THERE's nothing like a tree if you're outside on a hot day.
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You see people and animals make a bee-line for them. If you're parking the car, you try to get your nose into the shade. Trees are nature's air conditioners. The temperature drops significantly as you walk under a street tree.
It's no coincidence that the most expensive, most sought-after suburbs in Sydney are described as "leafy".
The old trees lining the streets might be buckling the pavements, but they are what give the streets that gracious, comfortable feeling.
Contrast that to treeless suburbs in western Sydney, where summer temperatures soar and even short walks from car to building in the middle of the day can feel like an ordeal.
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So it's with great concern that I see Orange City Council proposing to chop down its old trees in Anson Street (pictured). I've parked there many times, seeking the shade, and have appreciated the trees' beauty as I do a spot of shopping.
Council's is preparing to give the street a makeover, creating a pedestrian mall with outdoor dining and new street furniture.
The trees are set to be removed because they are buckling the footpath, interfering with gutters and stormwater runoff and damaging buildings.
To me, the old trees are what makes that stretch of Anson street so attractive.
New trees will be planted - this time in special "milk crate like" containers to hold in the unruly roots - but it will be a long, long time before they begin to give the beauty and shade of the existing ones. With climate change, average temperatures are going up.
As I write this, carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere is 412.89 parts per million. This time last year, it was 410.25ppm.
Those numbers are not an abstraction. As they go up, we start to feel it right here.
I've noticed friends who never had air conditioning in the central west before, finally deciding to get it if they can afford it.
We don't have time to wait for new, straightjacketed street trees to get old and shady.
If old trees are inconvenient, if they are interfering with infrastructure, then we need to do all we can to work around them.
Beautiful cities around the world manage to do this. Cutting them down should be an absolute last resort.
Tracy Sorensen is a member of Bathurst Community Climate Action Network.
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