A Letter to the Editor in the Aug. 27, 2013, Tomahawk Leader:
The new Merrill Walmart parking lot fails in green space. The first parking lot was a drab blazing hot asphalt island parking lot like any big city parking lot. It looks like the new parking lot will be another asphalt island. Take pride in Merrill’s green space.
To the great people of Merrill and Lincoln County we need your help now. Ask the mayor before it’s too late to support tree rows in every lane at the new Walmart. Tree row lanes should be standard in all large parking lots, main city streets and shopping centers. T.B. Scott Library parking lot is a good example of a tree row lane.
Temperatures in parking lots can reach 135 degrees and cars 120 degrees. Research shows trees can lower temperatures over asphalt, concrete and steel. We need more trees to shade hot areas. Babies and 1,000s of pets die in overheated cars in parking lots every year from heatstroke. Two babies died in an overheated car in a Walmart parking lot in Arkansas. Shaded trees might have saved their lives. Out west during a rain storm 1,500 birds mistakenly took a Walmart parking lot for a lake and crashed and died. Trees are the air conditioners of the world and improve our air quality, remove pollutants, break down chemicals, release oxygen and remove tons of carbon dioxide.
Reported by N.O.A.A. carbon dioxide levels are at the highest level in millions of years. With the rise in carbon dioxide you could have more respiratory problems.
Merrill is called the city of parks. Parking lots should look like a park with rows of trees. The miracle of trees give us shade, beauty, the air we breathe. if we let them they could even save our environment.
Call Mayor Bialecki at 715-536-5595 now in support of tree rows in every lane at the new Merrill Walmart.