“When we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and hope”
? Wangari Maathai. Nobel Peace Prize 2004.
Listen to the full interview
Imagine being able to go out for a walk, play and enjoy under the canopy of healthy, leafy trees, which beyond recreating the view, serve as an air filter, helping the health of the community, in addition to lowering the temperature of cities. That is the goal of Canopies, an organization that has made it its priority to create thriving urban forests where they are most needed.
Canopy Director Jean-Paul “JP” Renaud spoke with Manuel Ortiz on Por la Libre, Peninsula 360 Press’ mobile community radio station, where he explained the need for mobile radio in cities like East Palo Alto, North Fair Oaks, and Menlo Park, among other cities in San Mateo County.
"Canopy is a community organization that plants trees in five different cities here in San Mateo. It's important to plant trees because the three communities we're working with in East Palo Alto, North Fair Oaks, and Belle Heaven, need trees more than anything. There aren't enough trees here, so we work with the community every day to see how we can solve that problem," she said.
But Canopy doesn't do the job alone, so it involves the community to carry out the great task of populating cities with bowls.
"It is important for us to involve the community in this work, because when they invest in their community, when they work to plant trees with us, they learn something about trees and why it is important to plant them, and they also learn about the needs of our communities," Renaud stressed.
This Saturday, April 20, Canopy staff, along with volunteers, planted six bowls in residential spaces in North Fair Oaks, at the request of the homeowners themselves.
And it is that, cont Canopy plants bowls in private spaces, because it is very complicated to do so in public spaces.