Trees became a political issue so long ago, too

I was watching a tv show about Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and the subject came up about the first World's Fair, which was called the Great Exhibition, that was created in Hyde Park in 1851. The trees in the park were a big issue at the time. It was Prince Albert's idea to bring the "first World's Fair" to London, to show how world economies could work together to make things better, especially in London. The Prince, and Queen, wanted to improve living and working conditions for "laboring classes."

The people that were against the project being placed in Hyde Park used all sorts of excuses because Parliament against the Prince at the time, not so much his idea, they just didn't like him. And the trees were used as reason for not allowing the project to proceed. Enormous Elm trees covered the park and this was a great concern to the people at the time (mostly as an excuse to stop the project, but it was interesting that even back then, trees were being used for political reasons).

In the end, a huge glass structure called the "Crystal Palace" was erected, which enveloped the trees and included many inside the structure and not one tree was harmed. They called this technique "man's triumph over nature," because they managed to create the structure and not harm the trees. Their triumph and objective was to save the trees, and they did. The Great Exhibition opened on May 1, 1851 to massive crowds (six million in five months, London's population at the time was two million).

External links about the Great Palace:
Wikipedia
About.com
The London Exhibition