Save R Trees

Further Info

This story was made on a five-day community based digital storytelling workshop for people in the Community at Heart Barton Hill area, led by Dani Landau, Liz Milner and Beth Trimmer.

The course took place at Watershed, and the Wellspring Centre, Barton Hill, during July 2005

Transcript

When I was six years old, I was possibly the strongest kid around. I arm-wrestled with boys and won, cracked open conker shells with my bare feet. I really really believed that I possessed superhuman strength.

One day I set out to prove to myself and everyone else how strong I really was. My test was to push over the huge comker tree in my front garden; the biggest, most powerful tree around.

I stood at the trunk of the huge tree that loomed above me and leaned against it, pushing with all my might. Immediately I heard a mighty creak [creaking sound] and stopped pushing and jumped away. There and then I decided that I, I was the most powerful person in the world, and I didn’t have to prove it to anyone, and I especially didn’t want to see such a wonderful tree pushed down and destroyed.

With these feelings of strength came a sense of responsibility and a feeling to protect and defend the defenceless.

To me, trees have become a symbol of this strength and I have a powerful longing to protect them.

[sound of a chain saw] Nearly 100 trees in my area are going to be destroyed to make way for new development. I believe that local people have had no say in this needless destruction and no attempt has been made to incorporate the trees into the build work. Trees play a vital part in our community. They bring life and beauty to a run-down inner-city area. They soak up pollution and provide a habitat to many species of wildlife. I see children climb them, build rope swings from them and run around in the green spaces we value so dearly.

It takes hundreds of years for trees to grow, and if we cut all the trees down, what hope is there for future generations to come?

Soon there will be no places to play and no symbols of our power and strength left.

Credits

All media not otherwise credited created by the story author, or permission obtained, used under copyright licence.