When you find yourself in Kyrgyzstan after the huge cities of the north of the continent, you are amazed at how different are the trees here that are called the same as there.
Schrenk spruce, which mainly grows in the Tian Shan mountains, is a huge, straight, but not bushy tree. The top of an adult tree reaches almost the height of a multi-storey building, and it almost does not spread out in width. Poplar in the north, except for rare park silver specimens, is considered an almost “trash” tree for urban greening – its branches are brittle, and its immunity poorly withstands the pressure of the urban environment. So, in the summer, when the leaves increase the sail area, the broken large branches can injure pedestrians from the squally wind. And here the poplar is huge, its trunk forms an almost perfectly even circle in circumference, and the branches are quite strong.
“Karakol was a city of poplars”
Previous mayors allowed them to be cut down thoughtlessly. Now, the public position has become more active, and people have realized that the lack of greenery is at least all the dirt in the air. The infectious ward is full of children. Now they have planted some greenery, and this is also a long-term perspective. Karakol was a city of poplars. We raise these issues regularly at the mayor’s office.
Margarita
Objectively, there are quite extensive green areas around Karakol, including all the surrounding mountains, and the evaporations from the lake are considered beneficial. However, the residents, especially those who are focused on health issues, occasionally complain about illness. It can be said that the COVID and post-COVID seasons have filled the infectious disease departments with patients almost everywhere. The most significant real impact on the health of local residents is the burning of household waste with elements of plastic or rubber in stoves during the cold season. The second factor is the prevalence of motor vehicle traffic, which is used for almost all travel in the country by anyone who is even slightly affluent.
Urban trees not so much “combat pollution,” but rather reduce the sharpness of temperature changes between day and night and lower the stress levels of city dwellers. In turn, these two factors do indeed have a significant impact on the immune system.
The most significant positive impact on urban ecology and energy independence would be the widespread adoption of pellet boilers in private households, coupled with the opening of pellet-granule production facilities, using both coal and what is commonly known as “plant waste” – agricultural waste, stems, and branches of long-felled trees. In addition, the development of convenient public transportation would also be crucial.
