Blog

Saving Money & Saving Water—It Just Makes Sense!

Did you notice the recent rain we had? If you were at our rainwater harvesting workshop, not only did you get a chance to see our watershed garden in action, but you were able to take a rain barrel home for only $10! That’s right. Thanks to a great incentive through SoCal Water Smart, most Los…

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TreePeople Forest Aid Angeles: Become a Volunteer Forest Restoration Leader!

TreePeople and the U.S. Forest Service are gearing up for our fourth season restoring areas within the Angeles National Forest that were devastated by the historic Station Fire of 2009. This is one of the largest volunteer efforts on National Forest land in the United States, and we need your help supervising and educating thousands of…

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Why 57 Million Monarchs Matter

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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California on Track for Driest Year in Recorded History

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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Give a Gift That Keeps on Growing: Dedicate a Tree with TreePeople!

A tree is always the right size, never goes out of style, doesn’t need wrapping, spares shoppers a trip to the mall and reduces climate change. According to the International Society of Arboriculture, a single mature tree can absorb the amount of carbon produced by a car driven 26,000 miles. What better way to celebrate…

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Kids Choose Toys Over Trees?

There’s been quite a bit of outrage over the Toys‘R’Us “Meet the Trees” ad campaign. If you haven’t seen it, I’ll give you a brief synopsis: kids think they’re going on a boring tree-related field trip, but instead get to go to Toys‘R’Us to pick out a free toy. Cue great wonderment and enthusiasm from…

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Taking on the Tyranny of Turf

It’s lining up to be another dry winter, with water reserves at worryingly low levels. So what’s with L.A.’s obsession with expansive green lawns? How did this landscape ideal, imported from rainy Northern Europe, come to mean the good life in water-scarce Los Angeles? Can we keep it up, or is there a better way?…

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Not Enough Water, L.A.? Look Up.

I am excited to announce that today’s edition of the Los Angeles Times carries a timely Op-Ed that I wrote titled, “Not enough water, L.A.? Look up.” Did Mulholland Get it Wrong? Nearly one hundred years ago today, William Mulholland stood before a crowd of 40,000 near San Fernando and unfurled an American flag, signaling…

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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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Giving Back to the Universe

When Dolores Reece decided to head an effort to revitalize the greenery in her Los Angeles neighborhood just north of the 10 Freeway, she felt as if it was something she was meant to be doing. A California native, Dolores grew up with a profound appreciation for the beauty of the natural world and our…

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