GS@XR CHECKSUBS.COM
I've been asked by One Voice to a rather crazy project this morning.
Without any experience whatsoever.
I am shortly going to find myself up in a tree something I've always wanted to do.
Never known how.
I have to say I'm a little bit nervous but very excited.
So we'll see what happens.
I'm here with Larch Maxey and where are we exactly? So, we are at Highbury Corner, Islington London.
And what's going on here?
Why is why is this what it is?
So this is a local campaign where they've asked me to come in and
support them to protect these trees that are due to be felled as part of
an inappropriate housing development, luxury housing in an area where they've got 84 brownfield sites.
The local authorities declared the climate emergency.
They should be building according to that emergency not just carrying on with business as usual.
So the least the local authority can do is change its plans in alignment with
the emergency that it's declared.
Because I've been very much full time with HS2 Rebellion and campaigning against HS2 since March
and I got a lot of sort of experience with treehouse building and tree defense
they asked me to come in and help them hold this site.
So I'm a complete newbie to this.
I've never been up a tree with ropes.
I haven't built a treehouse since I was a kid.
Is this something that's somebody can do with no experience ? Or do you need to...
Absolutely, people think it's this really difficult complicated thing but it's really not.
So it's just like, breaking it down
anyone can build a treehouse.
That's the kind of message I want to put out there, that anyone can build a treehouse.
It's quite safe and it doesn't yet have a treehouse.
So we need a treehouse here.
Of all the different ways to protest why treehouses?
I love trees, my name is Larch because I was living in trees in the 90s and just... I love it.
So for me, there's a natural affinity with trees and a connection with trees
but, just to say, that it's important that we don't get hung up on just defending trees
and that is the only way of effective protest because it absolutely isn't.
With HS2, for example, the more effective way of stopping HS2
is the other things that the tree defense allows and supports.
So tree defence is part of it and similarly with this project
I think just being up the trees wouldn't be enough we also need to do a whole load of other stuff
in particular direct action on the suppliers and on the companies involved
so that's a really key part of it and we saw that work really well with fracking.
But also practically it allows you to get elevated.
Once you're above six foot in the UK we have pretty good health and safety standards.
Not anyone can come along and just grab your out of a tree
that's against the law because it's risking your life.
So they have to get health and safety assessment on it
and a special team to come and get you out of a tree.
Because it's quite a dramatic thing
to come and get you in a cherry picker or with a climbing team out of a tree.
Cherry Pickers are what they should use to get people out of trees wherever possible
there are certain circumstances where they can't use Cherry Pickers
but that should be the default because it's safer.
And that gives us the predictability because we see the Cherry Pickers arriving
and we know they're going to come.
There are exceptions to that, for example, I recently was up a tree for 20 days in Parliament Square
as part of a big protest where we had I think, eight women up initially.
That was an out-and-out sort of more symbolic protest to raise awareness.
So it wasn't defending those trees because those trees weren't under threat.
So what are the types of...? So the ways you can defend a tree is
these were due to be felled six months ago seven months ago
and they were saved by people simply climbing them and being up them for the day
and they got the message and they left.
And then everyday people were here ready to jump up them if they needed to.
So these were defended without any real infrastructure
Literally just people climbing them so that's the basics.
You can successfully defend trees by just climbing them and being willing to stay up them all day.
And it's not that comfortable to sit on a branch all day and the practicalities of being up a tree is
you need more clothing than you do on the ground because you're more exposed to the elements
particularly the wind so it's a lot colder.
So you always want to have water proofs even if it's not raining and your not expecting rain
because it's an extra layer, to layer up and to keep you warm.
And you want to make sure you got enough water.
Ideally you want have a bottle to pee in and if you're a woman a Shewee so you can pee in a bottle
because then you can just either pass it down... As opposed to just directing it down on the police
Yeah, exactly. So it's all a bit more controlled
and then a bucket as well if you're going to be there overnight and extended, a bucket to poo in.
So that's the basics of that.
Then if you're going up a notch from just being up the tree and staying in the tree.
Having a harness on is really good to be up a tree safely and
So that's the very minimum. It's not comfortable but it is safe and it is possible
and then you can always tie yourself to the tree in your harness.
And the more rope you've got then the better because you can create
a little cradle for yourself with the rope.
And I've seen a friend do that. He just went up the tree.
He had a little bit of polyprop, which is polypropylene rope
and he tied himself a little thing a sort of nest to sit in and he was fine overnight.
Then the next one up is a hammock.
You can get really small hammocks that pack down really small and they're really light
And you can rig them in a few minutes, potentially, if you know what you're doing.
If you are going to go for a hammock definitely have a tarp that can go over it.
And the way to rig the top is to know which way the prevailing wind is coming
and rig the top so it fully wraps the hammock so that if you drop anything the tarp catches it
and that you're fully wrapped in the rain.
So I've been up 20 days in the parliament tree and five days recently in another tree
that HS2 ended up felling.
But both times, even in driving rain I was fine in hammocks
because I had wrapped the tarp around it.
And you'll also then, in a Hammock, want to ideally have a mat of some sort so it creates a bit of rigidity
old carpet will do it, as well as your sleeping bag just to create a bit more comfort.
And then the trick is having a top line that you can safety into
and then another line for storing all your stuff in loads of bags.
But much more comfortable than hammock is a platform and then once you've got a platform
then it's very easy to put what we call a bender on top, a bender frame
which is Hazel poles created into a dome and then a tarp on top of that.
So then you've got the basics of a treehouse
The reason to go towards a platform and a treehouse rather than a hammock is comfort
but it's also, as you go towards the winter, colder and wetter and you want more protection.
You don't want to end up having to come down and give up because you weren't comfortable enough.
Living in a tree can be really comfortable and really pleasant.
It's definitely my preferred way to live is in a treehouse, I would say
because you get that connection with the tree
I don't do it unless I'm defending the tree
because what right have I got to go and be imposing myself on a tree?
I was curious about that about that about the effect on the tree of the treehouse.
Is that something that you have to consider for the design?
Definitely. So there's different types of tree and they have different qualities.
Some trees are stronger than others.
You don't want to be climbing a tree and building in a tree which is going to break tree branches.
Trees grow every year. If you see a cross section of a tree when it's been felled
you'll see the annular rings. Each year it puts on a growth ring.
So if you are going to occupy a tree long-term like a year or more
you want to be re-checking your ropes at least every year and re-tying them
so that you're not constraining the tree. The tree will grow around the ropes
if you see like some places there's trees where they've grown round barbed wire and things
and so you want to avoid that.
So yeah, you want to avoid straining and stressing the tree unnecessarily, basically.
But what are you gonna show us today?
Today we're going to look at everything.
So we're going to be at height, so we're going to be using safety equipment.
So we're going to be looking at safety equipment which is a basic harness carabiners and rope.
And safety, how you make sure you're always safetied on.
And then we're going to be building the basic platform
getting the joists in which is the key to it really.
Once you've got your first couple of joists in then you've got a base to work on and it's a lot easier.
Getting the first to joist in is the hardest, I would say, part of it.
Once you've done that it's easier from then on.
You can do that on your own but I'd say it's always good to have two people for getting the joists in
just because they're big things to be moving around in a tree
when you've not got much other sort of stuff to move around in the tree with.
The floor boarding is really simple, you can definitely do it on your own.
Similarly with the bender poles that you can do that on your own.
Again, it's nice to have two
and putting the tarp on is also a little bit tricky... because you're on the outside of the tree.
So you have got to really be careful with safety on that. Make sure you safetied on.
So if I understand correctly, there are kind of four main steps to this.
The first one is selecting the right tree. Second one is getting up into the tree and rope-work.
Third one is the actual sort of construction, how it's done.
And then the fourth one is actually living in that space.
Is that right?
Yeah, Exactly.
Quick, let's do it. Can't wait.