February 7, 2024
How We Can Make Tree Equity
in Our Communities a Local and Global Solution
Jad Daley
President and CEO of American Forests
How We Can Make Tree Equity
in Our Communities a Local and Global Solution
Jad Daley
President and CEO of American Forests
Introducer: Michael Mathews and Speaker: Jad Daley
Minutes of the 18th Meeting of the 82nd Year
John Cotton, the presiding officer, called the meeting to order at 10:15 AM. Ruth Miller read the abbreviated minutes from the January 31, 2024, meeting. There were 125 attendees. Guests present were Rob Socolow, Jeffrey Bishop, Carol Ober, Terri Haberman, Pam Machold and Steve Lin. Mr. Cotton announced that we will return to Springdale Golf Club on March 6, 2024, for all subsequent meetings. He asked that members carpool, use public transportation or take the 275 steps from Goldman Road to come to the meeting in order to keep parking more available to Club members. He announced that the next meeting will be on February 14, 2024, featuring Anthony Grafton who will speak about “Archaeology in Renaissance Europe.” That meeting and the following two meetings will be held in the Convocation Room of the Friend Center.
Michael Mathews introduced the day’s speaker, Jad Daley. Mr. Daley is the current president and CEO of American Forests. During his five-year tenure there, he has played a leading role in authoring federal legislation to establish forest programs, is a frequent speaker at global forums for climate change and has written articles regarding tree equity in a number of publications.
Mr. Daley reported that during this century, we have experienced a 94% increase in heat waves that have caused a 370% increase in the heat-related deaths of those 65 and older. Last year, there were 12,000 heat-related deaths in the US. It is speculated that that number will grow to 100,000 by the year 2100 unless we take effective action now.
He posits three possible solutions to this problem of extreme heat. First, he said we can and must build heat resistant buildings designed with built-in passive cooling devices. Second, we can and must create cleaner, more energy-efficient air conditioning and make it more widely available. And third, we can and must invest in planting lots more trees – nature’s best air conditioner. Mr. Daley believes that trees are our oldest and our most efficient technology to address many of the problems caused by climate change. Trees produce physical and mental health benefits. They capture carbon, purify our polluted air and are effective weapons in reducing deaths resulting from extreme heat caused by global warming. A canopy of trees produces a shaded surface that cools an area by 20 to 45 degrees all by itself. We need more trees.
But in all this, there exists what Mr. Daley calls “a deadly inequity” regarding tree distribution. Most of those deaths he had mentioned were in the impoverished parts of our cities and towns – areas that had a dramatic paucity of trees. “A map of trees,” he says, “is a map of income and of race.” The lowest income neighborhoods have 38% less tree cover and are therefore 10 degrees hotter than their largely white and wealthy adjacent neighborhoods. Consequently, we have more far more heat-related deaths there. According to Daley, “This is systemic racism and is not who we are.”
To address this social inequity and to ensure that everyone will benefit from tree plantings requires a data-driven, technically innovative and intersectional approach. American Forest has created a tool called the Tree Equity Score. They have mapped every urban area in America, comparing cities against themselves. Cities can use their score to determine where extreme heat exists and where tree plantings are most needed and will be most effective. They have also partnered with the US Forest Service to determine which trees will be best for a particular locale. As Mr. Daley says, it is important to “plant the right tree in the right place at the right time.”
The organization’s goal is to get every neighborhood up to an acceptable level on the Tree Equity Score by investing in trees. They have been most successful implementing tree planting programs in places where the citizenry has been actively involved and engaged in all phases of the program, from planning to planting.
“It’s about people,” Daley says. Benefits extend to employment. For each million invested, 25.7 good jobs are created. These jobs, accompanied by a short transitional training period, have helped Detroit employ 300 citizens with an emphasis on the formerly incarcerated. The program is saving and changing lives.
Tree Equity is working. Phoenix has committed to tree equity in every neighborhood by 2030. The UK has launched a program. In Dubai, the UN‘s Global Cooling Pledge, signed by 53 nations, includes a Tree Equity commitment. And through the advocacy of our own Senator Corey Booker, our federal government for has recently allocated 1.5 billion dollars from the Inflation Reduction Act for urban forests to address the issue.
In a call to action, Mr. Daley concluded that this is indeed a pivotal moment involving everyone from the government to Girl Scouts. We can all help by educating ourselves on our town’s tree equity score, and by advocating and volunteering in our local neighborhoods to make equitable improvements where improvements are needed, especially in our most distressed neighborhoods. Ninety-one percent of Americans support trees in cities as a vital partial solution to climate change. “We have a moral imperative to make a transformational impact and a profound change,” he told us. “Together, we can do this.”
Respectfully submitted,
Barry Breen
Michael Mathews introduced the day’s speaker, Jad Daley. Mr. Daley is the current president and CEO of American Forests. During his five-year tenure there, he has played a leading role in authoring federal legislation to establish forest programs, is a frequent speaker at global forums for climate change and has written articles regarding tree equity in a number of publications.
Mr. Daley reported that during this century, we have experienced a 94% increase in heat waves that have caused a 370% increase in the heat-related deaths of those 65 and older. Last year, there were 12,000 heat-related deaths in the US. It is speculated that that number will grow to 100,000 by the year 2100 unless we take effective action now.
He posits three possible solutions to this problem of extreme heat. First, he said we can and must build heat resistant buildings designed with built-in passive cooling devices. Second, we can and must create cleaner, more energy-efficient air conditioning and make it more widely available. And third, we can and must invest in planting lots more trees – nature’s best air conditioner. Mr. Daley believes that trees are our oldest and our most efficient technology to address many of the problems caused by climate change. Trees produce physical and mental health benefits. They capture carbon, purify our polluted air and are effective weapons in reducing deaths resulting from extreme heat caused by global warming. A canopy of trees produces a shaded surface that cools an area by 20 to 45 degrees all by itself. We need more trees.
But in all this, there exists what Mr. Daley calls “a deadly inequity” regarding tree distribution. Most of those deaths he had mentioned were in the impoverished parts of our cities and towns – areas that had a dramatic paucity of trees. “A map of trees,” he says, “is a map of income and of race.” The lowest income neighborhoods have 38% less tree cover and are therefore 10 degrees hotter than their largely white and wealthy adjacent neighborhoods. Consequently, we have more far more heat-related deaths there. According to Daley, “This is systemic racism and is not who we are.”
To address this social inequity and to ensure that everyone will benefit from tree plantings requires a data-driven, technically innovative and intersectional approach. American Forest has created a tool called the Tree Equity Score. They have mapped every urban area in America, comparing cities against themselves. Cities can use their score to determine where extreme heat exists and where tree plantings are most needed and will be most effective. They have also partnered with the US Forest Service to determine which trees will be best for a particular locale. As Mr. Daley says, it is important to “plant the right tree in the right place at the right time.”
The organization’s goal is to get every neighborhood up to an acceptable level on the Tree Equity Score by investing in trees. They have been most successful implementing tree planting programs in places where the citizenry has been actively involved and engaged in all phases of the program, from planning to planting.
“It’s about people,” Daley says. Benefits extend to employment. For each million invested, 25.7 good jobs are created. These jobs, accompanied by a short transitional training period, have helped Detroit employ 300 citizens with an emphasis on the formerly incarcerated. The program is saving and changing lives.
Tree Equity is working. Phoenix has committed to tree equity in every neighborhood by 2030. The UK has launched a program. In Dubai, the UN‘s Global Cooling Pledge, signed by 53 nations, includes a Tree Equity commitment. And through the advocacy of our own Senator Corey Booker, our federal government for has recently allocated 1.5 billion dollars from the Inflation Reduction Act for urban forests to address the issue.
In a call to action, Mr. Daley concluded that this is indeed a pivotal moment involving everyone from the government to Girl Scouts. We can all help by educating ourselves on our town’s tree equity score, and by advocating and volunteering in our local neighborhoods to make equitable improvements where improvements are needed, especially in our most distressed neighborhoods. Ninety-one percent of Americans support trees in cities as a vital partial solution to climate change. “We have a moral imperative to make a transformational impact and a profound change,” he told us. “Together, we can do this.”
Respectfully submitted,
Barry Breen