While Washington D.C’s Cherry Blossom festival has garnered renown, many forget its historical roots. Washington D.C’s very first cherry blossoms dating back to 1912 were originally a symbol of friendship between Japan and the U.S. It wasn’t until 1935 when D.C’s first ever official “Cherry Blossom Festival” was created by several civic groups.
“The festival is pretty relaxing,” Matt Cho, a senior at Springbrook High School, said. “I didn’t think it was a big event to obsess over, but I liked it. I went for the photos and the pretty view.”
It is easy to take the cultural significance of the Cherry Blossom Festival for granted. As an annual spring celebration, the Cherry Blossom Festival has gathered thousands of people from all over the world to appreciate the illuminating beauty of D.C’s cherry blossoms for a century. These symbolic flowers that have long become a staple of D.C’s culture are now at risk of being removed entirely. The uprooting of one of the capital’s most symbolic icons is all thanks to climate change.
Starting May 2024, 158 out of D.C’s 3,700 cherry blossoms will be chopped down to make room for D.C’s three-year project to rebuild and raise the seawall around the Jefferson Memorial, NC State University says.
The onset of climate change has a number of implications over the Cherry Blossom Festival. Not only has the increasing sea level-rise caused the removal of a notable portion of D.C’s infamous Cherry Blossoms, but the increasing presence of abnormally warm winters has caused drastic changes in the cherry blossoms’ seasonal patterns. In Spring 2024, these beloved cherry blossoms reached their earliest peak bloom in more than two decades, Smithsonian Magazine says.
In order to adapt to the rising sea level, the 158 chopped cherry blossoms will eventually be grounded into mulch to nourish the remaining cherry blossoms. However, while the cherry blossoms will not be entirely gone, there still exists a risk of them being removed permanently in the future, which brings into question the extent of climate change’s influence on cultural events.
“I believe that a large part of D.C’s spring culture has to do with the Cherry Blossom Festival,” Melat Ghebreselassie, a senior at Springbrook High School, said. “I feel sad about them leaving.”
Whether it is natural parks, ancient traditions, or miraculous world sites, nature poses as a staple in many of the world’s cultural history. From the food we eat to the symbolic representations we admire, nature has always been prominent in how we see the world. However, due to the increase of deforestation, air and land pollution, as well as many other causes of climate change, the things we now enjoy and cherish culturally may all disappear.
D.C’s cherry blossoms are only one of the many signs of climate change’s impact on our culture. Thankfully, enough there are still ways we can work towards preventing a future where D.C’s cherry blossoms are gone forever.
For instance, working towards conserving energy by remembering to turn the lights off when you are not in the room or being more conscientious of buying products that come from reused materials. From picking up trash at a nearby park to starting a garden, there are a multitude of ways we can work towards keeping the natural pillars of our culture alive and thriving.
Written by Amber Li of Springbrook High School
Photo courtesy of Flickr