I am a big fan of trees; they are beautiful, they are home to all kinds of animals, their biological processes are mind blowing and they take in carbon dioxide and expel oxygen.

The loss of the 32nd Street cottonwood is sad in the same way the loss of any large tree is sad, but something is really getting under my skin about the signs left by the protesters. They talk about how this tree was battling climate change. But do you know what’s worse for the climate than cutting down a tree? Driving a car.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Agency greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator, a single mature tree absorbs about 50 pounds of CO2 per year, while driving a car for one year emits over 5 tons. Reducing your gas use by just a few gallons per year is the same as what a single tree can accomplish. We need a lot more trees and a lot less gasoline.

Just northeast of Mancos State Park, entire cottonwood groves are being leveled acre by acre – go see for yourself. I haven’t seen protests about automobiles or clear-cutting, or if they happened, The Durango Herald didn’t report it.

If we truly want to avenge this tree on the climate front, let’s use the new trail to ride bikes to get around rather than driving, let’s fight tooth and nail against extraction-based forest management plans, let’s fight for more aggressive renewable energy plans from electricity providers and much, much more.

Marty Pool

Durango