TreePeople
As a nearly lifelong Treeperson, I have responses for all the usual questions about my Treepeople volunteering. To the question, “So, you hug trees, right?” I answer, “Of course! But not as part of my work.” To the question, “So, you guys are people made of trees?” I respond, “You know ‘connecting with your roots’…
Again, actress, activist and entrepreneur Victoria Principal comes to the rescue of Southern California’s forests. And again, it’s just in time. Although this week is unseasonably cool, the moment it gets hot again we’re in for some serious fire danger. In fact, Los Angeles County’s Fire Chief calls this summer and fall “probably the most…
Here at TreePeople, we believe that everyone is a bit of a tree person at heart. We understand that not everyone has time to regularly plant or care for trees, let alone dedicate a career to the environment! However, a busy schedule doesn’t doom a tree person to an environmentally-oblivious life. We’ve provided ten ways…
Better yet, handwrite us a letter. TreePeople received a package of just this type of letter from students at Sylvan Elementary School in Van Nuys. The youngsters missed the shade of three trees recently removed from their campus, and they took action. Not just heart-warming, their handwritten letters were effective. They grabbed our attention, and…
Fed-up with the physical appearance of your neighborhood? Aching for a change? It’s simple, really; just jumpstart a stalled nonprofit! Meet Rick Rabins—husband, former jeweler, TreePeople Citizen Forester, and acting president of the nonprofit organization The Village Gardeners (his “full-time gig on the side”). Rick Rabins’ story begins when he realized an oleander scorch disease…
True or false? Artificial turf or “fake grass” is a great alternative to traditional lawns for water-scarce Los Angeles. It needs no water, requires basically no maintenance, and is often billed as an eco-friendly choice because it is made from things like recycled tires. Seems like a no-brainer, but fake grass is not a good…
Three years ago, Amelia Litz was looking for something to do after high school. This South Dakota native knew she wanted to get into something “environmental sciency,” but she didn’t know exactly what. She then found TreePeople through a Google search and has never looked back. “When I moved out here, I decided the best…
Want to get away? Think that Hawaiian vacay is out of your price range? Well, if you still have a lush green lawn on your property, maybe not. The price for grass has doubled! Quick, cash in now and make up to $4,000 (depending on the size of your lawn). The Los Angeles Department of…
As a lifelong Angeleno, Mary remembers a time when she could ride her bike anywhere she wanted and nobody had to worry about where their children were. A time when nothing interesting happened except for an earthquake in 1933. “It was very peaceful, very ordinary,” she recalls of her upbringing. Then, in the late 70s,…
In many ways, Xavier Cervantes is your typical 14-year-old. He’s a freshman in high school, he loves to go camping, and if he could spend a day in the life of any famous person, it would be funny-man George Lopez. But if you ask him for his thoughts on our current environmental crisis, he sounds…
Fire season is a part of LA, right? Like earthquakes and off-the-rails movie stars, if we’ve survived them once we can do it again, right? Wrong. The problem is that with the climate changing, things are getting more intense. This is not your momma’s fire season. Southern California is in its seventh driest year on…
After the President’s speech on climate change this morning, and looking ahead to a hot weekend, we find our thoughts turning to snow. Specifically, Los Angeles’s precious local mountain snowpack. Why is this snowpack important (outside of skiing considerations), you might ask? In a lot of ways, it is a measure of the impact of…