- Indian cities like Bengaluru are facing rising temperatures due to the Urban Heat Island effect
- Concrete, less tree cover, pollution, and AC emissions increase urban heat by 2 to 10 degrees Celsius
- A Bengaluru resident shared photos of 20-year-old trees cut down to protect parked cars from leaves
Indian cities, including traditionally mild Bengaluru, are experiencing rapidly rising temperatures due to the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, which elevates urban temperatures by up to two degrees Celsius to 10 degrees Celsius. This extreme warming is largely caused by concrete infrastructure, reduced tree cover, vehicular pollution, and air conditioning emissions that trap heat during the day and release it at night. This environmental crisis was recently documented in a viral social media post by a Bengaluru resident, who shared before-and-after photos of their housing society, revealing that twenty-year-old trees were cut down simply to shield parked cars from falling leaves.
The resident detailed that the beautiful-looking bougainvillaea trees in their society's driveway were mercilessly chopped by some "politically connected" neighbours.
"Politically connected neighbours in our building chopped down all the bougainvillaeas in our society's driveway without informing anyone," the user wrote in a Reddit post.
"We woke up this morning to find this barren, lifeless hellscape where we once had a beautiful row of creepers that have been here for over 20 years."
The resident said the neighbours neither sought any permission nor offered any apology for their 'disgusting' behaviour. "No remorse. No consent. No apologies and nothing we can do. Disgusted by the mentality of some people," they added.
Check The Viral Post Here:
Neighbours chop down 20+ year old trees to protect cars from "leaves". Disgusted.
by u/EnvironmentalLet6245 in bangalore
'What An L Move'
As of the last update, the post had garnered nearly eight thousand upvotes as social media users slammed the residents for acting selfishly and destroying nature.
"What an L move. Is it really for the fallen leaves? Cause now the direct sunlight will damage car paint," said one user, while another added: "Only when the last tree has been cut down, the last fish been caught, and the last stream been poisoned, will we realise we cannot eat money."
A third commented: "Dude, I lived in Koramangala and Indiranagar. Do you remember the monstrous trees that used to exist there? Almost 90% of them are missing now. No govt agencies cut them; it was mostly residents who wanted additional parking in front of their gates who cut them off. Some were so massive that they poisoned them first and then cut them."
A fourth said: "Very sad man, these pricks aren't even capable of raising a plant for a week, and they dare to cut them like this. Humans are the cruellest beings on earth. Very sad to see the pathetic view of the road now."
