Here in Los Angeles, the Tree People organization is currently in the middle of a campaign called the Million Trees Initiative. The goal, as announced by Mayor Villaraigosa, is to plant one million trees across the city. I find this idea really exciting, and, in January, the Good Girls participated in our first Tree Planting day.
We showed up the neighborhood of Studio City on a Saturday morning and watched a short demonstration about how to properly plant a tree. All the trees being planted are provided by the L.A. Department of Recreation & Parks, and are native trees that should grow big and strong with minimal maintenance. After the demonstration, we grabbed some shovels and gloves and headed into the neighborhood to plant us some trees.
Studio City is kind of a nice neighborhood, so at first we weren't so sure why we should be volunteering in that part of town. But, as Tree People pointed out, trees benefit more people than just the ones who live near them. They clean the air and save energy by providing shade so that people use their air conditioners less.
Merete and Rachel joined me on this outing, and we got the chance to plant two oak saplings. It was a nice, sunny California day, so we had a lot of fun digging our big hole, planting the tree and then firmly staking it so it would grow straight. The trees were all being planted in the strip of grass that sits between the sidewalks in this neighborhood and the street. I guess the city owns that part and so they decide what trees you can plant there.
Tree People asks you to name your tree, which we found kind of silly, and we named ours "Art" and "Rachel." The "Rachel" tree is actually not named after our Rachel, but after the granddaughter of the elderly man whose house we planted that tree in front of.
The Good Girls had a really great time on this activity, and I know we'll do it again. In fact, I think we may do a tree planting event downtown this coming Saturday.
* FYI, January marked the 1-year anniversary of the Good Girls club. We have been doing at least one community service project a month for a whole year.
We showed up the neighborhood of Studio City on a Saturday morning and watched a short demonstration about how to properly plant a tree. All the trees being planted are provided by the L.A. Department of Recreation & Parks, and are native trees that should grow big and strong with minimal maintenance. After the demonstration, we grabbed some shovels and gloves and headed into the neighborhood to plant us some trees.
Studio City is kind of a nice neighborhood, so at first we weren't so sure why we should be volunteering in that part of town. But, as Tree People pointed out, trees benefit more people than just the ones who live near them. They clean the air and save energy by providing shade so that people use their air conditioners less.
Merete and Rachel joined me on this outing, and we got the chance to plant two oak saplings. It was a nice, sunny California day, so we had a lot of fun digging our big hole, planting the tree and then firmly staking it so it would grow straight. The trees were all being planted in the strip of grass that sits between the sidewalks in this neighborhood and the street. I guess the city owns that part and so they decide what trees you can plant there.
Tree People asks you to name your tree, which we found kind of silly, and we named ours "Art" and "Rachel." The "Rachel" tree is actually not named after our Rachel, but after the granddaughter of the elderly man whose house we planted that tree in front of.
The Good Girls had a really great time on this activity, and I know we'll do it again. In fact, I think we may do a tree planting event downtown this coming Saturday.
* FYI, January marked the 1-year anniversary of the Good Girls club. We have been doing at least one community service project a month for a whole year.
