These vigilantes compensate for the Government’s inaction by “freeing” trees with sledgehammers.
While riding his electric skateboard through a neighborhood in southern City ofMexicoArturo Hernández detects a possible target for your next action and uploads a photo to social networks asking his followers for help.
A couple of days later, he and several of them are pounding with mallets a thick layer of concrete that is suffocating the roots of an ash tree when a couple of police officers arrive and ask for a permit.
“We don’t need permits to free the tree“Hernández says to one of the agents with a smile. “It’s as if they were asking me for permission to pick up trash on the street.” The agent responds with his own smile, turns to his partner and they walk away. The hammering subsides. resume.
This is the ‘Tree Army’ and Hernández is its commander.
What is the ‘Tree Army’ of Mexico City?
Hernandez, a community activist who developed a large following after years of addressing the city’s problems in humorous online posts, launched the ‘Tree Army‘ in response to growing complaints from his followers about the vandalized trees in their neighborhoods.
They are mission es protect and improve the urban forest of Mexico City, whether removing unauthorized concrete, tackling illegal logging or plantingtrees in needy areas.
“I always tell people that if we can’t take care of the tree in front of our house, how can we expect to save a place like the Amazonas“,” says Hernández.
Trees are essential in cities, where they provide refreshing shade, reduce pollution and contribute to creating green spaces. They absorb water and help prevent floods at a time when climate change is causing heavier rains.
All this is especially welcome in Mexico Citywho has suffered floods in recent weeks and who suffers from serious air pollution in a metropolitan area that is home to about 22 million people.
Supporters follow the ‘Army of Trees’ on social networks
The launch of the ‘Army of Trees’ was a paso natural for Hernández, who a decade ago founded The Supercivicsa social media campaign that addresses community issues through humor and the satire.
In the videos of Los Supercívicos, Hernández appears, for example, mocking cars that obstruct bike lanesdoing parodies on the subway to promote voter participation and returning trash to those who throw it on the street.
According to Hernández, each of his first ‘Army of the Tree’ videos had more than 100,000 visits. The “Army” itself is small – an informal group of five or six peopleamong environmental activists, arborists and residents – but Hernández is always quick to recruit passersby Let them help you with a mallet or in any other way. It also has a GoFundMe page to raise funds.
Fight against tree vandalism in Mexico City
Hernández says he has responded to a dozen cases of tree vandalism since you created the group, and now you receive more than 15 messages a day of people reporting vandalized trees throughout the city.
Among the most common complaints include the tree felling by companies to improve their visibility, incorrect pruning of trees and pouring concrete at the base of trees, perhaps to add parking or avoid headaches such as picking up dog droppings or rubbish.
Hernández explained that the ash tree he and his followers were trying to free was suffering from the consequences of the concrete that a nearby food preparation business had poured over its roots. to add parking to delivery motorcycles. Workers at the business declined to comment to an AP reporter.
ADVERTISINGAfter 20 minutes of intense hammering, the roots of the tree began to appear through the broken concrete. A neighbor brought water to the workers, who took a sip, wiped their brows, and went back to hammering. Some people passing by became interested in the action and began to approach.
An activist work that seeks to compensate for the lack of management of urban forests
Not everyone supports the work of the ‘Tree Army’. Hernandez said that They have persecuted and threatened him. She says that always deal with negative encounters with humor and sees them as an opportunity to educate those who oppose his work. “We call ourselves ‘Tree Army’ because sometimes there are battles,” he says.
María Toledo Garibaldi, postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute of Ecology (INECOL) and expert in urban trees, praised the work of the ‘Tree Army’ and stated that this type of groups supplement the government inaction.
“I think it’s important that authorities start establishing clearer and stricter rules about what can be cut, what can be pruned, what can be planted and where it can be planted,” Garibaldi said. The city should establish a management plan of the urban forests he added.
ADVERTISINGThe city’s Environment Secretary said the city has developed programs to take care of the treesbut that care along secondary roads depends on the different municipal governments.
When the ash tree was finally concrete freethe ‘Tree Army’ loaded the debris onto a truck to take it away, then they applauded and exchanged hugs in the shade of the tree.
Humberto Cruz, a resident of the neighborhood, had joined the action after seeing Hernández’s call on social networks. “I have a son and I want the best for him. One of the few things I can do is take care of environment for him. He is the future and he is going to be able to enjoy this,” Cruz said, pointing to the ash tree.
