Those who have memorized the list of 29 benefits related to planting trees (and those who read “Islands of cool shade PT 1”) already know why grandson Ollie and I appreciated walking on Ferguson Place and Elmwood Avenue the other day when temperatures hit - what felt like - the high 150s.
Those that don’t know, here is benefit #11 under the heading ‘Why Plant a Tree?’:
“Shade from trees cools hot streets and parking lots. Cities are "heat islands" that are 5 - 9 degrees hotter than surrounding areas. And cities spread each year.” (‘Plant a Tree’ link)
The sidewalk on the north side of Ferguson Place (a one block long street just south of Grand Avenue and off Ridout St.) offered refuge from the hot, unshaded pavement on Ridout. The adjacent boulevard supported 11 medium-sized maples, all in a row, that provided - go ahead, count ‘em - 11 lovely islands of shade.
["Eleven islands of shade, Ferguson Pl., north side. Who can beat that?"]
(I returned to the short street yesterday with my camera. I counted 12 medium-sized maples in the south boulevard. That’s 23 trees within 200 meters. That’s got to be some kind of Forest City record, right?)
["Twelve in a row, Ferguson Pl., south side. Some kind of record.": photo GH]
After our brain pans returned to a comfortable temperature we began playing a funny game.
When we stepped under a tree I’d say, “Aahh, such lovely shade.” Ollie would smile or giggle.
When we returned to the glare Ollie would say, “Sun!” And I would quicken my pace, and huff and puff for Ollie's sake. (Oh, that was funny all right, at least to a four-year old).
The shade actually did cool us off. But, enough to make Ollie forget we were on our way to Les’ Variety in Wortley Village for a grape freezie-pop?
No. However, I’d estimate (for some reason) that the shade was 5 - 9 degrees cooler than the sunny bits on the sidewalk and 20 degrees cooler than the tarmac street.
Shortly thereafter, we passed a woman walking her dog on Elmwood Avenue.
As we made room for one another on the sidewalk she said, “We’re walking from one island of shade to the next today.”
“So are we,” I said. Though I hadn’t memorized the 29 benefits of trees I knew what she was talking about.
Later still, with Ollie enjoying his grape freezie, we walked past several relatively young pin oaks and single gingko tree lining the edge of the Valu-Mart parking lot (it was a real scorcher there too) and saw a woman standing inside an island of cool shade while waiting for the Westmount bus.
Is London, or Deforest City (as it’s labelled at times), with a lower percentage of tree coverage than many other cities in Canada, becoming more of a “heat island” with every passing year? I’m not sure.
But I bet many Londoners would benefit from a larger number of shade islands. They might also think that the challenge to plant one million trees during the next ten years is sounding better all the time.
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Please click here to read “Islands of cool shade PT 1.”
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