Five best places to enjoy trees (from SFGate)

Decent list by Jill K. Robinson includes California and Washington State trees of wonder.

Happy Earth Day - Hug a Tree

Every day.

Nature in our Nature - Ecopsychology and Mental Health

The Oregonian has a story today about the field of ecopsychology and how our mental health is affected by our proximity to nature (or lack thereof). Starting with the study of hospital patients who healed faster when placed in a room with a view of trees (as opposed to patients who looked at a brick wall), and ending with a hopeful idea of teaching the benefits of being in nature, instead of haranguing people to save the planet from certain doom (not an effective strategy)--it's good stuff. But it's not easy to find on their Website (nothing is). So here you go.

Source: Story by Joe Rojas-Burke. Photo by Rob Finch, The Oregonian.

Obama signs public lands bill - Oregon appreciates it

Last week President Obama signed off on a bill that will protect thousands of acres of wilderness across the nation, including 200,000 acres in Oregon. That means no more logging or mechanized recreational vehicles in these areas, people. Just sky, earth, plants, animals and water.

Roaring River Wilderness

Source: OregonLive
Video by Matthew Preusch

UC Berkeley Starts Chopping

The last four tree-sitters are holding out in a redwood tree at UC Berkeley this weekend. University police are in the cherry-picker, trying to talk them down, but no go. UC wants to build a sports center but were stymied for 21 months by tree-sitters who didn't want 42 old-growth trees cut down for the construction project. UC has promised to replace all the trees or to move existing ones to other locations.

At one point when police tried to forcibly remove some of the sitters, they were pummeled with urine and feces. It's been a hell of a protest, but it's winding down as of 9 a.m. today. What happens then? Nobody's saying, but the sitters will not be allowed to sit any more, having already been cut off from their food and water supply as of Friday.

I like trees for sure, but if a school wants to build a sports center for its athletes and a court order says it's OK, I guess I'm one to shrug my shoulders. I can't imagine living in a tree for even one night, let alone 21 months, so that's impressive, but at some point, there's a lot more pressing problems in the world. Righteousness or wrongfulness? Having already been trimmed up to the top, this tree would be an eye-sore at this point anyway.

source: SFGate