California Continues to Lead on Climate Action

California has once again proven itself to be a national and world leader on climate, with several important actions taking place in the past few weeks: On August 27, the State released California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment, a series of reports and tools that advance actionable science. The assessment represents the latest data on climate…

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These Heat Waves Kill

They say some like it hot, but as the first significant heat wave of the season hits this week, many Angelenos will wish it was winter. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each year extreme heat causes more deaths in the United States than all other weather-related causes combined. In LA, the…

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TreePeople & LA Take a Giant Step Toward Resilience

“Resilience is a value that guides everything we do in Los Angeles, because we know that the decisions we make today will shape the future our children and grandchildren will inherit. The Resilient Los Angeles plan will help us strengthen our infrastructure, protect our economy, make our institutions more inclusive, and create safer neighborhoods.” –…

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Cooling LA to Save Lives

How do you cope with heat waves? Do you go swimming? Go to the movies? Crank up the air conditioning and stay home? While these are all great options for most of us, many of these are not available to our fellow Angelenos. Half of LA’s households do not have air conditioning. For some households,…

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#CoolMyCity: LA’s Urban Cooling Collaborative

LA just increased its coolness factor by $320,000! On the heels of a sweltering summer, the National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council of the U.S. Forest Service awarded the Los Angeles Urban Cooling Collaborative (LAUCC), a national partnership led by TreePeople, a $320,000 grant to fund life-saving urban heat research. The LAUCC is a…

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LA’s Drought Conundrum

So the drought is over, right? The short answer is well, maybe. As the summer season swings into action and temperatures start to rise, it’s the perfect time to remember that as Angelenos, we all have the responsibility to act as stewards for our water and urban trees — even during a record-wet year like…

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Concrete to Canopy: Green Dreams for Inglewood & Lennox

What comes to mind when you think of South LA? Endless stretches of treeless streets sealed in sizzling pavement? Imagine if we could convert concrete to canopy one block, one person, one tree at a time. Our climate reality has left frontline communities vulnerable to devastating impacts– like crippling heat and harmful floods. Inglewood and…

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TreePeople and Metro Partner to Green Los Angeles

With the opening of the Expo Line extension last month and more on the way, Metro’s role in shaping Los Angeles has been on our minds. But did you know that Metro does more than build and provide public transportation? TreePeople has partnered with the LA County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) to create Green Places,…

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Dial “D” for Drought: Online Art Exhibition and Contest

We’ve all heard the news. California is in a severe drought, the worst in recorded history and possibly in 500 years. As of the week of February 25th, 91 percent of the state was experiencing severe to exceptional drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. California’s “Golden State” moniker is gaining new meaning as hundreds…

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Learning from Australia’s Drought: TreePeople Draws Lessons From Down Under

In 2012, TreePeople began an exchange between government, research and community organizations in Australia and Southern California. The aim of the program: to share innovations, best practices and experience in urban rainwater capture, water conservation practices and drought response—topics that are increasingly relevant as the climate of the American Southwest (and beyond) changes for the…

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