A Louisiana town recently lost what one Reddit user is claiming to be a more than 280-year-old tree to accommodate a new Chick-fil-A.
LABoy12 posted a haunting photo of a tree stump with a makeshift paper headstone reading, "RIP Picadilly Oak, 1750-2024." A second photo shows flowers left at the base of the stump like a memorial, along with a picture of the Lorax and the word "Unless." This is a nod to the popular Dr. Seuss book and its line, "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."
In the original post, which appeared on the r/extremelyinfuriating subreddit, LABoy12 said that the tree sat on a lot that was once owned by a restaurant called Picadilly, which had gone out of business.
"The lot sat vacant for years," they said. "There had been rumblings that something new was being built there, and then this just happened. No warning, no opportunity for protest. The tree was a registered historic landmark but there was no specific ordinance protecting it."
Losing a tree means losing all of the benefits it provides, including clean air, habitat for animals and shade. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, spending time around trees reduces stress and anxiety, lowers blood pressure, and improves mood. Plus, a recent study found that exposure to residential greenery — including trees — could delay cognitive aging by about eight months each year.
Luckily, a number of people and organizations are doing their part to re-tree the planet. For instance, one startup is using drones to drop tree seeds in hard-to-reach areas of Brazil's forests. Meanwhile, the search engine Ecosia has planted more than 150 million trees through the power of internet searches.
As for the deceased Louisiana tree, "This is an instance where the local government failed to have proper protections in place from multiple levels," one commenter claimed.
"There should be federal laws against cutting down trees that predate the Constitution," another person chimed in.
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