We are a concerned group of sixth graders from the Smith College Campus School.
We would like to address our concerns regarding the tree whose fate is in limbo on South East Street in Amherst. The tree is perfectly healthy and will most likely not fall. It’s healthy, thus sturdy, and has been growing for many years.
It is as likely to fall and injure or kill somebody as it is if the lights in your office fell and injured or killed you. The Amherst tree warden has approved it as healthy, and he is a reliable source.
Which should we put first, the environment, or transportation which is polluting and destroying our earth? Why should we be destroying our environment, just to pollute our fragile earth? If we pollute the earth too much, the earth itself will die. We will be the ones having to find a new planet!
What we are really trying to say is that it’s not fair to cut down a healthy tree for no reason. We don’t want the tree to die unjustly, nor all the animals and insects that are living in the tree. Is it fair to have a genocide of these organisms because the tree has a 0.01% chance of falling?
Thank you for hearing our concerns. We hope many people will realize that we need this tree more than we need the road.
Julia AlbroFisher, Madeleine Kruckemeyer, Emery Meroni, Angelina Miller, and Maxwell Schneider are students at Smith College Campus School.