Posted on: Sunday, September 23, 2001

The September 11th attack
A tribute to Chris Snyder, Outdoor Circle arborist and victim of terrorism

By Karl Kim

When I heard the news that Chris Snyder was on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania, I was overcome with grief. Because it was so unexpected. Because I liked and admired her so much. Because she represents so much of what is good and decent and beautiful about this world.

Because of all her qualities — her cheerfulness, her sense of proportion and balance, her passion and determination, and her intellect.

Killed at the age of 32, our community has lost so much. She was the embodiment of the Outdoor Circle motto, "clean, green and beautiful."

Chris took on assignments and projects with a can-do attitude and clarity of purpose that made interacting with her a real joy.

Over the years, I watched her knowledge of trees, urban forestry, and landscape architecture take root and grow. Recently, she became an arborist and took on the role of project manager at the Outdoor Circle.

In this capacity, she could devote her energies to saving trees and building urban parks, to beautifying our city, and helping our community to become more aware of the benefits of trees.

With a quiet passion for the environment, Chris was the consummate professional. She always did her homework. She tried to understand all sides of the arguments whether it involved replacement of the dying ironwoods on Kalakaua, saving Irwin Park, defending Wa'ahila Ridge, or planting new trees throughout our city. Chris was there, sorting through the facts and issues, the politics and the principles and working with the parties, often behind the scenes, to help make Honolulu, "clean, green and beautiful."

In response to her death, in reaction to the unfairness of it all, to cope with our losses and our grief and to continue the work that she has started, there are some obvious things that we as a community might do.

• Plant a tree.

• Support the Outdoor Circle, which continues to be our advocate for a "clean, green and beautiful" environment.

• Support those causes that Chris believed in: underground utility lines, more urban parks, sustainable development and creating places of refuge for plants, animals and people.

• Continue to travel.

Chris was returning from a conference in Washington, D.C., about urban forestry when she died. She was returning with the seeds of new knowledge that would be planted here in Hawai'i.

While it was so unfortunate that she was aboard that ill-fated plane hijacked by terrorists bent on wreaking further death and destruction, it should be noted that she died among those who stood up and faced the evil of terrorism.

We need to stand up for humanity and all that is "clean, green and beautiful."

Karl Kim is interim vice chancellor for academic affairs and professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Hawai'i, Manoa.