There’s one citizen who’s made a name for himself preserving Nashville’s urban trees. He calls himself the Lorax of Nashville, for he speaks for the trees.
Jim Gregory lives in East Nashville and is alarmed at the rate of tree canopy loss in his neighborhood. “There is a noticeable amount of mature trees being cut down and either not being replaced or being replaced with something that does not have a tree canopy,” he told The Tennessean. He’s especially concerned about developers who are in it for the money — and who only care about the trees when money is involved, he claims. In an Instagram post, Gregory wrote, “Developers do not understand neighborly love, but they do understand money and that’s the language we had to speak with them.”
In addition to looking out for the trees of his neighbors and future neighbors, he’s done a little reforestation of on his own property:
Head on over to Jen Todd’s piece in The Tennessean for the whole story.