Want to know how to survive the next natural disaster? Think community and good neighbors, not concrete barricades and security guards, as Eric Klinenberg recently recommended. Klinenberg says in an NPR interview,  “In light of the risk we face with climate change, I sincerely hope that we invest in the social infrastructure. Because when a real disaster strikes, it’s the social stuff that might make the difference between life and death.” At TreePeople we’ve been building resilient communities one tree at a time for more than 40 years through programs designed specifically to connect people with each other through environmental stewardship.

Our volunteers often come to TreePeople thinking it’s all about the trees, but what they find is that it’s really about the people.  Hence the name TreePeople. From our Citizen Forester Program to our Outreach Volunteer Supervisor Training to Branching Out events, we bring Angelenos together to improve the environment in neighborhoods across the city. They create positive and hopeful  connections not only with  “their” trees but with their neighbors, sowing the seeds of a resilient and sustainable community.

Come to our next Community Sustainability Workshop on Saturday, February 23, and find out how you can help create some real security for us all.