Brittany Nicole Cox

Happy Hump Day! 🐋 It's still early in the humpback season, but the whales that are here are already making quite a splash. This lovely lady is BCX1057 "Divot". Born in 2003, Divot is the oldest known offspring of the famous BCY0324 "Big Mama".

📷: Bethany Shimasaki, Western Prince Whale Watching

That may be true, but a two degree difference might be bad for the overall ecosystem there. So I don’t know that it’s an obvious answer.

Seattle-area fails air quality test in new national report King County got failing grades for ozone and particle pollution.

In the bigger picture my ethics tell me to look at overall health/well being of community & environment over individual interests.Especially if interests are things like driveways. I’m not exactly sure where you stand, but I appreciate the dialogue. www.axios.com/local/seattl...

Me too! Highly recommend it. It’s a great read :)

I agree - I’m a big fan of Ezra Klein - Abundance is a great book that recently came out. Get the stacked flats and the trees.

Definitely not advocating for sprawl and suburbs. We definitely need density. But smart density that protects our environment & human health. I don’t think swales provide the same water filtration in terms of polluted ground run off as trees & they dont provide the same habitat for birds or shade.

And really if we’re thinking about climate resilience- we need both exceptional and young trees.

When you cut that tree down you have to deal with the 4k gallons. Medium = what size trunk? Doesn’t necessarily mean 2k especially depending on the species. You’d have to plant so many trees to make up for the loss you’d have no room to build. Urban areas need ground water filtration the most.

Not if that tree is an exceptional tree. A mature evergreen tree intercepts more than 4,000 gallons of rainfall yearly. Trees release water vapor through transpiration. This process cools the environment & plays a role in the water cycle. Larger trees have a greater capacity for transpiration.

Ha! Most people don’t live 100 years so 1000 years is thinking about deep time. As far as I know, 90% hardscape will be allowed. Street trees have an average lifespan of 19-28 years.But survival can be impacted by urban environment stressors. Some trees live less than 20% of their potential lifespan

All things die, but exceptional trees provide far more benefits in terms of polluted ground water filtration. There is not an equivalent you can make with young trees. I wish this wasn’t the case, but it is and it can take young trees 100 years to grow into exceptional.

Everything dies eventually. But some trees can live for 1000 years or more, depending on the species. Several young vs one old: ground water filtration can’t be matched. The 90% hardscape allowance in the newest legislation proposed means there’s no room for large trees/ecological equivalents.

Thanks Phil! She’s a beauty!

The Heat Will Kill You First - Wikipedia

This is a great resource about the future we can expect. I appreciate that you have so far at least glanced at the articles. Maybe this book would be helpful: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hea...

I’m not convinced that rising temperatures will result in an overall net decline in temperature related deaths.

Seattle is not Anchorage and why is it good for temperatures to increase there overall?

Income is a whole other matter. So far you have provided pretty narrow arguments for your stance. We have a difference in our ethics.

I’d say that there’s a large conflict of interest there.

It’s not a one to one equal ratio if you’re talking about exceptional trees. Planting young trees, even several, doesn’t make up for the loss of cutting down one exceptional tree. Paying a fee has not historically been a deterrent for developers.

Every case is different and this statement is a generalization. In that case you’re right. When a tree is on a property line between homes, the benefit is shared.

I don’t see how this is relevant here. How do cold deaths globally inform policy here?

Nexus between residential air pollution and physiological stress is moderated by greenness - Nature Cities This study examines the influence of greenspace and air pollution on allostatic load, a measure of stress, in the United Kingdom. It found that people living in areas with more air pollutants were mor...

For good measure I’ll just throw another study in here. www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Green canopy decreases heat. More concrete and 90% hardscape allowances increase heat retention. Period.

www.nature.com/articles/s41... this one is interesting because it demonstrates how urban noise has an effect on people’s mental health. Trees definitely provide buffering against noise pollution.

Birdsongs alleviate anxiety and paranoia in healthy participants - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - Birdsongs alleviate anxiety and paranoia in healthy participants

That is just one article and we could use more studies for sure. But there are many studies that support the link between tree canopy and health. Here’s another which studies birdsong and its impact vs urban noise. Tree canopy is directly correlated to more birds. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

How developers helped shape Seattle’s controversial tree protection ordinance Urban tree advocates question builders’ behind-the-scenes role

www.investigatewest.org/news/how-dev...

Heat-Related Deaths Are Rising. Here's How Cities Can Keep Residents Safer Planting more trees helps reduce the deadly effects of heat waves, one study finds

time.com/6252307/plan...

Multiple health benefits of urban tree canopy: The mounting evidence for a green prescription The purpose of this study was to enhance the understanding of the health-promoting potential of trees in an urbanized region of the United States. Thi…

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

If the same amount housing can be built while also saving the tree on the lot, doesn’t that make sense? People are getting the same amount of housing and less pollution.

I believe it used to, but changed in 2023. As far as I know, the new tree ordinance is pretty deceptive. www.investigatewest.org/investigatew...