Some losses are painfully easy to measure – getting laid off from one’s job, the death of a loved one, or the decline of mental and physical capacities as we grow older.

But how do we measure the incremental, bit-by-bit loss of the natural world? By the number of glasses of polluted water no longer fit to drink? By the number of acres of open space and prime farmland paved over for residential development and shopping malls? By the number of animal and plant species that have disappeared from the face of the Earth forever? Or do we measure the number of corporations that lied to us when they promised not to harm the environment? Or by some city council members who voted to sell off their cities’ natural resources? Or by the carbon released back into the atmosphere when a 4ft diameter tree is cut down?

And how do we measure the loss of 240 trees lining the streets of Oroville? As for me, I measure such loss by the lengths to which a small band of people will go to save even a single tree, and by the tears cried by an older gentlemen back home, in the kitchen, telling his wife about the 4 trees lining the Oroville Cemetery that he saw PG&E cut down.

[Below is the story, in photos, of the Oroville trees and their human protectors.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Epilog:  As of 1/30/15, the last 9 trees are still standing and the people are still standing in front of them. However, I got word PG&E will return on Monday, Feb. 2, 6:00a.m. to cut them down. Please show up if you can to stand in solidarity with the trees and the people.

Chico and Paradise people beware!  PG&E has plans to cut down trees in your towns too.