I agree whole heartedly with Scott. A tree that is 100 years old is worth
saving. And as for Ginkgo being an exotic, I beg to differ. While native
Ginkgo may be extinct from North America, they are well represented in the
fossil record in the western portion of this country we today call the
"United States."
jim
-----Original Message-----
From: Scott_Shumway at wheatonma.edu
To: plant-ed at hgmp.mrc.ac.uk
Sent: 11/14/00 11:09 AM
Subject: Sympathy for the tree huggers
How about a little sympathy for the ginkgo lovers?
The Gingko web pages were quite interesting and educational. I
forwarded
the URL to my botany students and one of the students has chosen to
write
her review paper on Ginkgos. I encouraged her to use the web site as a
starting point for her paper, but to be cautious about using
non-peer-reviewed material. Therefore, this posting IS relevant to the
educational nature of Plant-Ed and I am thankful for it.
While Ginkgo biloba might be on the red list due to its questionable
occurrence in the wild, cultivation has erased the threat of total
extinction.
As for tree huggers being ridiculous (dendrophilia?)...perhaps they are,
but I leave you all with a few thoughts. Is cutting down a centennerian
tree the right thing to do? One hundred year old trees are uncommon in
most cities thanks to us. Who but the tree huggers will represent the
rights of such venerable living beings in the face of development and
human
sprawl?
To examine deeply the meaning of ridiculous, visit the Gikngo site and
look
at the picture of the tree that survived the Hiroshima atomic bomb blast
and the library that was built around the tree.
Have you thanked a tree today?
At 7:13 PM -0600 11/13/00, clarosa wrote:
>Such God damned tree huggers are ridiculous. Ginkgos are exotic
species
>not rare... Rick Harris ... you are a silly person... possibly you need
to
>have your medication adjusted.
>>>CorK wrote:
>>> Hello all,
>>>> Rick Harris is a tree-sitter in Ashland, Oregon, who is trying to
save
>> a 100-years old Ginkgo tree which is about to be cut down together
>> with other trees by the City of Ashland to make way for a library
>> expansion.
>> The Ginkgo is on the IUCN Red list of Threatened Plants.
>> Read more and view webcam on:
>>>> The Ginkgo Pages
>>http://www.xs4all.nl/~kwanten>>>> Thanks,
>> Cor kwant
>>>> Email: remove -zap-
Scott Shumway
Associate Professor of Biology
Dept. of Biology
Wheaton College
Norton, MA 02766
508-286-3945
"Scott_Shumway at WheatonMa.edu"
fax 508-285-8278
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