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Recommendation to receive and file a presentation on the Giving Heart Tree Project, a gift from Council District 2 and from Councilwoman Pearce.
DISCUSSION
Councilwoman Pearce is launching the A Giving Heart Tree Project as a gift to the Second District, intended to help us be the best version of ourselves. There are 2,300 empty tree wells in the Second District. We know trees consume 50% of their weight in Carbon Dioxide (CO2), the chemical associated with lung disease, asthma, and cancer. Trees clean our air, but they do so much more. Buddha found enlightenment beneath a bo tree, Newton discovered gravity when an apple fell from a tree, and Aristotle did his best thinking in the shade of majestic trees. The hope is the community comes together to support this project, to help each other strengthen the roots and support for a cleaner future for everyone.
Councilwoman Pearce launched the project with $50,000 from the Second District’s Divide by Nine funds. The City has set up a fund with Partners of Parks where donors can make a tax deductible donation to sponsor a tree or many trees. The City’s website will provide information on how many trees each donation level supports, the number of jobs, and the estimated climate impact over the next 5 and 10 years. This is information that companies can include in their Corporate Social Responsibility (C.S.R) Plan. CSR’s are becoming increasingly popular with Fortune 500 companies, as millennials overwhelmingly support organizations that focus on the 3 P’s - People, Planet and Profit as a business model.
When all 2,300 trees have been planted, there will have been 6,000 work hours created. This project is about more than climate change and trees. It’s about creating a sustainable community, with good living wage jobs. This project will deliver Sustainable, Ecological, Environmental Dedication (SEEDs) to the Second District of the City of Long Beach.
The majority of the trees are located in neighborhoods ...
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