One Tree Hill: Most Memorable Moments (Part 2) - TV Fanatic

With the One Tree Hill series finale just around the corner, it is time to remember some of our favorite moments from the teen drama that bridged the gap between iconic hits like Beverly Hills, 90210 and current winners, such as The Vampire Diaries.

In the three days before Nathan, Brooke, Haley and company say goodbye to America for good, TV Fanatic will be counting down the nine moments from nine seasons of One Tree Hill that will stay will with us for as long as Naley stays together.

Read the entries seven through four below, and then add your favorite One Tree Hill moments in the comments!

6. Quentin and Jamie’s bromance.

Quentin Fields recurred on One Tree Hill over the course of seasons five and six. He was a fun character, but might not have been better than when bonding with James Lucas Scott. Whether it was dancing at basketball practice in the sixth season premiere, wearing those capes around town, or how deeply saddened young Jamie was after Q’s death, this was an extremely entertaining relationship to watch.

5. Naley’s second wedding and aftermath.

Since Nathan and Haley got married on a whim, they weren’t able to have the lavish ceremony until the season three finale, “The Show Must Go On.” The wedding, and all of the chaos that ensued around it, was just the epitome of the drama that we witnessed on most One Tree Hill season finales. Brooke found out about Luke and Peyton’s kiss, we had no idea which of the ladies was or wasn’t pregnant, Cooper and Rachel drive off of the bridge, and a whole lot more made our heads spin like crazy.

4. Four and a half years later.

It’s common place now, but it was a bit more surprising back in 2008 when the characters of One Tree Hill all jumped ahead four years, six months and two days in time for the season five finale. It was the perfect way to forgo all of the college nonsense that comes with a teen drama like this, and it resulted in a number of interesting new developments. There was an adorable five year old Jamie Scott, a highly successful Brooke Davis, and my favorite, a long-haired, bearded, wheelchair laden, and depressed Nathan Scott. It may be taken for granted by most now, but at the time, this was one of the smartest decisions One Tree Hill ever made.

Be sure to come back tomorrow for Part 3 of our trip down One Tree Hill memory lane. For now, let us know which of these three you will remember most:

View Poll »

One Tree Hill Series Finale Sneak Peek | PerezHilton.com

THE END IS NEAR HERE!!!!

One Tree Hill has been a constant in our lives for the past nine years; now it's all coming to an end!!

Check out the SUPER emotional sneak peek of the very LAST episode of One Tree Hill, titled One Tree Hill (pretty creative, huh?) (above)!!

The two-hour series finale ends Wednesday at 8/7c.

OTH fans, prepare the tissues.

Tags: application, emotional, one tree hill, season finale, sneak peek, tv, video

Designer Creates Nature-Inspired Glassblowing Molds Using Tree ...

© Marco Merkel

Glassblowing is a fascinating art that dates back at least a couple of millenia; the introduction of molds in the process helped usher in the mass production of highly-detailed glass objects during Roman times. German designer Marco Merkel plays with this long-standing history with his tree-based glassblowing molds -- attempting to explore what he calls "randomness" hidden within these arboreal forms.

© Marco Merkel

Titled "Scolyt" (perhaps after Scolytidae, a family of tree-boring insects), the project began with the collection of rotten wood, split logs and other found forest detritus, which were then used as glassblowing molds.

© Marco Merkel

© Marco Merkel

© Marco Merkel

© Marco Merkel

Instead of relying on the precise parameters usually found in this controlled process, Merkel consciously chooses to meld the imperfections and "disfigurements" created by nature with the smooth forms of man-made glass.

The result is are one-of-a-kind works that exude an easygoing harmony between the found and the hand-made, between nature and craft, choosing to meld the chaotic element with its maker. Several pieces of Merkel's work is now on exhibit at “Talente 2012” in Munich. More of Marco Merkel's work on his Tumblr.

If a tree falls in the city, does it do anyone any good? | Grist

By Andrew Zaleski

Planting trees in West Philly. (Photo by Danielle Clarke.)

One Saturday in November, a few hundred volunteers descended upon parks and creek banks in and around Philadelphia to plant more than 2,000 trees. That day’s plantings were just a piece of a broader initiative to plant 300,000 trees in the City of Brotherly Love by 2015. And that initiative is but one part of a much larger program spearheaded by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society that aims to plug 1 million trees into the ground across 13 counties in southeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. The mid-Atlantic is seriously putting the moves on Mother Nature.

As cities around the country jockey to be the King of Green, mayors and community organizations have been eager to claim their place as the next urban Johnny Appleseed. (Upon becoming mayor in 2008, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter declared the city would become the greenest in America, and established an office of sustainability to show everyone he meant business.) But despite all the work days and feel-good volunteerism, urban forests are losing ground, in part because many, if not most, trees planted in cites die early deaths.

“Trees are so essential to our life, health, and safety,” says Caryn Bosson, a communications manager for the Los Angeles-based TreePeople, founded in 1973 for the express purpose of using trees to make cities more sustainable. Just one tree planted near a home has the potential to reduce heating and cooling costs by as much as $2,500.

If you can keep the tree alive, that is. “The planting of trees is a sexy thing to do — people want to plant trees,” say Ryan Allen, TreePeople’s tree care manager. “Getting them to come back within five years is tricky.”

That first five years is perhaps the most crucial part of a tree’s lifespan. A variety of factors can kill off an urban tree relatively quickly: Transplant shock to the roots of trees dug up at nurseries leaves trees susceptible to insects and disease; damaged tree roots, often the result of transplanting, can result in water stress where a tree loses water at a faster rate than it absorbs water. For city trees, vehicle traffic, air pollution, and street design can make healthy growth even more difficult. A report published in the journal Cities and the Environment [PDF] two years ago estimated that between 34 and 99 percent of young trees die off within the first five years.

A study published early this year by the journal Urban Forestry & Urban Greening [PDF] showed that tree cover across the country is declining by roughly 4 million trees each year. Of the 20 cities studied by the U.S. Forest Service, 17 had experienced net losses in tree cover, while 16 saw net gains in impervious cover — pavement, rooftops, and anything else that doesn’t allow rain to seep into the soil.

To stop this backsliding, organizations like TreePeople are trying to get volunteers to care for trees after the planting festivities are over. But that’s the unsexy part of urban tree planting. It’s far easier to get people to come out to plant if you have a gaggle of cheerleaders in tow, or if tree planting culminates in a huge event, like when the NFL planted thousands of Floridian mangroves in anticipation of the 2007 Super Bowl in Miami.

How do we make urban tree plantings more than mascot-filled publicity stunts?

“Our starting point around any involvement with trees is to start with the stewardship,” says Maitreyi Roy, the senior vice president of programs and planning with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS). Before trees are even planted, she says, people are taught what it takes to keep trees alive. To that effect, the PHS has some 3,600 Tree Tenders, 2,500 in Philadelphia alone, who not only make annual checks of trees, but also teach volunteers about watering, pruning, and other tree-care techniques. Last year, Tree Tenders trained city staff and created a Tree Team for continuing tree maintenance in city parks. Also in use is a texting system that blasts volunteers with information on when to water trees in drought conditions.

“The goal here is to create a decentralized system so that the drive at the grassroots [level] fuels stewardship on an ongoing basis,” Roy says.

At L.A.-based TreePeople, community tree care teams serve a similar role. They educate volunteers, organized into Green Teams, on how to water, prune, and mulch trees, and then demonstrate at sites around the cities before helping Green Teams develop a maintenance plan according to a tree care checklist — pruning, watering, weeding, removing stakes and ties, and so on — specifically created for planting volunteers. In July, TreePeople kicks off its citizen arborist program, which will offer six weeks of “really in-depth education and planning,” Allen says, and is based on the International Society of Aboriculture’s certification program.

In the end, however, the simple trick to taking care of urban trees might be removing the gimmicks from tree planting altogether: Don’t let tree planters wash their hands of the whole affair after a few hours of work on a weekend afternoon. Allen suggests a solution, one that guides TreePeople’s involvement with the urban forest: “We’re not going to plant trees with you — schools, companies — if you’re not going to make the commitment to take care of the trees afterwards.”

Andrew Zaleski is a a freelance writer and editor, and digital media editor for Urbanite magazine in Baltimore. Help him finish a story about one Mississippi cyclist’s tragic accident, and what the cycling community is doing about it.

Read more: Cities, Clean Air, Climate Change

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One Tree Hill Round Table: Series Finale Preview - TV Fanatic

Dan Scott has left us forever, the rest of Tree Hill seems to be on its way to happiness, and now our panel of Miranda Wicker, Brian Shure, and Dan Forcella is here to get you ready for Wednesday's series finale.

Read their answers below, and then leave your own in the comments!

--------------------- 

What did you enjoy more; the sadness from "Danny Boy?" Or the happiness from "Anyone Who Had a Heart?"

Miranda: I'm going with the sadness from "Danny Boy." I didn't think I would be sad to see Dan Scott die but that sadness and the character's emotions and reactions felt more genuine than the happiness from this week, which all feels contrived in light of the show ending. 

Brian: Definitely the sadness from "Danny Boy". It was probably the last drama-filled episode we will see in the series, as the happily ever after sequence has already begun as we saw this week. While the happiness was nice to see, OTH was built on dramatic plot lines and "Danny Boy" will be the last memory I have of them.

Dan: I absolutely loved what Paul Johansson and company did with the death of Dan Scott.  It was one of my favorite moments in One Tree Hill history, so check out our Most Memorable One Tree Hill Moments countdown in the next couple of days to see if it ends up making the list.

What was the better one-liner; Dan asking Deb if he was in hell?  Or Keith telling Dan that he was his plus one?

Miranda: It's a tie. Dan's "Am I in Hell?" followed by propositioning Deb for one last hoorah was classic, but Keith's "plus one" was the ultimate in everyone being able to forgive Dan, including Dan himself.

Brian: Wow, tough one. Usually I'm a sucker for a brilliant Dan Scott one-liner, and while this one is no exception, I have to lean towards Keith's line. Keith using his plus one on the man who murdered him was a classic line.

Dan: Yeah I will go with Keith's "plus one" as well.  The man brought a tear or two to my eye in that moment.  Unfortunately for my manhood, the tears were already flowing freely at that point.

For those Dawson's Creek fans among us, does this ending feel too familiar?

Miranda: Only because they're both ending with the "let's make a tv show" story line. Otherwise, no. The ending to Dawson's Creek was very much about the resolution of the triangle and watching everyone go off to pursue their dreams and this ending seems more about making sure everyone gets a happily ever after. (It was, however, great for the show to acknowledge the similarity. And I'll never complain about a good The Vampire Diaries reference.)

Brian: Not a huge fan of the show and I don't remember the ending at all, but I did like Brooke's reference to the similarity.

Dan: Yeah, I was never into Dawson's either, but I have heard a number of people reference the similarities with the "making of" arc.  It was definitely sweet that they acknowledged it with Brooke's "The Creek" mention.

How do you feel about Julian stealing life moments from Lucas (winning shot) and Nathan (sex tape) in "Ravens?"

Miranda: I don't like it. Not at all. Brooke and Julian wouldn't BE Brulian if they'd known each other in high school, mostly because Brooke wasn't this girl in high school…at least not early on. The show seems to have become all about Brooke in the past two seasons (maybe even the past three) when she was never the focus in the beginning. Julian stealing moments feels like a way to retcon the early seasons into being all about Brooke.

Brian: Do not like it at all. I like Julian's character a lot. He's been a great addition to the show since he was cast, but he's basically rewriting big moments in the show's history, not to mention inserting himself into the two main characters' spots.

Dan: I also don't like it.  A reader commented on my review of the episode that the show didn't have to be One Tree Hill, but that's the show we know is great!  Also, it's just kind of a jerk move to take Luke's book and then steal life events.

What do you want to see most during the One Tree Hill series finale?

Miranda: The actual, non-lip-service return of Whitey Durham? Or Karen? I feel like they're the only characters who haven't been paraded out yet. We got the return of a one-time intern that nobody remembers this week and a peek at Keith last week. We endured Chris Keller for half the season. Hell, we even got Lucas Scott in all his bad-haired glory! But we can't get Whitey to come out of retirement or Karen to stop jet-setting with Andy? I'm pretty sure this finale is going to be all about everyone riding off into the sunset, and I'm not sure how I feel about that yet.

Brian: I'd like to see old cast members back. Keith's spot last week was fantastically written and executed. However, Lucas' spot a few weeks back was not even close. I'd like to see him and Peyton make an appearance but I won't hold my breath. I like Miranda's idea, maybe Karen, Coach Durham?

Dan: The return of old favorites would be nice, but what I really want to see is a flash forward.  I want to see what everyone is up to five years from now.  

Erythrina Schliebenii, Rare Coral Tree Variety, Rediscovered In ...

Refound species Erythrina schliebenii, center, has a spiny trunk.

By OurAmazingPlanet Staff:

Two tree species once feared extinct have been discovered in a threatened coastal forest in the African country of Tanzania. The two species have made reappearances before, but both trees, one a legume, the other a member of the mint family, were thought to have finally been obliterated in recent years.

Botantists rediscovered the trees in the southeastern African nation in 2011. The country has offered up another, perhaps more striking, discovery in recent months: a colorful new snake species.

"Both trees are still in critical danger of extinction, given that fewer than 50 individuals of each species are known," Roy Gereau, a botanist with the Missouri Botanical Garden's Africa and Madagascar Department, said in a statement.

The species, Erythrina schliebenii, a type of coral tree, has spectacular red flowers and vicious spines along its trunk. The tree was collected only twice, in the 1930s, from an area later cleared for a cashew plantation.

It was listed as "Extinct" on the IUCN Red List in 1998, but was rediscovered in a small patch of unprotected forest in 2001. When that forest was cleared for a biofuel plantation in 2008, it was again feared the thorny tree had gone extinct.

The other tree species, Karomia gigas, was known from only a single specimen cut down a few years after it was first discovered in coastal Kenya in 1977. Another specimen was discovered in 1993 nearly 400 miles (600 kilometers) away in a tiny fragment of forest in Tanzania, but a more recent search at the same site didn't uncover any of the trees.

Last year, botanists from Tanzania's University of Dar es Salaam set out to look for both species, and discovered small populations of both trees in a remote coastal forest in southeastern Tanzania.

There are indications that recent improvements in infrastructure, together with a rapid population increase, are putting the coastal forests of the region under increasing threats from degradation and clearing.

"Erythrina schliebenii has survived only because it grows in rocky areas that are not usually cleared for cultivation," University of Dar es Salaam botanist Cosmas Mligo said in a statement. "But even those areas will be cleared one day if nothing is done."

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Outrage Over City's Cherry Blossom Tree 'Massacre' At Queens ...

A grove of Cherry Blossom trees were destroyed behind Queens Borough Hall to make way for construction equipment. (credit: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Some residents in Queens are outraged after the city cut down several Cherry Blossom trees in preparation for a multi-million dollar glass atrium project.

Geoffrey Croft, president of NYC Park Advocates, said the trees behind Queens Borough Hall were taken down to make way for construction equipment.

The Cherry Blossom trees have been a staple of the area for years.

“It’s pretty devastating,” Croft told 1010 WINS. “People for decades have come to that area to paint, to sketch, to just lie down and read a book and now it looks like a tornado went through there.”

Croft claims a tree removal permit was not posted at the site.

“They’ve cut down close to a dozen Cherry trees in full bloom,” Croft said. “It looks like a massacre.”

Croft said officials are claiming the trees were diseased and plan to replace them.

“Some of these trees are 40-years-old,” Croft said. “You can’t just destroy living infrastructure and just easily claim, ‘Oh, we’re going to replace it.’ That’s not how this stuff works.”

The $21 million project is expected to be completed in a year.