New LA Neighborhood Council Sustainability Alliance Takes Its First Steps at TreePeople Center

TreePeople has always imagined our conference center here at Coldwater Canyon Park as a space that fosters important conversations around sustainability. Over the years, it has held a host of events including a State Assembly Committee hearing, collaborative discussions on infrastructure, to name a couple. Last Saturday’s event, the kick-off forum for the Neighborhood Council…

Read more →

Boys and Girls Club Youth Care for Local Park Trees

Engaging youth is a cornerstone of TreePeople’s values, dating back to when our founder Andy Lipkis started replanting forests at just 15 years old. In the spirit of our roots, we offered a group of teens from a local Boys and Girls Club a series of workshops leading up to a tree care event in…

Read more →

KCET SoCal Connected: Capturing Rainwater One Rain Barrel at a Time

Last month during the height of the scant LA rainfall, KCET SoCal Connected’s Val Zavala interviewed our Founder and President, Andy Lipkis on the importance of capturing every drop that falls to wean our city off imported water and strengthen our local water supply.  Read on for the full story and be sure to watch…

Read more →

4 Ways to Spread the Tree-Love on Valentine’s Day

No matter if you’re celebrating “Single’s Awareness Day,” or if you’re spending the day with your sweetie, TreePeople has your tree-love needs covered! Get Some Fresh Air: Take a Trip to Los Feliz for a Park Tree Planting!   In honor of St. Valentine, we’re spreading the love in the heart of LA at a…

Read more →

I Am TreePeople: Maya Alarcon

I Am TreePeople: Maya Alarcon  TreePeople has a legacy of mobilizing communities. But it’s the stories of the people at the roots of our work that inspire us every day to keep greening our city for generations to come. Meet Maya Alarcon, a TreePeople volunteer and the first in the lineup for our story series,…

Read more →

Where did 356 sq ft of Asphalt go at El Dorado Elementary School?

Across two weekends last month, more than 200 volunteers, kids, parents, teachers and TreePeople staff gathered to put 46 trees in the ground at El Dorado Elementary School in Sylmar, deep in the San Fernando Valley. Volunteers watch a tree planting demonstration at El Dorado Elementary School. We primed the location ahead of the big…

Read more →

3 Things You Can Do with TreePeople to Cool LA

If you’re reading this, it’s likely you know that climate change is humanity’s most urgent challenge. And you likely have an inkling that TreePeople has some viable solutions to offer. You’re correct. With the announcement that 2014 was the Earth’s hottest year in recorded history, it’s clearer than ever that we must get planting, and…

Read more →

California ReLeaf: Real Conversations About Working Within Disadvantaged Communities

Working with low-income communities on pathways to sustainability has been a cornerstone of TreePeople’s work for decades. Here, our Director of Forestry, Rachel Malarich shares some of her hard-won insights in this important conversation linking the success of urban forestry to building strong relationships inside underserved populations. Read on for the full story from California…

Read more →

How to Take Charge of Your Water Supply and Harvest the Rain

Would it sound crazy if we said you’re taking showers, flushing your toilet and watering your lawn with Evian water? Pretty much. But Angelenos use about half of all their drinking-quality water for landscaping (!), 20% to flush their toilets and a whopping 18% for showering—If not exactly Evian brand, it’s water that could be…

Read more →

How to Give and Get

TreePeople is kicking off 2015 by offering new perks to our most dedicated volunteers. Whether you’ve only volunteered with us once, or if you’re a seasoned veteran, we want to recognize the important work you do to make LA a green, livable city. This year, if you attend five or more volunteer events we’ll award…

Read more →

Volunteer Spotlight: Wendy Hagan

TreePeople fosters relationships—with the Earth, our cities and with each other, no matter our ages or backgrounds. It’s this multi-generational value that forges lasting bonds and a passion to cherish and protect the environment. Enter Wendy Hagan, a local science teacher at Granada Hills Charter High School. Her story dates back years ago. A native…

Read more →

Concrete and Mulch: Industrial Downtown gets the Green Treatment

Skid Row and its surrounding communities often are labeled with associations of sprawling concrete and warehouses, rampant homelessness, drug use and destitution. Though green spaces and trees aren’t a big part of the landscape (yet), this neighborhood is a vibrant corner of the city that offers a place to begin again to its residents who…

Read more →