Growing up as a low-income immigrant child, Seattle’s trees have been a wonder and a rare luxury for me, so our City Council’s recent canopy damage ordinance comes as a shock and disappointment. Did these people grow up in the same Seattle as I did?
by Susan Su
The recent Seattle tree ordinance — an update of the existing ordinance that was last amended in 2009 — poses the greatest threat to urban tree canopies we’ve seen in decades. Instead of protecting trees, the tree ordinance allows developers to remove all trees from all lots citywide, except for a few hundred trees previously designated as monument trees. This puts over 80% of Seattle’s canopy at risk, which has already seen a steep decline to Los Angeles levels. Under the guise of protection, access to environmental justice – and a just future for our children – is at risk. But we can hope for better things: save trees, create homes and inspire a generation that believes in “both and” not “either/or”.
This is a personal story about how tree equality shaped my childhood and inspired my career in the fight for climate justice for all.
My parents immigrated to Seattle from Chongqing, China in the mid-1980s after my father took the opportunity to take a rare trip to America as a student translator and fell in love at first sight. We recently found some old photos he took back then – not of his wife, his young daughter or even himself, but of America’s grocery shelves, its fruit and vegetable stacks and its seafood displays. “Look at all this, you can get it any day of the week!” He wrote to my mother at the time.
I grew up on a low income and attended a Church-run preschool, where I spontaneously learned English. Later, in public school, I relied on the free and discounted lunch program. Space was limited in the units we rented, but I was always close to my parents and, moreover, being in the back of the property our building was on felt like my own forest.
As a child, the trees were a balance for me. We didn’t have money for ski trips to Stevens Pass or Whistler, but we had the public library and a cool retreat with mature trees right on our property. As an adult who knows a little bit more about how the world works, it was a sad disappointment to see our city council’s anti-equality – and, frankly, suspicious – opposition to the basic concept of tree justice at a place called “The Emerald City.” ’, which prides itself on its inclusive, progressive policies.
Now that I’m a mother myself and have a career as a climate investor and non-profit advisor that I love, it was shocking for me to witness the duality: we say we care about climate change and environmental justice, but we give at the same time green light for the removal of our best – to date, it’s our only scalable method for carbon removal, temperature reduction, air filtration and storm mitigation, an all-in-one defense against the looming onslaught of urban heat islands, asthma-inducing air quality and the now coming 1000 years -Floods every year. The worst impacts are hitting marginalized communities, the people who couldn’t cool off by going to the mountains or taking a boat trip on the lake.
I was wondering: did our Seattle leaders grow up in the same Seattle that I did? Perhaps they had more resources to enjoy mountain excursions or more exotic experiences, and perhaps lost the value of the humble backyard tree. Trees do so much for us, from reducing extreme heat to mitigating storm drains to reducing the incidence of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and asthma.
In treeless neighborhoods, which tend to be lower-income and historically had limited areas, temperatures are an average of 9 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than affluent, tree-covered neighborhoods in the same city. When temperatures hit the mid-80s, that’s an inconvenience. But when they hit the mid-1990s, that’s a tenfold magnification of the challenges our lower-income communities already face on a daily basis.
Yes, trees do incredible services for our physical health and city resilience, but that’s not all. While futuristic direct air capture machines could one day lower CO2 levels again and eventually trigger cooling, even the best direct air capture facility will not be able to offer children a place to hide and explore to imagine they were in a castle rather than going to the side courtyard of their apartment complex to seek shade on an unseasonably hot afternoon.
Everyone deserves tree justice. Everyone deserves to have mature trees to give us shade, clean our air, protect us and heal our hearts, just like they did for me as a low-income immigrant child. And not just small, ornamental trees planted last year to compensate for a clear-cut, but the original and majestic native trees that give us a sense of place, time and timelessness.
I couldn’t go on ski trips to Snoqualmie or summer vacations in Chelan like some of my classmates, but I always had the green space by Thornton Creek or the trees in the backyard of my North Seattle apartment building. This is tree justice: trees for everyone, whether rich or poor, owner or renter, young or old.
As a new mom and a climate activist, I want to keep that promise to the children of my son’s generation, regardless of income or background, and I hope that the Seattle City Council will consider that future over the short term of higher profit margins for a year to pick a few .
Across the country and for decades, home builders have systematically weaponized the housing affordability crisis to combat climate change, energy efficiency, and even basic security and consumer protection. Developers and real estate investors have struck an emotional nerve, reducing the complexities of capital markets, foreign buyers and strained supply chains – the real culprits of our real estate crisis – to a “gotcha” that allows them an uncontrolled, uncertain and regressive development that will continue for the next 30 years Years of lower energy standards, higher emissions and more heat mean, probably longer.
What they lack is the “as well as”. It is not about housing or trees, but about housing and tree justice. Those who deny the feasibility speak of profit margins that benefit the few at the expense of the many. And yet housing is a public good – just like electricity, safe roads and healthcare. Those involved in this business should follow basic guidelines that ensure justice for all, including future generations. When their own morals fall short, the legislature should step in to show them the way.
There’s a reason every utopian depiction of a futuristic city is covered in green: We humans inherently know that we need trees to survive – not just “out there” where access to them is becoming less and less, but everywhere and before all right here in our own backyards.
This update to the existing tree ordinance is an affront to the Emerald City and its diverse residents, and a covert gift to private interests who rob our city of its collective riches in the name of personal gain. Let’s remember what Seattle was during our inevitable next heat wave and during the November city council election — and what it could still be.
The South Seattle Emerald is committed to creating space for diverse viewpoints within our community, with the understanding that diverse perspectives do not negate mutual respect among community members.
The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the contributors on this site do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of Emerald or Emerald’s official policies.
Susan Su is a climate venture investor focused on backing technologies to solve climate change and advisor to several climate-focused non-profit organizations. She is also a mother and lives in Seattle. Find her on LinkedIn and Substack.
? Featured image: Aerial view of Rainier Avenue South overlooking downtown. (Photo: Alex Garland)
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