Think, just to begin. So could you first tell me what's your role at tree people and how long you've been working there? Just your intro to that.
Yeah. So I manage our elementary education programming, and I have been at tree people for a bit over two years now, but yeah, it's been great. I started as an eco educator, so my main role was leading the field trips with our students, and then I moved into a coordinated position, so that then entailed reaching out to schools more and really trying to bring in new people to our programs. And then now I'm managing the elementary so we're the education team is broken up into an elementary team, a middle and a high team. So yeah, I'm mainly working with the little kids. Oh, that's fun. Yeah, actually fun.
So for someone who's not like, based in LA or knows about treat people, how would you best describe the organization, like as an introduction?
Yeah. So we're a grassroots organization that's been around for a bit over 50 years now. So we were actually founded by a local teenager, and he's still around. We just like, had an event with him the other day, so that's super cool. But yeah, so I would say we're really just super community based, right? Like we're from LA, we work for LA, and what we mainly do is, well, I say we're first really well known for our tree plantings, because that's how we initially started with doing a mountain restoration as well as street tree planting. So what we call our like, urban or community forestry plantings. But then pretty soon after education started as well. And so that really entails field trips as well as in classroom presentations, all kind of talking about, like some basic Earth Science, environmental science, but also really teaching the importance of stewardship, like land stewardship and so, like, the importance of native plants taking care of our water here, right, which is a big issue in LA, so I would say that is one of our biggest goals, is, like the teaching the science, but also really wanting to inspire students to want to get involved and really help their communities too with environmental injustices.
No, that, that's wonderful. I feel like there is such a lack of that education as in schools. Yeah, I, I don't remember, like, I mean, I had some environmental science classes, but it usually, you know, there's not as much focus on as other other subjects, yeah, sure. You know, like, LA is such such a vast city, and there's so much diverse and beautiful nature, but the the paradox is, like it has all this beautiful nature, but it's very much inaccessible to a lot of people, especially in low income neighborhoods. So I'd love if you could talk a little bit more. You kind of mentioned it, but more about how Tree People works to kind of bring more green infrastructure into under resourced areas, and also kind of make both nature more accessible to all Angelenos, and also like the education and knowledge of how to take care of the nature around us. Yeah, yeah,
yeah. So as for when you said green infrastructure, I immediately thought of our green infrastructure team that I originally recently have started to get to work with them on our, specifically our school greening projects. And so I've recently gotten to get involved with the education portion, which is super cool. I think that's awesome. I love the collaboration of not only are we going into schools that are in areas that are, like historically underserved, and so we're get putting in trees and plants and gardens and all that stuff, but I think we've also recognized the importance of engaging the students in it. So it's like, not as much of a we're coming in and doing this for you. You know, it's like we're all doing this together. And, like, we really want to, like, help, like you said, spread the knowledge of how to continue it as well. I feel like I often think of the like, what's that? The saying where it's like, you can give a man a fish, but if you teach them to fish, or some, you know,
something like, you can lead the horse to water, but you can't, like, teach them to drink, like, or something, yeah, yeah,
right, where it's like, it's like, it's not super helpful if an org just comes in and does something and doesn't involve the community and then just leaves. But so I think we're really good at actively trying to involve the community and really, like, figure out, like, what works in a partnership as well. So yeah, so we definitely do a good amount of that with, just like our school green and green infrastructure promotion, but then with also our urban community tree plantings, I would say that's also a way that we really specifically focus on areas that have low tree. Canopy coverage, and maybe they really suffer from the urban heat island effect. And we know that, that there's reasons behind that. You know what I mean? Like, it's not just it didn't happen out of nowhere. It is, like you said, often in low income communities. So I think that we really try to focus our time on those specific areas, and then we also, as far as for education, in the past couple years, have really gotten more into actually, grant funded field trips. So historically, we had to rely on a lot of paid field trips, and we still do do paid field trips, but you know, we recognize that with that, we're bringing in certain populations that are more privileged, maybe already have access to nature, you know what I mean? And so since we really do want to promote the environmental justice aspect of our organization, we've started to receive more grant funding that we're able to bring in schools from specific regions that have low access to outdoors. So we use a variety of metrics, of like, you know, some that are more like specific statistics, you know what? I mean? Like, we have some tools that we use to find out, just like the low access to nature. However, I we do also, I feel like use data that's maybe more personal by going into the communities, you know, but yeah, so we've been doing a good amount of that with education, which I think has been super important. It's been awesome, like, bringing students out to nature for free, like, to areas that they've never been before, maybe they've not even really been to a park, besides, you know, just like, like a little tiny green space with a playground, you know what I mean? But yeah, so it's, it's been it's been really cool. It's been great. But, yeah, I think those are some of our big things that we are doing right now in that aspect
that's so amazing. Yeah, I mean, I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, and, you know, there's a lack of green spaces around, like, certain areas. So that's so wonderful that, like, you're, you're able to take kids out into nature, other than, like, the small parts that are in the neighborhood, right, talking about, like grants and kind of going into schools. I was wondering, what is tree people's collaboration with, like, local and state government organizations, and how does that look, from what you know? Yeah,
so tree people, in general, I know does have some federal funding. I with education department, I actually don't think we currently have any federal funding. We do have some state funding as well as LA county funding, I would say those are our biggest ones, yes, for the state, and then LA County specifically. And so we have a super great grants team that helps us with all of our proposals. We're always searching for new opportunities, new money, because, as with the grants, it's a limited time, you know what I mean. And like some are longer than others, some are very short, but so we're constantly having to apply for more. But I would say that we found a pretty good partnership within the local LA County, but the state as well has been a pretty consistent funder for us. Interesting. Okay,
I was so, you know,
I feel like over the past two decades, LA has experienced a lot of the consequences of climate change, whether it's extreme heat waves or like the wildfires we had, especially this January. I was wondering, after those like natural disasters that happen, what is tree people's role in helping both rehabilitate, you know, parts of the city, but also help communities kind of process the like the disaster that happened?
Yeah, so we right after the big fires and stuff, worked on some literature that we could put out for wildfire resilience. And I would say that that really mainly comes from our mountain forestry team. So I spoke a good amount earlier about our urban forestry, our our community forestry team, so we also have our mountain forestry, mountain restoration team, and they're the ones who are really actively going out and trying to bring communities into helping do this restoration by planting native plants. That's a big one that we talk about. So I would say that is one of our, really our main focuses for wild wildfire resilience and all that sort of stuff. It says that's our focus. We do have some people that focus a bit more on, like water conservation and stuff like that, as well as, like the green infrastructure team, you know what I mean? Like to include more drought tolerant and like native plants that are meant to be in our climate. Obviously, there are fires that have gotten beyond, like the normal. You know what I mean? Like, I'm not trying to say it's completely normal, but we have always had at least some fires here, and so our native plants are meant to withstand that, and even sometimes actually, like flourish after that. So I would say that is really our. Main spin on the wildfire resilience, to be honest, is really just encouraging people to come out and help us with our volunteer restoration. Because, yeah, we're really focusing on the importance of getting native plants out there, trying to get out all of the other little ones that create too much brush and like, make it even faster. But yeah, I would say that is our main way that we were helping with that.
That's very cool. Uh, you know,
I feel like for Gen Z, growing up in the narrow where climate change has, like, intensified so quickly, and, you know, every day there seems to be news about, you know, whether it's like the floods in Texas or the fires here in LA, like, every day there's some type of climate change related news, and it can be very overwhelming. It can make you kind of feel like you have no control or power over, you know, preventing these types of disasters. So I was wondering, like, what is tree people's approach? And maybe turning that anxiety or dread into maybe advocacy and action, especially when you, like, in your field, when you're working with kids, and, you know, I'm I imagine there could be a lot of confusion about, like, why these things are happening. So I'd love to hear your perspective on that, yeah, yeah,
yeah. So it's definitely something that we talk a lot about with within education, with everyone, but especially within education, we do talk about that a lot. And so I would say that really, especially with the little kids, one of our main things that we try to do is we try to make it fun. Like, you know, in like, I think there's a fine line of we don't want to be too doom and gloom, because, like you're saying, it could actually deter people if they're like, this is too overwhelming. You know what I mean. Like, what can I do, however, but you do still want to be truthful about the situation. So I think that we like walk the line pretty well. And I would say we're really our educators are very well trained in gaging the like, the students, maybe, like, depending on the age group, or, like, yeah, like the what sort of information we should, we should give them, and how to spin it or frame it, you know what I mean. So like with the little kids, I would say we don't, like ignore things if they do have questions. But we try to make it really fun and engaging because, like, research has shown that for for when you're little, that like, you hang on to positive memories, right? Like, so positive experiences are going to stay in your head, right? That's going to be the core memory. Like, you're going to come back to nature. If you have fun, you like remember being out there in specific activities, it kind of instills like the oh, I have fun in nature. I care about nature. I want to continue the protection of nature. So I would say, at least with little kids, that is our main approach. As for with older students, I do think we get more into the like, outright promoting advocacy, like you were saying. And I think we do that by really, just like, we have a pretty down to earth collaborative communication. When we work with students, we try not to be like, I'm the teacher and I'm saying this to you, like, we really try to say, like, I'm also a learner, like, I'm like, what? What's important to you? Like, what should we talk about that you care about in terms of the environment, right? Which, for some students, they might be like, I don't know. Like, I don't know anything. Yes, like, they might not even realize that what they're interested in is tied to, actually, our the health of our environment, right? Like, fashion, right? Like, I feel like there's a lot of like, young people that are interested in fashion and really, actually interested in, like, thrifting and like, just doing, like, remake clothes, which is actually, it's like, okay, well, you're already an environmentalist.
Be doing so sustainable behavior. Yeah,
exactly, yeah, right. Like they're, they're promoting sustainability. So there's just all these little ways that I think we really try and relate to students in those things and try to make it tailored to their interests. And also, I think just something else that we do pretty good is that an education team, especially, but actually, across the board, we have a very, like, a big variety of backgrounds. So like, we do have people who have a master's degree, but we also have people who didn't go to college at all. Right, we're like, they actually, like, volunteered with tree people, and they were inspired just by doing that, right? So I think we really try to also share all of our journeys. Like, actually, a good amount of us in education don't have a degree in environmental science, like, we maybe have, maybe we have more education. Maybe we just love being in nature and we love kids, you know what I mean? So think like, we've all been brought together just because we have the the passion, the work ethic, and so I think in that way, we're also pretty strong in that, like we share that there's multiple paths to becoming an environmentalist. Like you don't have to have a you don't have to have a master's degree in environmental science. You know what I mean? You can do all these little. On your own to really be like an advocate for your community and yourself and the world.
No, that's so wonderful. I think you put that perfectly, because, yeah, I feel like sometimes just if you feel like you don't have the education, or you feel like you don't have the knowledge, you kind of detach yourself even more. So that's good, that treat people helps empower like community members. And I on that like kind of topic, I guess I was wondering, like, how does treat people, like, outside of schools, like, engage community members, like, how do you convince people to get out and, like, come to the events and help out? What does that look like?
Yeah, so our community outreach engagement team, they do a lot of on the ground work, actually. So they'll go around and they'll sometimes even do door to door canvassing. They attend a lot of local events as well. So like, if we find out, like, a community center in this city is, you know, they're having a little event. We'll, we'll table it, you know what I mean. So I think try to be very active in going to local events. And, yeah, really just like attending door to door and like things like that that are in the specific communities. I had another thing I was going to say. Now I lost my train of thought, but yeah, so I would say we're really good at going into the schools and promoting it too. But also, just like working to get into any little spot that we can so even like putting up our flyers, like at a local restaurant or something, you know, like the spots where people hang out. And we do really try to also hire from the communities as well, so that we have this insight into, like, what actually works, you know what I mean, so that we're not all just like outsiders being like, hm, I they maybe this will work. You know what I mean? Like, so yeah, like, have people who are from these communities, which I think just also kind of bridges that gap more when, like, if we're at tabling, like this person who's speaking to you, they're like, I'm from your town. Like, I'm from this city here too, you know what I mean, or this community, this neighborhood, whatever. But yeah, I would say we're pretty hands on, really, just trying to get out there and speak to as many people as possible,
as possible. Yeah, and what, what has been like a highlight of working at treat people, or like a core memory that you've had from your time?
Honestly, the people that I work with are so great. Like, I like the work, and I like, I'm someone too that I have more of an education background, not as much environmental science, but I've always like, liked hiking, you know, stuff like that. So that's like, I got into the work. And so, like, I like the work, don't get me wrong. Like, it's not always been, like, my clear path, but I do really it now, but the people are so great. Like, I love who I work with. I feel like everyone is just so caring and so compassionate and just like, really knowledgeable in what they do, but with that spin of, like, the justice, the community centered, I feel like all of us, just like, really care about that, which to me, makes it so great, right? Like, everyone loves the work we do. But yeah, so honestly, besides the people, I think I like that. I've gotten to experience the other different departments. So treat people in the last few years has grown a lot, yeah, but so like in during the summer time where we have like education team, we maybe have less tours, we go around and we'll help the urban forestry team, we'll help the mountain forestry team. We do restoration at our main park. You know what I mean. So I think that that aspect has also been really fun for me, that I've gotten to learn different things within tree people. But I would say my like, biggest standout thing, though, is really like seeing the kids come up to our Park who maybe haven't been out into like a forest before coming out and just being so amazed and having so much fun. It's just like,
Yeah, I don't know. It's just like, from their eyes, and exactly like, you
get to be a kid again, and it's just yeah, it's just amazing to see, honestly, like, just how happy they are and like, even if sometimes they're scared, like, even if they see a spider, I feel like at the end of the day, they're still interested in it, you know what I mean. And like, I'm sure they went back and told their parents and whoever like, I saw this when I was outside, you know what I mean. So, yeah, really, just seeing children get to experience these new things that unfortunately have been taken away from them based on all of our, you know, all the, all of a sudden, all of our systems of oppression that we have, I think it's really great that, like, students get to go out and reconnect with something that they never should have lost anyway,
that that's such a great point, especially, like, you know, the pandemic kind of made people even. More reclusive and attached to, yeah, you know, their devices and everything so, like, kind of reconnecting with nature is, I feel like such an important part, and so great to hear that the team is so passionate. And that's probably why true people has been around for so long, so for for like Gen Z, who maybe isn't based in LA or Southern California. Um, what inspiration Do you think they can take from tree people in organizing efforts in their communities? Um, because our magazine is kind of like, not like we have people from all over the world writing. So I'd love to hear, you know, how can true people inspire others,
yeah, I mean, so I would say that our,
our story of beginning, I would say is, in itself, is pretty inspiring, because I, as I mentioned at the very beginning, right, like we were founded by a teenager who he was just really inspired by what was happening with with him, and he started small, And just, like, gain traction, because he was very consistent in it. And so I think something like that is helpful. Where it's like, you don't need to even have, like, the biggest, most grand dream out there. Like, literally, all he was trying to do is just plant some trees. Like, that's like, it he just wanted to plant trees. And so it's like, that's pretty simple, right? It's like, but you have to find a way to get there. And so I think that, like knowing that, if you're consistent, and just really talking to anyone you know, like, try to talk to anyone to see if there's any sort of resources that you could gather, because obviously we don't all the same, like, access to things that everyone else does. And I'm so, I think just like really trying to go out there. And actually that could be something that's like, good about our digital connection is that you can actually reach more people than maybe you used to. Like, I would say, really, just like, figure out a simple mission, like, something like, very easy like, that you feel like you can do, but that will make an impact. And like, really, just like, be consistent in your work, connect with as many people as possible. And I think that's something that our founder did do, that has really just, like, got us to be where we are now. We've expanded so much, right? Like, we literally just do plantings out in the mountains that, like, that was it for a bit. But, yeah, I feel like, you know, find the issue that's specific to you. Because, again, going back to the story, this was at a time where the pollution in LA was so much worse, like, we already think of it as being kind of bad. Yeah, it was so much worse back then. And he learned, like, oh, trees actually help clean the air, right? Like, because I think we all know that, like, Trees give us oxygen, right? But, like, they actually help, like, clean it too. So they're very important for the pollution. So it was just something simple like that, right? Like, where he saw an immediate, obvious problem, right? Of like, the smog, all the pollution in the air, and was a fix that he was like, Okay, I think I can do this, as long as I, like, find the right community to help me with it. So I think that's part of it too. Is like, you, like, don't be all on your own, you know what I mean? Like, like, if you have your own idea, that's great. But I do think really lean on the community around you, because I think you'll find more times than not that other people also want to do something about it. And so yeah, the collaboration, I think is so important.
Mm, hmm, oh, that's wonderfully put I feel like a lot a lot of times for, you know, Gen, the Gen Z community, we're very much overloaded with a lot of information. But then, like, whether it's through social media, but it's good to, kind of, like, break it down into one, like, specific thing you can focus on to, yeah, you know, at least feel like you're, you're contributing back to your community. So it definitely is a very inspirational story the way he, he's built, built, treat people over the years. Um, one other thing I was wondering about, you know, under our, the current and presidential administration, you know, he Trump, has signed a lot of executive orders calling for, like, massive deer forestation, defunding national parks, you know, denying climate change, all this, like, negative portrayal of climate efforts. So I was wondering, you know, given that current like political environment, why do you think like these organizations like treat people, or how can organizations like Tree People help kind of fight back against that type of talk and fight back against those Efforts to pull us back into
a worse situation,
yeah, yeah. I
think that really our, the connection with our community and our grassroots aspect, I think is really important because, like, yeah, we can make a post on social media, you know what? I mean. We can, like, do it. Could do, like, big, broad things. But I think really like talking. Individuals so that, like a lot of just, just like people that we can speak with and kind of promote more of the like that we know climate change,
but like we can do
all these things together. I think it's something that would work really well for us, and that we do lean on, just because, like, we are so community centered that I think really like making sure that everyone else around us is on the same page, right? Like, we can go out there and speak to people, but I think like going into like new regions like we do, or maybe like new schools like we do, because it can't be easy, I guess, for us to get like and everyone, not just us, but like, to kind of get in, like, in like, in a bit of an echo chamber, you know what I mean, where it's like, well, sure, because everyone that follows us probably believes in what we're doing. You know what I'm so, like, I don't know how many, like, new people we would be reaching with that, but if we go out into the just the general community, you never know who's out there. And so like, when we're, like, just working on the street, when we're planting trees on the street. The few times I that's not my main job, right? But the few times I have been out there, almost like every time neighbors come out to speak to us and talk about what we're doing. And some of them are automatically like, yes, yay. But some of them aren't, you know what I mean, they're like, Oh, this is a tree that could fall on my house, which is like, you know, this is fair. But we then get into a conversation with them, where we're talking about, like the benefits of the benefits of the tree, right, and like the benefits of larger community too, like, and so I think really just going in and trying to combat this super destructive rhetoric, narratives, whatever that they're pushing with individuals, I think something that we can do, and also other people, right too. I think it's like, you don't have to be a huge company to do that
for sure. And yeah, it sometimes it Yeah, it comes down to just like talking to people, and like answering their questions, and, yeah, viewing that confusion, and when you're open to talking to them and like acknowledging their perspective, they might be more receptive to accepting, you know, what, your perspective. So I think that's that's wonderfully put. Um, I think, yeah, those are, like, a majority of my questions, like covering everything that true people represents. I was wondering if there were maybe any like images or resources that I could highlight in the article, or I can share whether it's like or if you know someone I should reach out to to get like stuff like that, because I'd love to like include some images or like links to treat people's website, yeah, yeah, anything like that, yeah,
yeah. I can definitely get that to you. I was actually kind of just looking at stuff like that for someone else. No, yeah. I can definitely, I can. I can email you those, yeah, like, like links to like, our, like, certain web pages, or maybe like, do, like, brochures or educational materials, like stuff like that, or
like, I'd say, probably like the definitely link to like the website. Well, I have the link to the website, but more like, yeah, the educational brochures that are geared towards, like, young people learning more about climate change, and then any like images that you guys have, like, you know, whether it's, you know, on during volunteer times, pictures like that, just to share, I think that would be the main two things I love to highlight in the article. If it's possible to get those, yeah,
yeah, yeah, for sure. Okay, yeah, I can do that. Yeah. Thank you so much.
Um, I think that's the base of it. Do you have any questions that, or anything else that you might want to add on that we haven't covered? I feel like we went through a good ground of it, but if there's something I might have missed or anything like that?
Um, no, I think you had great questions. Yeah, I think you really covered it. Covered a lot of it. You
gave me such great responses. It's definitely, and I love how passionate you are, and it's, I'm like, these types of organizations give me a lot of hope, and seeing them actually, you know, work in the community. It's all, it's always great. So I'll be in touch with you. I'll let you know once the article is ready, and then to go. And if you could share those resources, that would be great. Yeah, that's the gist of it. Okay,
awesome. Thank you so much. This was a lot of fun. It was nice meeting you.
Nice meeting you too. We'll be in touch. I'm excited to put this article together. Yay me too. Alright, goodbye, Olivia. Bless you again. Thank you. You too. Bye.
