Speaking for the trees

 

Location: James Street

Date photo taken: 5 September 2021

For those of you not familiar with Dr. Seuss, this is the Lorax, an environmental spokesthing from the 1971 book of the same name. In that story, the Lorax spoke up to protect the trees. On a walk in Long Branch this weekend this Lorax, along with a multitude of more generic but informative lawn signs, alerted me to a similar battle currently going on in this west end neighbourhood. Residents are campaigning to save the Black Barn Maple which is under threat due to a development proposal. At 160 years old, this maple is one of the oldest surviving trees in this part of the city and it is still healthy and going strong. Residents hope to keep it that way but so far the City has not moved to protect the tree. I personally hope they will, or that the builder will get creative and find a way to work around the maple. Heritage trees can be a powerful symbol and any mature urban tree is a valuable asset. 

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." 

Lawn Sign - No Jets T.O.

Location: a lawn in Bloor West Village
Date photo taken: 30 October 2013

Torontonians it seems love to wear their hearts on their sleeves. Walk through any neighbourhood in the city and you will see at least a handful of lawn signs protesting or lending support for some proposal currently under consideration. Some of these are for issues anyone even minimally acquainted with local or provincial politics will recognize, while others deal with extremely localized issues pertinent to only a few square blocks. I find this phenomenon fascinating so I've started to collect them.

Porter Airline's push to introduce jets at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, better known as simply the Island Airport, has been going on for what feels like ever. No Jets T.O. is a citizen-based group working to maintain our waterfront as a mixed-used neighbourhood and recreational gem. They're not opposed to having an airport on the island, simply its expansion into something at odds with other aspects of the waterfront. They work to educate the public on the issue and to keep the debate balanced by countering the misinformation being pumped out by Porter and the Toronto Port Authority.