I recently noticed on 13th and L Streets NW, a number of trees adorned with trash. It dawned on me that as the capital of the United States the United States, with 18.9 million tourists last year, it is despicable to find garbage hanging from branches just about every other block or so. As a homeless resident, I take great pride in this city and hope we all do. So, when tourists visit our neighborhoods and see the trash, it tells them we don’t care about our city or our environment. That is not the city I want to show them.
To witness trees such as our ginkgo, cherry, maple, and dogwood, to name a few, ornamented with all sorts of garbage sends the wrong message to our citizens and other visitors. This city should be the world’s cleanest. So, when I see the city’s licensed arborists trimming trees in my community but leaving the trash hanging from branches, I wonder whether they care about the trees or only about the money they’re making.
Trees are the most important and life-giving tall plants on the planet; yet we don’t seem to care enough to care for them properly. It seems as though every day we read about fires and floods that happen because trees were improperly or illegally removed. But we can prevent situations like this. I suggest the city pass a law requiring the arborists to remove all trash from trees during sprucing and trimming. This would beautify our city and help our trees live longer.
No one expects trash in trees. Yet we find it all over our neighborhoods. It’s time to ensure trees are given the tender loving care they need. And what better place to start than here? We need our trees and our trees need us. If we continue irresponsibly and recklessly cutting down our forests, we will have more dangerous fires and floods. If that happens, we may all be homeless. How we can prevent that? By respecting our trees.
Remember: Trees give us life. So let these magnificent creatures live!
