Plant More Trees!

Did you know that urban trees reduce an estimated 711,000 metric tons of air pollution globally every year? How Trees Clean the Air

As a major “Progressive” city, San Francisco should be leading the way for tree advocacy, especially since (due to our coastal climate) we lose hundreds of trees alone during our stormy winter season of January and February. Storms Cause Tree Carnage

In order to keep up with the carnage these annual winter storms cause, San Francisco should plant 30,000 trees within the next few years. SF Standard

This would not only replenish those we’ve lost (and have failed to keep up with by not planting enough), but would also combat climate change by renewing our city’s ecosystem and allow for decreased carbon footprint.

Our City By the Bay currently has only 669,000 trees, covering about 15% of our land mass. Tree Population Map That might sound like a lot, but it’s not enough, and frankly, it’s not spread out proportionately. Some areas of our city are plentiful with vegetation, whereas others fall short by a gut-wrenching degree.

The dialogue about increasing recreational desirability in the downtown area doesn’t bring up the tree issue enough. There is simply too much open space in our financial district not to have trees—and once planted it’s an ingredient that will guarantee further inclination for residents (and tourists) to hang out there.