Urban Forestry: How U.S. Cities Are Gradually Greening

Everybody loves a free giveaway. And increasingly, this affinity for freebies is being used in cities, to promote environmental citizenship.

Los Angeles, New York City, and Denver have committed to the Million Trees Initiative, an ongoing project to increase the urban forest and reduce carbon dioxide in the air by planting trees. Now other cities are catching on.

TreePhilly, a greening initiative led by Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, makes it easier for Philadelphians to improve their communities by providing residents with free trees to plant in their yards. Their goal is to plant 15,000 new trees in the city this year—part of a greater effort by the city to increase the tree canopy in Philly.

Through the program, city residents can submit an online form to request two free yard trees per address. They then pick up the trees at a Yard Tree Giveaway event, where they can learn how to properly plant and maintain the new trees.

Earlier this year, the City of Temple Terrace in Florida established a similar initiative, the Adopt-A-Tree program, which offers free trees to homeowners after a site assessment by the Code Compliance Department. Code officers then talk to the homeowner about where the tree should be planted and then buy, deliver, and plant it.

Would you plant a tree in your yard if you could get it for free?

Image (cc) Flickr user Jun Takeuchi