Women marry dozens of trees to prevent developers from chopping them off to build apartments

For years now people have been fighting to stop unnecessary cutting down of trees. To this end, they have resorted to many techniques, including marrying them. Yes, a group of 70 women has recently tied the knot with dozens of trees in a desperate attempt to prevent them from being chopped down and replaced with a prospective $75 million building site. The unusual incident unfolded at a caravan park, after developers were hoping to construct over 150 apartments in area. The brides used the marriage announcement to highlight how the city council were planning to chop down trees and build 166 apartments in its place. 

Women from different cultural backgrounds came together donning different wedding dresses to show they had married 74 trees. Through this unique event, organizer Siobhan Kierans hoped to send an important message that “trees are our partners for life.” One of the brides, Suzan Hackett said, “To get married to a tree is an absolute privilege.”

“It’s not just a sentimental gesture, it is highly significant and symbolic,” she explained. “Trees are pure examples of unconditional love, which fits in so beautifully with the whole idea of marriage. Marriage is for life, breathing is for life. Bristol needs mature trees more than it does luxury private housing.”

As for the City Council, it did not comment on the situation as the planning application is currently being considered. The application from Goram Homes and developers Hill has not been approved yet. Ut plants to build 166 homes, which would include 66 social and affordable housing. That being said, the owners of the Baltic Wharf Caravan Site, where the trees are located have already been served notice by the city council to leave. 

While the planning application acknowledged that some of the trees are required to be cleared, it has been severely criticized by the Save Baltic Wharf Trees group and the Bristol Tree Forum for its lack of transparency around the number of trees that will be felled in the process.

Professor John Tarlton, said, “Once the planning application has been approved, it is too late.” Tarlton, who wrote the “vows” on behalf of the tree and also served as the best man during the event, continued, “Nobody is going to reverse that decision. That’s it, the trees will go and there is very little we can do about it. We cannot afford to lose these 74 trees. It is an enormous number of mature trees and in a part of Bristol that needs them most.”

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