In case you missed it in The New York Times, “This year, for the first time in memory, the monarch butterflies didn’t come, at least not on the Day of the Dead. They began to straggle in a week later than usual, in record-low numbers. Last year’s low of 60 million now seems great compared…

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Have you ever wondered how to move away from a thirsty planted landscape to a more climate appropriate one? How you could get more trees, greenery and shade in your neighborhood without needing a huge amount of additional water? How you could do your part to prevent water pollution and save water by collecting rain?…

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Yes, it just rained in L.A. And since this is the season of gratitude, we should all give thanks for that ½” of rainfall, because in this dry year—the driest in 164 years—we need to make every drop count. It’s hard to remember that technically we are in a severe drought. After all, we can…

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“It is not what we have that will make us a great nation; it is the way in which we use it.” -Teddy Roosevelt This Saturday is the 20th Anniversary of National Public Lands Day! This is the nation’s largest, single-day volunteer effort for public lands. So what are your Saturday plans? How about saving…

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Whatever you’re doing on Saturday, October 5, cancel it, call-in sick, quickly clone yourself, something. Just do whatever you need to do to get to TreePeople’s FREE Community Sustainability Workshop. Why the rush? Well, believe it or not, soon it will rain in Los Angeles, and now is the time to get ready. Native plant…

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Is the summer heat leaving you feeling a bit parched? Perhaps your landscaping is thirsty, too? If so, you’re not alone. People all over the southwestern United States are realizing that our traditional green lawn landscapes are more difficult and expensive to keep watered in hot, dry years like this one. So much so that…

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Up until recently, many Angelinos didn’t even know what a parkway was. Often called a planting strip, median, nature space or tree lawn—people were confused about what to call it, much less what to do with this section of our cityscape. Now all that’s changed. One little LA Times column by Steve Lopez, lots of…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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On average, Los Angeles gets only a quarter of an inch of rainfall in May. And yet… This year—a very dry one at that—we got a full inch of rain with the last storm. That bit of rainfall not only helped squelch the wildfires (which had an earlier than usual start this year), but it…

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