Looking for the perfect spot to study, eat, take a nap or just hang out with friends, students can be found all over the Diablo Valley College campus resting under, reading under, or just admiring the trees.

With the rainy season drawing closer, and El Niño impending, the safety of trees around campus is in question.

Last year, when DVC had a few rainy days, the soil expanded rapidly because it had been dry for an extended period of time, and roots of trees become unstable — causing many to be uprooted and fall over. This caused some concern for the wellbeing of students, property and other trees on campus.

DVC President Peter Garcia said, “We hired an arborist to evaluate our entire college inventory of trees.” As it turned out, a few more trees were in danger of falling as well, and 18 trees were deemed necessary for removal. Then, over the next few weeks, an operation was put into motion to remove any hazardous trees.

Garcia did seem to care about the trees, saying, “We are asking the arborist for planting and replanting suggestions to mitigate the long term effects of the losses.”

If he did care, why were more trees taken out for a better view? The incident escalated to more than just safety and damage control. More trees were taken out for reasons that went beyond the initial issue.

With the drought still very much prevalent in California, it would seem that we need more trees. The Dust Bowl in 1930, for example, was caused by drought and the removal of too many trees.

Scientists and politicians debate back and forth, and spend more money to find the best ways to combat global warming. While they do that, Californians continue living with this drought. Now, while that is going on, DVC is adding insult to the injury at hand by tearing up more trees.

As Garcia mentioned, planting saplings would be the way to begin making up for the damage. But some hillsides, like the one above Parking Lot 4, are still bare.

Let’s step up the pace of planting. Any damage done to the environment affects us all in the long run.