The Senator is dead
Offline I live right down the road from this park. The tree was amazing. It was over 3500 years old, making it older than most religions.
At first they said it wasn't arson, but it was, we have had no lightning here for several months, but we have had plenty of light rain.
New reports appear to have a pile of burnt twigs at the base of the tree.
The park has been slated to close due to funding issues. There wasn't enough money to keep the park rangers or the visitor center so they have already closed it down.
I suspect that this large piece of land off a major road and near the site for the new light rail system was wanted by a developer. Talk was that no one was allowed to develop the land even if they closed down the park. The Senator was a national landmark and now with it gone the land could be developed.
There is a "sister" tree over 2,000 years old called Lady Liberty but it is off the beaten path and unaffected.
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012120116002
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That is an awful shame. A lost forever treasure. Such an example of the short sightedness of greed. It strikes me as an analogy of the economics of religion. As long as big money can be made off of it it will continue to exist.
Religion Kills !!!
Numbers 31:17-18 - Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.
http://jesus-needs-money.blogspot.com/
When is our species, if ever, going to realize that our planet is finite and our resources as well?
While the industrial revolution certainly boomed invention and created all sorts of things to make life better, it's downside is that we have become a species of carnivorous army ants bent on consuming. If we do not do a better job of conservation and planning, we will run out of resources AND wallow in our own filth, which seems to be where we are collectively headed.
We are still collectively, outside scientists who see the future, far to stuck on ideology, politics and boarders and religion. In the mean time our world's population is exploding and is consumer driven.
Our population is at 7 billion right now. What would our planet look like with 20 billion or 50 billion?
This is one tree and it is sad that this one tree as old as it was died. But there are far more trees around the world that become the products we used that simply are taken without being replaced creating less resources long term.
We ARE NOT above nature, we are merely one species WITHIN nature.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
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That's a real shame. I have no clue what would drive a person to even do such a thing -- eco-tourism is a growing business and building business =around= such an attraction would likely have been more profitable in the long run.
Not to excuse what happened, but I suspect they'll find that it wasn't arson, in the classic sense of someone intentionally putting fire to the tree to bring it down. The fire burned from the inside out, which means that the core of the tree was rotten. The news report says the tree was topped in a hurricane years ago. All it would have taken was a fire near the base and the chimney effect would have taken over -- healthy trees can't be set alight with twigs. If it was carelessness, and not malice, this just shows how important it is that people NOT go setting fires around trees without knowing what the hell they're doing. We lost millions of acres in Texas last summer, and many of those fires were set by campers.
"Obviously I'm convinced of the existence of G-d. I'm equally convinced that Atheists who've led good lives will be in Olam HaBa going "How the heck did I wind up in this place?!?" while Christians who've treated people like dirt will be in some other place asking the exact same question."
Yes, it was hollow inside. Cypress trees often do hollow out but they continue living on the outside. It's very common.
We are getting conflicting reports though the media. I have a request in to a friend who is high up the chain of command in the Seminole County Fire Department as well another friend in the Longwood Fire Department. I'll get word from them shortly about what they think happened.
There is some talk about friction causing the fire, but winds here have been very tame. They have confirmed it was not lightning.
http://www.wesh.com/r/30221278/detail.html
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/seminole/os-senator-cypress-tree-fire-20120116,0,6171920.story
I find it extremely suspicious that this tree was the sole reason why the land could not be developed. If you look at the map, the area is very large and off 17-92. It's a lot of land to develop.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=big+tree+park+longwood+fl&hl=en&ll=28.720512,-81.320972&spn=0.026759,0.038409&fb=1&gl=us&hq=big+tree...
And I forgot to mention, I'm no tree hugger, even though I am a bonsai artist (I find trees fascinating).
But people have done more than burned down trees in the past. People have poisoned them, cut them down, introduced boring insects to them, etc. People do a lot of strange stuff for a lot of strange reasons.