Trees

(With the recent approval of the cutting of trees in Currimao to give way to a solar power plant project, we decided to republish this editorial which originally appeared on March 2015—Ed)

“Who are willing to die for a tree?”

So asked Fr. Robert Reyes during a governance forum on tree-cutting at the Northwestern University held March 12.

Fr. Reyes, also known as the “Running Priest”, was in Laoag City for two days to try and prevent the cutting of hundreds of trees in Currimao, Ilocos Norte. Little did he know that another hundreds of trees are being lined up for the chainsaws in Burgos, Ilocos Norte. The priest did find out about the other trees in Burgos after a meeting with Ilocos Norte Governor Ma. Imelda R. Marcos.

The tree-cutting attempts in Currimao and Burgos are supposedly for renewable energy projects. However, the question that begs to be asked is “How can we be environmentally conscious and environmentally friendly when the first thing we do for solar and wind power projects is to cut trees?”

Renewable sources of energy are indeed the way to go if we are to go about saving our race from extinction. But doing this by way of forcing other living things to go extinct is not only absurd; it borders between stupidity and idiocy.

The earth’s very own existence depends on the trees that have been growing long before humans were made in God’s image—or evolved from primates. Trees contribute heavily to oxygen production and at the same time takes all the carbon dioxide that have been naturally produced before—but which we are now heavily forcing up the earth’s atmosphere. Trees also control the flow of water from rainfall saving us from flashfloods and more so, absorbing water which we use for our daily pathetic lives. Trees also prevent mountains from falling down on all of us so we could go on trying to kill the very world we live in.

When we cut trees, we also lose one of our major oxygen producers as well as carbon absorbers. We further lose our water reserves and we lose communities to flashfloods. And as results now often show after typhoons and torrential rains, we lose villages to landslides.

Progress is inevitable since the day our ancestors learned to make a fire and built a wheel. But the progress and development of today are relying heavily on the destruction of our environment and natural resources. Progress may have made life easier for all of us, but what would all this mean when the very earth we are living in dies on us?

Development and progress should be made stand side-by-side with the protection, preservation—and giving our environment a chance to renew and replenish itself. As it is, building around trees, forests and other natural structures may be a more inconvenient way for us but is actually the only way for all of us to continue fully enjoying the fruits and results of human advancement and technology.

Fr. Reyes may be just one person but if we start listening to what he has to say and pick up the wisdom of his thoughts and ideas, we may then be well on our way to creating a better, brighter and safer future for the next generations to come.

Then no one needs to die for a tree. Neither would trees continue to die for us.