L.A.'s One Million Trees

By Dan Shapley News Editor Los Angeles is thought to be the first U.S. city to follow some of its more progressive sisters around the world in an ambitious form of urban forestry: planting 1 million trees. For the nation's second-largest city, whose name is synonymous with freeways and smog, this was a bold step. The initiative will plant approximately one tree for every four people in L.A. (pop. 3,844,829). Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's idea clearly tapped into something deep in the community, because the response since September has been tremendous, project manager Hutson Morris-Irvin said. By the end of April, the city had planted more than 73,000 trees - a record for the most trees planted by a community in such a short period of time. Morris-Irvin said she''s been impressed by the way neighborhoods, and sometimes-disparate portions of the community have come together to plant trees. "Everyone in the city is rolling up their sleeves figuring out how we're going to do this," she said. The idea has caught on. Mayor Michael Bloomberg included 1 million new trees in his recently announced sustainability initiative for the nation's largest city, New York. Which city will be next? More of May's Innovators A Waste-to-Ice Cream Initiative in Lancaster, Pa. Efficient Homes By Design In Greenburg, N.Y. A Zero-water Building In Little Rock, Ark. April's Innovators A Local Food Web Site in Plymouth, N.H. The Eternal Sunshine of Solar Access in Boulder, Colo. The Green Roof Revolution in Chicago, Ill. Clean Mobility in the Twin Cities