But there was a completely unexpected consequence. Melbourne’s trees received love letters from all over the world. (US magazineThe Atlanticeven published a sample of the emails. “Dear 1037148,” wrote one admirer to a golden elm. “You deserve to be known by more than a number. I love you. Always and forever.”)
As cities around the world (including Melbourne City Council) declare climate emergencies,trees are also being recognised globally as a powerful weapon against the urban heat island effect,in which human built surfaces such as asphalt and concrete trap heat and areas stay hotter for longer.
Germany is spending 800 million euros on planting trees over the next four years with agriculture minister Julia Kloecknerdeclaring: “Every missing tree is a missing comrade-in-arms against climate change.”
In August,Los Angeles employed its first city forest officer,dubbed Loraxby the media after the Dr Seuss character who “speaks for the trees”.
Paris has wonfans and enemies by shutting down parts of the 42-year-old highway along the Right Bank of the Seine and turning it into a park and planting urban forests in front of some of the city’s most iconic spots.
Meanwhile,Melbourne’s maximum daily temperatures are expected to rise as much as 1.6 degrees by 2030,according to new CSIRO climate change projections.
Melbourne city councillor Nick Reece told a global summit of mayors,known as C40,this month that the council came under the usual predictable attacks from shock jocks and conservative politicians when it declared a climate emergency this year.
“The Bureau of Meteorology tide gauge shows a sea level rise of 7 centimetres has already occurred in Port Phillip Bay since the 1970s,” Cr Reece told them.
“In an extreme future scenario Melbourne might find itself having to consider a sea barrier across Port Phillip Heads. If this is not an emergency situation then I am not sure what is.”
Cr Reece says what struck him at the global summit was that cities were leading the way in responding to climate change while national governments were failing.
Melbourne is among 30 cities which are members of the C40 coalition that have been steadily reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. The city has cut its emissions by 31 per cent since 2011-2012.
“The lights in our street,the barbecues in our parks and the treadmills in our[council-run] gyms are all powered by renewable energy,” Cr Reece told the mayors.
Five years ago,Melbourne City Council pledged to increase its tree canopy from 22 per cent to 40 per cent by 2040,which means it needs to plant more than 3000 trees every year.
Professor Adams says trees can lower street temperatures by as much as four degrees.
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About 300 to 400 trees a year are lost to disease or development in the City of Melbourne,he said,with sick trees replaced by the council on top of new tree plantings. Anyone who removed trees on council land was required to contribute to a fund that pays for greening of private properties.
The grey to green program has become steadily more ambitious.
More than half of Southbank Boulevard has been closed to create a new 2.5 hectare linear park.
A traffic roundabout in Errol Street,North Melbourne wasturned into a park 10 times the size of the former intersection.
Two streets in Carlton were shut down to expand University Square.
But one of the city’s most ambitious and controversial projects to date is to convert the 1.5 hectare open-air car park at Queen Victoria Market intoMelbourne’s largest public square.
Thermal images taken during a heatwave show the car park is one of the largest urban heat islands in the city.
But some market traders and shoppers vehemently oppose the public square plan,fearing the loss of the open air car park will kill off the market.
One thousand car parks will be made available near the market,but opponents say these are too far away for those who like to fill their car boots with fresh produce.
In his wildest dreams,Professor Adams says he never imagined projects of this scale when those 10 trees were planted in Mason Street back in 1985. “Melbourne didn’t have big public open spaces.”