Nebraska City is most famous for being the home of J. Sterling Morton, founder of Arbor Day.

As you can imagine, trees are a big part of the city. Of course, just having lots of trees around, many varieties, parks, orchards, and so on. But trees are also a large part of the city commerce. Without trees, the city would not be what it is. It provides a reason for people to come to the city, a reason for visitors to spend money, thus the trees help to create businesses, to create jobs, which then allow people to care for themselves and their families. Granted, there’s a lot more to Nebraska City than trees and Arbor Day, but certainly trees are the big thing.

What I found interesting to observe was the dynamic in Nebraska City of how they regarded trees. They were not holy objects, they were not held above all, but they were respected and well-regarded because they are an important resource in many regards. They could not waste trees, they could not harm trees, trees had to be cared for and managed because without them there’d be no way to take care of themselves and their families. The people must be good stewards of the trees. They cared for the trees and the trees cared for them.

I contrast this with living in Austin.

Here, trees are holy objects, to be hugged and held above all. A large branch falls and critically injures someone in Zilker Park. The city, concerned with public safety, opts to have the trees in the parks reviewed and anything unsafe trimmed or removed. The response? The huggers freak-out, city back-pedals, call for review, many trees that should have been removed due to safety concerns are not removed; around 30 trees were to be removed, but only 5 were due to the outcry. As a result, many unsafe trees remain, and just a short while later one falls but thankfully no one was hurt.

Austin can sometimes be like this:

Yes, I’m fond of capitalism. Yes I like money. Yes I like trees. I understand the importance of trees. If we do not take care of the trees we are only going to hurt ourselves in the long run. We need to have balance, we need to take care of the trees so that the trees can take care of us. The way J. Sterling Morton works it? That’s a lot more reverence for trees than what I see around Austin.