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Celebrate Urban Trees as Superheroes on National Arbor Day, April 26

U.S. Forest Service researchers have published compelling evidence* of urban trees’ immense carbon storage capacity. Along with the other many things they do to improve the environment, trees absorb carbon dioxide emissions from a multitude of pollution sources in our cities. “Thus,” the researchers conclude, “urban trees influence local climate, carbon cycles, energy use, and climate change.”

National Arbor Day is April 26. We join our friends at Alliance for Community Trees in the firm belief that reducing atmospheric CO2 is one of the most important functions of the urban forest—and that people can play a big role.… Read more >>

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Citizen Forestry: Why Trees Don’t Make Sustainable Communities, People Do

On April 27, several bleak and over-paved blocks of downtown L.A.’s Arts District will be transformed by a community planting of 27 trees. Birds will sing, leaves will flutter, and hearts will lift: all because one person had a dream and got enough people excited about that dream to make it a reality.

That’s how Citizen Forestry works.

Gabrielle Newmark, an Arts District resident, was the winner of last year’s TreePeople-GOOD Maker Green City Challenge. She happens to be one of the 1,146 Citizen Foresters TreePeople has trained over the past 30 years, as is her mother, Sheila Newmark, who transformed a nearly treeless elementary school playground in her day.… Read more >>

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TreePeople Turns 40: Thank You, Los Angeles!

Today marks 40 years since the Los Angeles Times shared a kid’s dream of saving our city and our forests. “Andy vs. the Bureaucratic Deadwood,” by Michael Seiler, touched many thousands of people–especially other kids and grandparents–and moved them to send in their pennies to nurture that dream.  Following the publication of  the article, the kid’s dream grew into a movement that over the years has engaged, educated, and supported millions of Angelinos in taking action to green and repair their neighborhoods, schools, and the forest watershed surrounding the city.… Read more >>

Photo: David Cassell

Namaste, Girl-Karma!

If what goes around comes around, then the group Girl-Karma can expect major Earth Day kudos for its members’ commitment to improving environmental health. Our wonderful volunteer Michelle Moy talked about her experience planting trees with TreePeople for the group’s Karma in Action column. She wanted to share what she learned about the benefits of trees, in order to inspire other young women to be agents for change, in their city and for their planet.

Michelle learned, among other things, that people are as important to the health of the urban forest as trees are.… Read more >>

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Take an Earth Day Walk in the Park

At TreePeople we like to think of every day as Earth Day.  But that doesn’t mean we don’t love to celebrate April 22 as a great time to do something wonderful for the earth.

Still, maybe planting 100 trees or installing a rain garden at your local school is more than you can work into your schedule by this Monday. If that’s the case, we have the perfect solution—simply go outside!

Increasingly, studies show that although we are more disconnected from nature—to the point where it can be considered a disorder—even if we just take a short stroll in the park, the effects are amazing .… Read more >>