‘One Tree At a Time': Local Organization Seeks to Create Greener Communities

Did you adopt a plant during the pandemic? Did it tragically dry up and die in a couple weeks? Yeah, so did mine. 

During the course of the pandemic, many of us picked up new hobbies or pastimes. For some, this may have included plants. 

Becoming a plant parent isn’t easy. It takes a lot of time, effort, and a ton of patience. 

Although it won’t take much searching to find a beginner’s guide or a video tutorial on how to care for our newly adopted plants, trees and flowers, becoming a new plant parent can be overwhelming. 

In partnership with LA’s Department of Water and Power, City Plants offers a wide variety of plants and trees to help “grow a greener future for Los Angeles by engaging Angelenos to plant and care for trees throughout the City.”

The organization often holds adoption events and a series of programs to help plant trees around the city.

“At City Plants, we envision a Los Angeles in which people in every neighborhood have equal access to trees and their benefits: clean air, energy efficiency, better health, cooling shade, and friendlier, more vibrant communities,” the website states. 

Trees are an essential part of our neighborhoods, shining light on the topic of tree equity as many low income cities do not have the benefit of tree lined streets.

“Due to decades of redlining and other discriminatory policies, trees are often sparse in neighborhoods with more low-income families and people of color,” according to American Forests.

Alongside half a dozen non-profit partners and several LA City departments, the organization helps plant and distribute 20,000 trees a year to help transform streets and neighborhoods, according to their site. 

In order to someday achieve full Tree Equity, “we need to plant and grow 522 million trees across urbanized America, according to our 2021 Tree Equity Score,” according to American Forests. 

City Plants is joining several organizations in a tree planting event on Saturday April, 9 for National Arbor Day. Residents can RSVP here.

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Source: NBC Los Angeles