Yujuan Chen to join City Committee Charged With Improving Los Angeles’s Urban Forest

Yujuan Chen, TreePeople’s Senior Manager of Urban Forestry Policy, was sworn in December 19 to serve on the Los Angeles Community Forest Advisory Committee representing City Council District 2. 

The committee works with the city to promote and improve the urban forest and is made up of city employees as well as community representatives from each council district. Chen was nominated by Councilmember Paul Krekorian and appointed by Mayor Eric Garcetti. 

“I am honored to represent Council District 2 at the Community Forest Advisory Committee,” Chen said.… Read more >>

Which Natives Should You Plant in Your Garden?

It’s planting season! Is your green thumb itching? If your landscaping could use a drought-smart update, now’s a great time to put new roots in the ground. Here’s our list of native plants that will transform your yard into a climate-appropriate wonderland! 

Saint Catherine‘s Lace

Eriogonum giganteum

The big pinkish-white, flat-topped flowers of this native California buckwheat appear in late spring and through summer before fading to red-brown. Saint Catherine’s lace grows in clay and other soils near the coast or inland.… Read more >>

Fire Safety Tips for the Holidays

Over 350,000 house fires happen every year and December and January are the peak months for these awful occurrences. A big contributor to the statistics is the holidays: during these months, we’re using fire and products that can cause fires more than any other time of year. 

We want to make sure you stay safe and fire-free this holiday season, so we’ve put together a list of tips to keep your home and your family safe. 

Before we get into it, the first piece of advice is to test your smoke alarms, have an evacuation route established with your family, and keep an emergency bag handy.… Read more >>

A Sustainable Gift Guide for the Holiday Season

In the age of planned obsolescence and fast fashion, we like to take the holidays as an opportunity to spread fun gifts that support people as well as the earth that supports us all!

Take a look at our sustainable gift-giving guide for all types of people in your life: The Tree Person, The Gardener, The Eco-Adventurer, and The Kiddos.

Use this guide as a starting point, there’s a world of sustainable gift-giving options out there to make your holiday fun and eco-friendly!… Read more >>

Ashaninka Community Leader Benki Pyãnko Joins us for a Planting!

On Saturday, November 2, we were honored to be joined at our Huntington Park planting by Benki Pyãnko, an Ashaninka spiritual and community leader from Brazil.

TreePeople - Huntington Park tree planting with Benki Piyako

The Ashaninka community are an indigenous people residing in the rainforests of Peru and the State of Acre, Brazil. The community has been known historically by its neighbors as a fierce protector of their land and culture – an attitude that exists today in the wake of man-made fires throughout the Amazon Rainforest and an encroachment on indigenous culture.… Read more >>

When Abundance Leads to Waste: How to Have a Sustainable Thanksgiving

Sitting at the dinner table with friends, family, and lots of food on Thanksgiving serves as a reminder to be grateful for what we have. The holiday lets us reflect on all of the things that bring us joy, happiness, success, love, balance, and fun! 

The only thing that isn’t fun about Thanksgiving is that it can be wasteful. That does nothing to support our environment. So we’ve come up with a few tips to support a sustainable holiday this year!… Read more >>

After the Fires, We Will Rebuild

TreePeople has launched the Emergency Fire Recovery Fund: a fundraising initiative that will be used to restore the landscapes of the surrounding mountains affected by wildfires that have ravaged Southern California. In the wake of the Saddleridge, Palisades, Tick, Getty, Easy, and Maria fires, our work as protectors and restorers of these delicate ecosystems is more important than ever. 

Our generous board has dedicated $100,000 to MATCH any donations in order to protect these lands vulnerable to fires. 

In 2018, California experienced its deadliest fire season in history, and this year we’ve experienced constant reminders of just how vulnerable our forests are to climate change.… Read more >>

We have a HUGE Announcement!

In order to move more aggressively to provide solutions to the environmental peril facing Los Angeles, TreePeople announced today that it has accepted leadership over the Calabasas-based Mountain Restoration Trust and its stewardship of 3,000 acres in the Santa Monica Mountains!

The move positions TreePeople as the largest environmental non-profit in the region and one of the largest landholders in the Santa Monica Mountains. The added resources will allow TreePeople to intensify its nearly 50 years of globally recognized work to educate, advocate, protect and restore Southern California’s natural and urban ecology. … Read more >>

Have a Happy and Sustainable Halloween!

Halloween is one of the best holidays of the year (and certainly the sweetest). The weather finally starts to cool, spooky movies are on replay all over TV, we get to gorge on sugary treats, and we can catch an adrenaline rush on some pretty freaky stuff. 

One of the scariest parts of Halloween to us TreePeople is the wasteful side of the holiday. 

Costumes that go from the rack to the streets to the trash, landfills full of pumpkins, and streets covered in candy wrappers freak us out more than any haunted house ever will.… Read more >>

ICYMI: An Evening Under the Harvest Moon!

We here at TreePeople are still buzzing over our 32nd annual An Evening Under The Harvest Moon gala. Over 350 of our biggest supporters joined us to raise over 465,000 dollars and celebrate some of TreePeople’s dearest partners who are working with us to help create a greener, healthier, more climate-resilient future for Los Angeles and the world.

Photo by Adam Corey Thomas

Guests began to arrive right as the sun made its dip below the Beverly Hills skyline. The golden hour light perfectly accented the hilltop setting, with our conference center transformed into a grand outdoor ballroom.… Read more >>