Essay by Eric Worrall
h/t CTM; Australia, Victoria, Melbourne – another case of destroying trees to save nature?
Councils fell trees to make room for Australia Post’s new electric vehicles
By Cara Waters
December 18, 2022 — 1.52pmMelbourne councils are chopping down trees and removing vegetation from footpaths to make way for Australia Post’s new environmentally friendly fleet of electric delivery vehicles, angering some residents who say they want more green spaces, not fewer.
Merri-bek, Darebin and Stonnington councils have removed tree branches along footpaths in response to Australia Post rolling out 500 electric trikes, replacing the old motorbikes, in Victoria in May.
An Australia Post spokesman said the 3125 electric trikes being driven nationally were helping the organisation achieve its goal of reducing emissions by 15 per cent by 2025, and improving postie safety by reducing motorcycle rounds.
…
In Melbourne’s south-east, the City of Stonnington said it had received more requests from Australia Post than normal over the past two years to cut back vegetation to accommodate its new vehicles.
The council could not provide exact figures but estimated it was about 30 to 50 requests per year.
…
Read more: https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/councils-fell-trees-to-make-room-for-australia-post-s-new-electric-vehicles-20221216-p5c6vm.html
The trees had another purpose besides beautifying the neighbourhoods.
While Melbourne is one of Australia’s colder cities, in Summer Melbourne can experience scorching heatwaves, days or even weeks of temperatures above 100F.
I remember being grateful for the continuous boulevards of trees on some streets providing welcome shade on hot days while walking or cycling in Melbourne. The trees also provided some protection from the weather in Melbourne’s windy and wet winter months, and of course, they provided a habitat for local birds.
Now the protection of the trees is being removed, there will be less protection from the elements for pedestrians – which will make driving an even more attractive transport option.
Of course, in newer neighbourhoods houses have been packed in tight, so there was less room for trees to start with. But as the picture at the top of the page shows, councils still made an effort even in high density neighbourhoods, at least they did until Australia Post caught the electric vehicle disease, and started bombarding councils with vegetation clearance orders.
I think it is important to note there are likely very few written orders which explicitly demand trees be removed – but in practical terms, tree removal seems to be the outcome. If this ever blows up in their faces, my guess is everyone will point to the ambiguities in the paper trail and claim their hands are clean.
But I doubt the architects of this situation have anything to fear. Modern greens don’t seem to care about protecting woodlands or urban trees, there is no wilderness they appear to be unwilling to sacrifice to further their goals of vehicle electrification, and covering the landscape with ugly renewable energy infrastructure.
With a few honourable exceptions Aussie greens have mostly stayed silent while entire old growth forests were butchered and the ground poisoned and concreted to make way for monstrous solar and wind farm installations. My guess is people who keep their mouths shut while vast stands of pristine ancient woodlands are desecrated are unlikely to get excited about the loss of some beloved urban trees.
Just remember, when virtue signaling, it is the thought that counts.
Considering they’re electric and as such quiet, I wouldn’t want to be a pedestrian trying to walk on the sidewalk and bump into one of these
I guess the Post gets the right of way and the pedestrian must jump into the prickly bush to yield
This is what the trike replaced.
Which one would you prefer to use to deliver the mostly small parcels that the mail service has become over recent years.
The trikes appear a far more practical vehicle for the way the postal service has evolved. The ability to stay upright without a stand is a plus. The improved weather protection a significant factor in Melbourne drizzle.
With the extra rubber, plastic and steel to make one? I just wonder if all that virtue signalling is worth cutting down the very thing that sequesters what they are trying to reduce…
But they chose trikes, which are notoriously instable in turns.
Probably not so much battery trikes. They should have a low centre of gravity and most weight over the rear axle.
So far no reports of rollover.
The Auspost motorbikes are a major cause of postal worker injuries.
better choice here
the Norwegian Paxster
Scam Alert!!!
Spam spam spam
No thought involved. It’s the “feelz” that counts.
Save a tree and get on your bike and just………….peddle!
Pedal?
Just be sure you have your license. You wouldn’t want to be arrested for peddling without a license
Paddle .
Don’t they tell us that the oceans are rising by 2100 or some time into the future .
What do you plan on selling?
Firewood – ethically sourced from renewable footpaths.
cut back vegetation to accommodate its new vehicles
How big are they and why?
If it’s a green policy/solution you can bet net zero thinking went into it. It’s the sum of the virtue signalled that counts.
Looking at that picture, that’s what I was wondering….if a bicycle or a scooter can fit down a sidewalk, then why not an electric version? Even assuming a basket or small trailer full of mail, it doesn’t make sense.
But, then again, lots of government and “green” projects make no sense at all!
My guess – and it’s only a guess based on observation – is the batteries dictate the size.
Mail deliveries have changed. Most of what they carry is small packages rather than letters. There is more bulk than in years past. The trikes are a more practical vehicle that can carry more before needing to return to the distribution box. I expect the trikes can carry more than the current distribution boxes.
I don’t know about Oz, but the packages the USPS are delivering range in size from large envelopes to boxes 3 feet square. Not much would really fit in those trikes.
Note near as bad as the radical “greenies” in Canberrra where they are taking a town of parkways and bike trails and low rise building and trying to make a high density European city out of it. To do so, they have taken the beautiful main highway into Canberra from Sydney, a divided road (not a freeway) with a huge median with mature trees, and then chopped down all the trees to put a light rail down the median. Then to support the light rail, they are building multi-story apartments all along the road.
“[9 SEPTEMBER 2012 T.V. FLASH ON ALL DIAL-A-PROGRAM SERVICES]
This is an announcement from Genetic Control:
“It is my sad duty to inform you of a four foot restriction on
Humanoid height.”
[EXTRACT FROM CONVERSATION OF JOE ORDINARY IN LOCAL PUBORAMA]
“I hear the directors of Genetic Control have been buying all the
Properties that have recently been sold, taking risks oh so bold
It’s said now that people will be shorter in height
They can fit twice as many in the same building site
(they say it’s alright)
If the tune escapes you….
Bet these radical greenies favourite films include Blade Runner, Metropolis and Soylent Green.
When is their “illness” syndrome going to be given a name?
Misanthropy (Self-loathing)
Climate paranoia
bolshevism
So Joni Mitchell was wrong, they don’t even bother with the tree museum.
I was so puzzled by this item I googled these electric postal trikes. Your article should make clear they are driven on the sidewalk not the road (at least that is what it looks like in the photos I found). Hence the need to remove the trees? (Driving on the sidewalk is already pretty obnoxious IMO.)
It is standard practice in Australia to have the mail box on the property line at the footpath. The trikes have replaced motorbikes, which were more ungainly because they require balancing.
Rick,
The light motor bikes can be fitted with a pair of trainer wheels at the rear, to allow them to stand easily when stopped.
As you know, Melbourne is in a the grip of a “hate all cars” movement, with local councils part of the lemming pack. Those numerous new bicycle lanes installed in the slow traffic time of Covid, are not “FOR” bicycles so much as “AGAINST” cars and trucks. Never mind that consequent lack of parking and goods delivery space is driving businesses broke faster than before. Cars and trucks emit CO2, end of argument.
What is not argued is that the electric scooters get 60% or so of their electricity from hydrocarbon fuels like brown coal, which also emit CO2. There is no proven justification to move from petrol bikes to leccy scooters in terms of CO2 generation, even if CO2 was one day proven to be harmful.
Geoff S
They are driven both on the road and sidewalks. They have indicators and lights. Many of our suburbs don’t have footpaths.
When driven on the road, seat belts are customary. Is there a problem with seat belts on and off at each letterbox that cannot be reached while seated? Or to access the box of parcels behind the driver? The whole scheme seems full of contradictions, but of course that is beaut for those who thrive on bureaucratic growth. Geoff S
Oh, good, I have been asleep, I have missed all the hoo-hah around Christmas and Ne’erday and woken up on the first of April.
Good grief, although it makes perfect sense…. they’re straight out of Mad Max
🙁
edit: (not obvious but the smiley contains a link)
Why are motorized vehicles being driven on sidewalks? That’s illegal in most countries for a good reason: pedestrian injuries. There must be a fascinating story here about how this stupendously bad idea was enacted.
Motorbikes have been used for mail delivery in Melbourne for decades. The trikes replace motorbikes. The trikes are more practical because they carry more. Most mail deliveries now are small parcels rather than letters.
Mobility scooters are just as big as the trike and they have been a feature on Australian footpaths and in shopping malls for decades:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/11747759/If-you-can-walk-do-you-need-a-mobility-scooter.html
In the US, mobility scooters typically go 3-4mph. Some will go as high as 8, at least the ones insurance will pay for.
I am going to move to Oz….and all freedom loving….non CO2 believers should join in….we can take over and have the ONE country in the world that is not controlled by the Left Wing idiots.
Poland, you could move to Poland
Isn’t Poland part of the EEEEW
They have a few already
Brazil
Russia
India
China
South Africa
Just to make e a few
You know it would only take 20 – 25 million of us to do that. This sounds like a really good idea. Maybe we add a few million for New Zealand as well.
In the linked-to article, the driver is ensconced in a putrid green hasmat suit.
This must be a dangerous occupation or, perhaps, maybe just in certain parts of specific cities.
Inquiring minds want to know.
John,
That hazmat it to conceal the gender of the driver, so Australia Post pays homage to equal job opportunities for male, female and whatever might be in-between. Notice how sexually alluring the scene is? Geoff S
If you leave the trees in place they become a fire hazard when the EV batteries spontaneously combust.
As Thomas Powell said – in the West we have spent the last 50 years replacing what works with what sounds good
and yet if you dare call someone retarded you get vilified…
That’s because they don’t like having their hypocrisy thrown in their faces
As we now know, the green movement is no longer about trees, it is only about socialism and control. So if people keep voting in green councils in Melbourne or green politicians in Australian states and at the federal level, we will loose more trees, more forests, more anything green in the name of international socialism and control.
Unfortunately the green blight has infested most countries .
As countries become more urbanized the majority of their populations have less and less contact with farming.
A lot of people might holiday in the country side or travel between cities but less and less have regular visits or contact with the people who provide them their food .
Greenpeace and green political parties seem to have a real hatred for farmers who provide their food. Why?
Maybe I am just a dumb farmer but can any one tell me how they are going to feed the world in the future with artificial food fermented in vats with some DNA from milk and meat to manufacture fake cheese and fake meat ?
The greens cut down trees when it suits them .
Here in New Zealand they have gone completely mad,encouraging overseas investors to buy up farmland to plant in pines which will never be harvested to earn carbon credits.
The majority the carbon credits will flow over seas as cash..
This is a criminal act against humanity as these farms stop producing food and fibre and with the our taxpayers paying for this stupidity.
The carbon credits will be sold to people who are using large amounts of fossil fuel flying around the world.
In 40 years time these forests will catch fire so then again we will all pay as our insurance premiums will all increase .
Its a loss -loss for every person in New Zealand .
Graham,
Their plan is for most of humanity to starve. We are the carbon they want to reduce.
It’s not just socialism & control. It is also doing something, anything, for the sake of doing something and calling it an improvement.
In Eugene Oregon they (the Transit District) removed a hundreds (maybe more than 1000?) to construct dedicated bus lanes. Received 80 million federal grant (the money is there and it has to be spent on something … ‘let’s do something’). Trees are replanted with the federal grant money; the City also gets mitigation cash for trees (that gets to be used subjectively) & everybody that gets to take a cut is happy.
They do like the control, and that leads to the socialist programs, but the needy feeling to improve ‘things’ also plays a big part.
The Green blight on green and carbon fields.
Scared the cords might get wrapped around the trunks?
“days or even weeks of temperatures above 100F”
Does it cool off at night, much?
Aka deforestation – bit like Carney’s company ravaging the Brazilian rain forest while he’s touting his green blob credentials
The postal service has changed dramatically over the last twenty years. Most of the deliveries are parcels now. These electric trikes only deliver small parcels and letters but have much better carrying capacity than a motor bike.
I have not asked a postie what they think about the trikes but they have some weather protection and look a more sensible vehicle for the job than the little motor bikes with outsize carry bags.
Councils are always trimming trees in Melbourne. Mostly those hanging over roads that trucks clip or trees interfering with power lines. So trimming trees to improve access along roadways and footpaths is nothing new. And this year has been a bumper year in Melbourne for trees. You can see them growing. A car left overnight under our wisteria will have vine wrapping around mirrors by morning.
This story is a beat-up.
Not happening on your street then, Rick?
Council trim trees all the time in our leafy street. Council last pruned my trees overhanging the road at the end of last summer.
I usually get one or two notes a year from AusPost to clear the wisteria that is on an arch over my driveway and ends up growing through the letterbox.
I doubt the trikes are taller than a grown man and I trim trees over the sidewalk so a parson does not have to duck.
The trikes look a much better purpose designed vehicle for what mail delivery has become. The motorbikes with huge saddle bags are more dangerous on the sidewalks for the driver as well as pedestrians. But scooters fling along footpaths at 40kph are lethal.
If anything, councils are reluctant to cut down trees that should be at least be trimmed to revent falling on houses and cars.
Rick,
On trees and roads in general, have you driven along Doncaster Road from the Eastern Freeway to Westfield Shoppingtown? Some bright spark a few years ago advocated native eucalypts in the narrow space between the up and down roadways, each 3 lanes. The roots of these gums have bulged, even tough the gums are only 15 years or so in age. The tarmac, instead of being safely level, now has a profile like a sine wave. At the right speed, your car can resonate and get thrown around unsafely.
The problem, as with this business of postie bikes, is lack of accountability. It will cost millions to tear down these young trees, replace the roads and so on. Yet, I see more trees planted nearby in the last few weeks.
Accountability. Who will pay for the tree removal and road works? Bet you a quid it will not be the bright idelogical spark who proposed or approved them, now showing a lack of qualifications to do that. She will escape with no punishment, is my bet, free to strike again
No, it will be the long-suffering taxpayer, as usual. The Man in the Street is being robbed blind by this generation of paddle-pops in governments. Geoff S
Rate payers if it was council. Taxpayer if it was State or Federal.
This puts the Auspost trike into perspective:
https://www.bikesales.com.au/editorial/details/e-trikes-deliver-for-australia-post-116899/
The trikes have three times the delivery capacity of the CT110. And imagine how appreciative posties are to have magpie protection.
Magpies are an Australian iconic bird. They breed families in a location over decades and get to recognise people but they are confused by helmets and are a hazard for anyone wearing a helmet on a bike.
As per the article, AusPost has only asked the councils to trim the trees, which seems quite reasonable.
Perhaps some councils have over-reacted.
Dan Andrews.
They voted him in, again. Shooting at unarmed protestors still has the support of the majority of the electorate, even after Covid lockdowns were exposed as a big propaganda exercise.
The so-called opposition were going even harder on solar and battery. At no stage through the election run-up did they condemn the Andrews’ Covid tactics.
At least PHON have a seat in the Victorian Council but there are four Greens there so Victoria is not going to change.
Not-fit-for-purpose trees were planted in urban areas either by land owners or the cities. There is a slow correction process underway.
One example: the wonderfully pretty Bradford Pear
The branches grow upright at a sharp angle.
As the limb and its bark grow, the joint is prone to splitting.
They are also prone to suckering.
Manual control is the only way of treating such issues, and
such is costly.
All the CO2 in the air makes the issues develop faster.
The solution is to plant better trees.
*There are some amazing videos of arborists removing problem trees.
Must be really short of gas-
https://www.msn.com/en-au/money/markets/national-native-title-tribunal-green-lights-santos-narrabri-gas-project-rejects-gomeroi-arguments/ar-AA15t4ka
Off to the High Court most likely as the usual suspects won’t take that lying down.
OTOH for sublime irony you’ll note the complaint about the lack of airconditioning and not getting proper whitefella culture-
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/state/nt/2022/12/19/class-action-over-uninhabitable-housing/
You can’t win with leftist victim/oppressor dichotomy without a lobotomy.
typical of green lunacy
remove trees
increase heat island
give the postie a pushbike and stop this BS
but what would you expect
how can a service company demand this they should be fined
For the life of me I just do not get that Postie’s on a trike with a cover frame are more at risk from a face slap from some tree/bush branch that when on a motorbike operating on the same footpath.
I have no problem with the electric trike idea, Postal and similar short haul deliveries are about one of the few applications for EVs that actually make sense, at least in Australia or similarly large land aea countries. Plug In hybrids are the logical option with an average daily use of about 32 km (2 miles) in urban areas according to the Australian Bureau if Statistics 2020 study. That implies a range of 100 or even 50 km would mean 80 to 90% of daily use would be battery only, much smaller batteries would be required and charging done via the normal 240 VAC system ( or 110 VAC in the US ).
Just more eco fundamentalism from the eco ayatollahs/preachers.
PS
Gaia uh akhbar!! Gaia uh Akbar!!