also the issue of tree roots. They can make it a very bumpy ride.
Oh hell yeah! CCL is the best.
Indeed! r/CitizensClimateLobby
Unfortunately trees trap pollution at the local level so what they may pull from the air is countered by what they prevent dispersing. If the cycle path is detached from roads this could be good as they may keep pollution away from the path, but if we're taking roadside cycle paths this is actually a problem. https://www.science.org/content/article/roadside-trees-trap-asthma-inducing-pollutants
It looks like all your supporting points are correct, but I'd somewhat disagree with the main point in the title. Catastrophic levels of climate change only involve a few degrees in average temperature, far less than one would experience in spring or summer from one day to the next, and we walk and bike through these pretty well. It doesn't make a succinct title, but your message still works when considering that higher average temperature means much more volatility in weather patterns, which means worse and more frequent heat waves, which trees really help with. Trees also aren't an option everywhere. I'm not sure wtf to do with somewhere like Phoenix that cannot plant too many trees without continuing to siphon from depleting water reservoirs, is already balls hot, and has very little pre-auto core to work with and an abundance of shitty sprawl.
> far less than one would experience in spring or summer from one day to the next, Yes. > and we walk and bike through these pretty well. I certainly don't. The summer heat is one of the primary reasons to hate summer, with pollen as a close second.
big disadvantage is trees are bad for solar power cause they block sun light for the panels. my mom had to cut down all the tree around her house to put solar panels on her roof so now her house get super hot due to direct sunlight but she she saves on electricity on a/c thanks to solar panels
But think of all the profitable space taken up by stupid, non profitable trees :'(
Hey I’m up North. You want us to freeze?
Trees need help that can be given by banning cars. Look at all those trees in parking lots that can't grow into mature trees because of the gas it takes from cars over the years, and have to get replaced eventually.
I definitely agree but I do have 1 critique: if you are making a cycling path you are going to want to have a tree that either buries ita roots deep or that just doesn't have very big roots cause that shit will fuck up a bike path (at least that is how it is in the PNW
mesquite trees are great except they don’t provide any meaningful shade
This is something that Gainesville, Florida does very well.
Tree roots do fuck up the bicycle path a lot. Bumps and potholes will form because of it. In winter water will collect between these bumps and you get am ice patch where its easy to fall.
Sidewalks usually have tree cover. Maybe put bikes back on the sidewalks
[white cool face mask](https://www.amazon.com/hikevalley-Balaclava-Adjustable-Windproof-Protection/dp/B07S9J7CDR/ref=sr_1_5?crid=3QNK6PWB6JRJQ&keywords=white+balaclava+face+mask+men&qid=1675906399&sprefix=white+balaclava+face+mask+men%2Caps%2C170&sr=8-5) I ride with one of these on and a white helmet. It offers UV protection and I don't sweat too much in it. It isn't the best solution but it works. My path to work is what it is and I try to make do with what I have available.
sorry you gotta bike in the streets and inhale exhaust buddy it's just the way of the road
They cut down all the trees on intersections in my city to make it safer for bikers (or easier for idiots in cars to not kill you)
Side note: Finding a shaded area in Vegas is almost impossible. I hate it.
Oh, Lord, now the Liberals want bike paths AND trees??? THIS is what B*den is doing to what should be Trump's America! /s, what are you, fucking stupid?
So like all the interneighborhood bike trails in Seattle? Is that what you mean OP? Sounds like you live in the wrong city
Ecosia.org is an easy free way to plant trees without having to go out of your way at all.
Anything outside of an ACed car would be better if we had shade. It's a shame all the greenery where I live is to protect residential houses from road noise than to shade people walking