A group of doctors has issued a dire health warning about the lack of trees Western Sydney.
Doctors for the Environment is highlighting the 20-degree temperature difference on two neighbouring streets in Toongabbie — all thanks to extra shade — to prove its point.
The organisation’s Dr Cybele Dey said “trees can be the difference between life and death”.
“People are dying from heart attacks and heat exhaustion and from complications of medications at high temperatures is happening a bigger scale than people realise. It’s a silent killer,” The organisation’s Dr Cybele Dey said.
“Trees can be the difference between life and death.”
On a scorching summer’s day two weeks ago the doctors compared the temperatures of two parallel streets in Toongabbie.
The surface of Bulli Road with hardly any trees hit 49 degrees as just 100 metres away on Favell Road, which is lined with mature shady trees, the mercury reached 29.
With so many new suburbs stripped of trees, the doctors are concerned people will be left isolated in air-conditioned cocoons.
It’s not great for the environment or their mental health.
The doctors group has teamed up with the World Wide Fund for nature to highlight the ecological and health benefits of trees.
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