It’s summer, so that must mean it’s time to slaughter some poor trees

OPINION: Ah, the sounds of summer in the suburbs. The drone of lawnmowers, the cackling of kids playing backyard games and, increasingly, the shriek of chainsaws biting into living wood. Somewhere in the neighbourhood, another tree is being reduced to a stump; another limb is being hacked off to make way for a view, a development or a backyard manicured to within an inch of its life.