Love Thy Neighbor's Trees
Once I became a homeowner, I've tried to be a good neighbor. I can't say that I'm friends with everyone, nor do I even know half, but I try not to be a dick. While I don't necessarily agree with what some of them do with their yards, it's not my yard so it's really none of my business.
For example, my neighbor to the south cleared out the last vestiges of "forest" in his yard because he wasn't getting enough sunlight (thus heat) on his pool. I thought this was stupid as the remaining trees were east of the pool and downhill so they only blocked very early morning light. Still, it's his yard. He's a good guy and very helpful. Of all my neighbors, I get along with him the best.
Another neighbor had a tree at the edge of his yard get knocked over by a storm and fell into the woods of my yard. Several months later, since he hadn't made any effort to cut it up, I went over to his house and asked him if he minded if I cut it up for use in my wood stove. He immediately said that I could have it.
But out in Sunnyvale, California, people aren't so neighborly. CNN did a story about a guy who took his neighbor to court because his trees were blocking his solar panels. The online article lacks the punch of the TV story. This guy covered every square foot of the roof of his huge house with solar panels. I'm not exaggerating. Except for a thin border on each section, it was all solar panels.
Since the yards are so small, his neighbor's redwoods, which were planted years before the panels were installed, shade part of his house and thus the solar panels. Not the entire house, just a small part of it. The solar panel guy sued him under this obscure California law entitled "The Solar Shade Control Act."
He won.
Tree guy spent $37,000 defending himself and can't afford to appeal.
So while trees suck carbon dioxide out of the air, solar panel guy says that his $70,000 worth of photovoltaics prevent more of it from being released. I'm all for solar power. If I could afford it, and it was practical (too many trees and it's New England - not the sunniest of places), I'd throw them up on my roof. But by solar panel guy's logic, we should cut down all our forests and replace them with solar panels.
Solar panel guy fails to realize that the trees provide: shade, which cools the surrounding air by several degrees and prevents soil moisture loss, soil stability (read: erosion prevention), homes for birds (I expect him to sue the birds for crapping on his panels), and oxygen to breathe. The latter desperately needed to counter the hot air spewed by solar panel guy.
\_/
DED
For example, my neighbor to the south cleared out the last vestiges of "forest" in his yard because he wasn't getting enough sunlight (thus heat) on his pool. I thought this was stupid as the remaining trees were east of the pool and downhill so they only blocked very early morning light. Still, it's his yard. He's a good guy and very helpful. Of all my neighbors, I get along with him the best.
Another neighbor had a tree at the edge of his yard get knocked over by a storm and fell into the woods of my yard. Several months later, since he hadn't made any effort to cut it up, I went over to his house and asked him if he minded if I cut it up for use in my wood stove. He immediately said that I could have it.
But out in Sunnyvale, California, people aren't so neighborly. CNN did a story about a guy who took his neighbor to court because his trees were blocking his solar panels. The online article lacks the punch of the TV story. This guy covered every square foot of the roof of his huge house with solar panels. I'm not exaggerating. Except for a thin border on each section, it was all solar panels.
Since the yards are so small, his neighbor's redwoods, which were planted years before the panels were installed, shade part of his house and thus the solar panels. Not the entire house, just a small part of it. The solar panel guy sued him under this obscure California law entitled "The Solar Shade Control Act."
He won.
Tree guy spent $37,000 defending himself and can't afford to appeal.
So while trees suck carbon dioxide out of the air, solar panel guy says that his $70,000 worth of photovoltaics prevent more of it from being released. I'm all for solar power. If I could afford it, and it was practical (too many trees and it's New England - not the sunniest of places), I'd throw them up on my roof. But by solar panel guy's logic, we should cut down all our forests and replace them with solar panels.
Solar panel guy fails to realize that the trees provide: shade, which cools the surrounding air by several degrees and prevents soil moisture loss, soil stability (read: erosion prevention), homes for birds (I expect him to sue the birds for crapping on his panels), and oxygen to breathe. The latter desperately needed to counter the hot air spewed by solar panel guy.
\_/
DED
Labels: our_insane_world
posted by DED at 1:55 PM
2 Comments:
I swear the fucking Nazis usurp every good idea that comes along.
And of course Wingnuts will use this guy or someone like him to condemn "Environmentalists," by portraying them as lunatics.
What an asshole. Wow.
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