Transcript:
In April, volunteers gathered at Elijah Perry Park in Camden, New Jersey, to plant trees.
The event kicked off We Grow Camden, an initiative to plant 3,000 trees across the city over the next few years.
Dennis: “A ton of residents stopped through to not just ask what we were doing, but to thank us for doing it. We shared food. We gave away some shade trees for folks that wanted to plant in front of their home. … Yeah, it was a really beautiful day.”
Justin Dennis is with the Trust for Public Land, one of the groups leading the project.
He says in many low-income Camden neighborhoods, trees are few and far between.
So the sun beats down on dark surfaces like pavement that absorb heat, making those areas much hotter than leafier suburbs nearby.
Trees help cool cities by providing shade and pulling heat out of the air. And they also filter air pollution and soak up stormwater.
So We Grow Camden will help reforest the city and train local residents to care for the trees as they grow.
Dennis: “Trees that are well-maintained along a block or within a community, they tell a story that a community matters, right, and that its future is worth nurturing. It’s not just taking care of what’s important today, but looking forward that 50 and 70 years to say, ‘Hey, this is your place. Stay here.’”
Reporting credit: Ethan Freedman / ChavoBart Digital Media
