A quick Google search will tell you that an ’act of God’ is an event outside human control, an event where no one can be held responsible. It’s an old-school term with legal status. I agree that people should not be held responsible for unforeseeable natural phenomenon, or even foreseeable natural phenomenon that people have no control over (a tsunami for example). But let’s give credit where credit is due; when a tree falls in the urban forest and we know why, don’t blame God!

Recently two trees failed. They failed in separate events and were for all intents and purposes completely unrelated, the trees were not being worked on and the weather was not extreme.  In both cases the tree fell across a highly populated area causing material damage and physical harm to one or more persons (but no fatalities or long term hospitalisation).

In both cases the media went all melodramatic, they pointed the finger and instilled fear everywhere but anywhere useful. In both cases the tree failure could be attributed to previous human activity – both cases the failures preventable and predictable (although an exact timeline would have be hard to establish).

What is frustrating is that at the same time these two trees failed, other preventable and predictable events also occurred that resulted in the loss of life – people are now dead, but not from falling trees. People are killed every day through less glamorous preventable things like motor-vehicle accidents and cardiovascular disease, but when a tree falls in the urban forest the media do make a sound, and what a sound they make.

When a tree falls in the urban forest and we know why – and we often do (i.e. the roots were cut during a development, soil levels were changed, years of lawn-mower abuse, neighbouring trees were removed etc etc), then let’s establish liability where liability exists and hold those responsible to account for their actions.

People shouldn’t fear trees falling on them, people should fear the law falling upon them when their actions cause trees to fall. Let’s stop blaming the tree, stop blaming God and start putting blame where the blame needs to be – on those that caused the trees to fail.