UC & Qualcomm Destroy Trees and Data, Day after Earth-Day

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The Destruction of the Redwood Grove was the Destruction of Information

The destruction of the "More Redwoods, Less Surveillance" grove was the destruction of information.  On 4/23, the day after Earth Day, the Professional Tree Care Company (a company that gets more money removing trees than caring for them) cut down the redwoods behind Soda Hall, at UC Berkeley Campus at the request of UC regents and the executive director of Qualcomm.  All the trees in the grove were destroyed, even though the UC had given the impression that as per public input, redwoods would remain in the north-west corner of the site.  The information these trees had stored is lost, and there are no trees on site to maintain the continuity of information storage.

The university's campaign leading up to the development of the Paul Jacobs Design Institute (Jacobs Hall), a privatized tech design center, has been a campaign of disinformation.  The UC had been claiming that the trees are no older than 20 years old, as Soda Hall was inaugurated in 1994.  While redwoods were planted for Soda Hall's opening, there were two preexisting redwoods standing on the lot before Soda Hall was designed.  The ages of the 2 older trees have always been shrouded by uncertainty by the UC, although it is clear they were far older than the other trees, as they had much greater circumferences and heights.  The university had also called the health of the trees into question; Christine Shaff (UC Berkeley Facilities spokesperson) made a public statement that the development of the tech design center offered “an opportunity to replace trees that aren’t doing so well”.  However, the trees in the grove were healthy, and were doing fine through the drought.

Tree ring analysis would have determined the ages of the 2 larger trees in the grove, but the trunks of the trees were taken away to be turned into lumber; the tree stumps cannot be studied as they were ground into dust.  The data that would have determined the precise age of the trees is gone - the evidence removed by the university that never wanted the ages of the trees to be known.  The trees stored information about local weather and climate change over time.  The tree rings could have been studied to look at the effects of climate change on redwoods in Berkeley.  The health of the trees over time could have been determined.  However the information stored in the trees was discarded, as the lumber value was seen by the UC to be greater than the value of the data in the trees.

The trees never had to be cut for the $20 million dollar tech institute to be built.  There was, and still remains, an alternate lot next to the engineering library: a construction staging area used for development at Campbell Hall, a project which will be completed this year.  When Campbell Hall is complete, the staging area adjacent to the engineering library will be free; the UC currently has no plans for the space.  The staging area is larger than behind Soda Hall, and would not have necessitate the removal of trees; the lot is big enough that the construction could be done without disturbing the trees (oaks) that are around the lot.  The larger space could hold a larger building, giving the design program room to grow over time.  According to the university, the design institute is to be a multi-desciplinary program, inviting to students from different fields.  The current placement of the building is on the outer edge of campus, not quickly accessible to may students who have to take into account distance and time spent going between buildings when scheduling classes.  The staging area next to the engineering library is more central of a location; placement of the building at the spot would make it easier for students of non-EECS majors to participate in tech design courses.

The trees never had to be cut for the UC to have an innovative design program.  The grove could have served as a stage for design research.  Forest biometrics is a growing field of research, and the redwoods could have been platforms for new generation sensors monitoring tree growth and health.  New methods of carbon mapping could have been explored in the grove, as student studied the carbon sequestration of the grove.  Sensors for measuring the acidity and moisture levels of the soil could be studied.  The trees themselves could have offered inspiration for design.  There are various attributes of redwoods that could be studied for design projects: redwood branches have good tensile strength, the foliage of redwood trees block rain at their base, etc.  Even the birds that lived in the trees could have been part of the design program, with students making ornithological observations with new technology.

The grove should have been seen as a source of data to be researched for design innovation.  Instead, the UC regents and their partners at Qualcomm saw the grove as on obstacle to data research and technological design innovation.  The trees were destroyed, removing the record of data that was the grove.  no trees were preserved on the lot, as the public was lead to believe.  None of the trees were transplanted in other locations and there was no attempt by the UC to take cuttings from the trees to preserve their genetic legacy.  No core samples were taken, no cross-sections kept for study. It was a clear cut and data erasure.