Urgent and compelling reasons for more trees in our communities

Today’s personal, local, and global conditions call out for more trees, Most importantly for climate action, and for many other reasons:

• Climate change is accelerating, cities are warming, and public desire for action is increasing. Trees are affordable and amazing ways to cool neighborhoods and implement Climate Action Plans.
• All communities deserve to have trees, “green space” and nature. Trees can contribute to healthy neighborhoods. Decades of inequitable investment in communities in San Diego (and nationally) now can be turned around.
• With Covid-19, many San Diegans are spending more time in their “home” outdoor spaces, are gardening more, and could easily plant and care for shade trees.
• Actually, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, and we don’t want to be still saying this in 20 years.

What about “planting a trillion trees?” Doesn’t account for need to water trees to establish them, in San Diego and most of the western United States. Watering trees is well worth it, with benefits to shade and cool cities, and much more.

What about growing trees for cap-and-trade offsets? They require tracking trees for 40 years and that is an almost-unsurmountable hurdle.  There is insufficient underlying strong public infrastructure for this, but could be developed.

And what local tree advocacy can we do? Watch this 25-minute video about Urban Forest Advocacy in San Diego.