The TreePeople

TreePeople is an environmental nonprofit operating in Los Angeles, California, that works with trees, people and technology to grow a sustainable future for their city. Since their beginning in the 1970’s TreePeople focused on educating and inspiring people to plant and care for trees to help nature heal cities. For example, among other positive effects, trees help improve urban air quality and help mitigate the urban heat island effect. And not only do trees and plants make for a more friendly-looking city landscape, it has also been shown that trees and plants are instrumental in improving people’s health. For example, patients with views of trees out their windows heal faster and with less complications and children with ADHD show fewer symptoms when they have access to nature.

TreePeople brings a huge benefit to Los Angeles as the organisation fights against 90 percent of the school grounds in L.A. being covered by asphalt, against the worst air quality of any major city in the United States that poses a threat to the health of all residents and against 85 percent of the water it uses that has to be imported at a huge cost to consumers and the ecosystems that supply it. With help from volunteers, partners and communities, the project lessens the impact of these problems by creating a functioning community forest in every neighborhood.