Plant Trees

Photo by Tulane Public Relations via Wikimedia Commons CC BY 2.0
Photo by Tulane Public Relations via Wikimedia Commons CC BY 2.0

In this project, you’ll inspire hundreds of students and staff at your school to plant native trees on their own by getting trees donated and distributing them in the spring. Thanks to Mike Close from Shakopee High School for this action plan.

Plus contact Neighborhood Forest and The Family of Trees for free trees and support with tree planting!

WHY TREES?

  • Climate — Trees can soak up around 100 lbs of CO2 each year.
  • Healing — Patients who can view trees can heal faster. Living around trees correlates with less domestic violence. Support a healthy neighborhood with trees.

PROJECT STEPS

  1. Do your research: Get a pulse on how much interest there is for trees, and when would be a good day for lots of people to pick up trees. Find a delivery location where trees can be dropped off & picked up easily.
  2. Find free trees: The DNR often gives away trees in the spring. In MN, contact pam.oleary@state.mn.us
  3. Make info packets for people: These packets can teach them how to plant a tree and about the benefits. For tips on planting a tree in a healthy way, see this link. And, here’s one tool to calculate how much carbon your tree will soak up. This site shares some of the benefits of trees.
  4. Get sign ups: Have people sign up to get a tree. Keep the list and check them off when they show up on pick-up day.
  5. Do a demonstration: Not everyone knows how to plant a tree (there’s more to it than just digging a hole). Plus, doing a demonstration can be a way to recruit people to take bigger actions with you. “Did you like learning how to plant a tree? Great! Then will you help me stop the deforestation in Alberta? Sign this petition and come join us for our next event!” (Take photos too!)
  6. Connect the dots: Planting trees can be a great chance to talk about more.Teach people to think critically about trees as carbon offsets. Planting trees can be great, but not always. Because, for example, it’s not great to level a rainforest for palm oil plantations and then call it a carbon offset.
    Help people connect the dots – if you care about trees, you care about the Earth. If you care about the Earth, there are many other actions we need to take together to create climate justice. Try an interactive art project where people write ideas on a mural of a tree: the leaves are climate change impacts, the trunk is climate change, and the roots are the causes of climate change.
  7. Pick-up day: Take photos when people are picking up their trees.
  8. Celebrate: Make a public announcement about how many trees were planted. Share your story with yeamn@climategen.org. Tell your local paper about it!
  9. Evaluate: Discuss what went well and what you’d change next time. Get feedback from people who picked up trees and from people who did not participate.