Planting trees is a simple thing everyone can do to produce oxygen, clean the air and reduce global warming. What a perfect thing to do in honor of Earth or Arbor Day!
In Urban areas, trees do all of that plus they increase property values and revenues in shopping districts, promote exercise, calm traffic, reduce crime, and have a ton of other benefits. In my city of San Francisco, it has been reported that half of the available street tree sites in San Francisco are currently unplanted. We must plant more trees and sidewalk gardens!!
We planted a tree in front of our house for free through Friends of the Urban Forest, which helps individuals and neighborhood groups plant and care for street trees and sidewalk gardens in San Francisco. We have directly benefited and participated in this program and love pointing out the trees we have planted in our neighborhood. (And by we, I mean my husband but I consider this a team contribution.) Check out Friends of the Urban Forest here. You can also see all of the greening projects to get involved in in San Francisco on this page on the SF Better Works website.
You also can put more trees on the planet by giving a gift of tree planting:
- Gift tree planing through the Nature Conservancy. A $10 gift will plant as many as five trees and will help maintain and steward these forests for years to come. You can give and personalize a gift here.
- Through Living Tribute, you can plant tribute trees in US forests to honor your friends and loved ones, and send or receive a personalized commemorative card.
- There are tons of initiatives to put more trees on this planet you can find with a quick Internet search!
Get to planting or giving!