Shocking arborists everywhere, ecologist Jillian Gregg found that saplings in New York grew faster than their country cousins. According to her findings in Nature, the excess of ozone near the ground in rural areas is greater than in cities, and as ozone is harmful to flora and fauna...Newsday reveals that it's the nitric oxide in the city that erases some of the ozone. Yay, pollution has its perks. Too bad, as a Parks Department official says, that the trees in the city will live half as long.

Everywhere else, ginkgo trees are becoming extinct, but they thrive in cities.

Gothamist loves Times reporter James Gorman for including "cockroaches can multiply faster than a math whiz at the Bronx High School of Science" in his description of urban trueisms. He's also jaded, saying that this news doesn't really help sidewalk trees: "There is winter salt, excessive heat, lack of sun and the abiding nightmare of every sidewalk plant: the dog."

Buy the Pulp CD, We Love Life - it's Jarvis Cocker singing about loving trees and stuff.