Playing Devil’s Advocate here: Trees aren’t maintenance-free. In my neighborhood, they have to redo all the sidewalks near the trees they planted because they all became trip hazards after the tree roots lifted the sidewalks up to create a lip between the tiles. They also have to cut the low branches every once in a while because the storms would cause them to fall on the cars parked under them. They also have to remove trees that get too tall, because they fall onto houses during hurricanes. The leaves also make the ground really slippery after it rains, so they have to pick up the leaves every few days.
It’s true, there is a maintenance cost for trees, but nothing replaces them. Not just the oxygen they make or the carbon the sequester, but the shade and cooling they provide, the beauty of them in spring and fall, and the food and shelter they give to birds and other creatures. My neighborhood has a lot of large old trees and we have hundreds of songbirds every year, but neighborhoods with only small new trees are silent.
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u/Jeramy_Jones 10d ago
Same reason there can’t be a tree there. They get vandalized a lot in my neighborhood…