I think a tree hugger is me. It isn't like I'll never chop one down. I won't cut one down that that isn't sick or doing damage to something else. It takes too long to grow one.
I cut down a couple big maples when I moved in here that somebody let grow about 3' from the house. They were huge. I can't imagine what damage they had done to the stone foundation over the years. There's a 70' tall sweetgum that had been growing about 12' from the house. Again, foundation damage but worse yet the sweetgum balls constantly clogging the gutter have done more damage. Over the years it has caused basement flooding and water ingress to the back walls of the house.
My house has a flat roof with a parapet walls and a 20' stick of gutter across the back. All the water that falls on the house goes into that gutter but if it's clogged, the rain flows right over like a waterfall, down into the cellar stairwell overwhelming the drain. It was our first heavy rain after moving in. We had lots of unpacked boxes down there including old family photos that got ruined. I've had a love hate relationship with the tree ever since. It's a beautiful tree and the perfect compliment to the row of equally tall red oaks on the opposite side of the driveway but once the water started getting into the back wall I decided it had to go. I finally got the top taken down to roof height. No more gumballs on the roof but I'm waiting till spring to take it the rest of the way down so I can use it to grow mushrooms.
Trees in a forest that are growing too close together aren't doing each other any good so were another target on our farm.
Every year the utility co. trims trees that are too close to wires. They're really ugly and lopsided when they get done. I told them to just take the trees down if they're going to butcher them.
Half the people on my road top their trees every 2 or 3 years. A few of them have huge sycamores and they end up with standing bare logs. Then for the next couple years they look like they have afros. Really bad look for a tree. Why don't they just take the trees out and plant something that only gets as tall as they try to keep the sycamores?
That's my rant for the day.