TTF to present on 9/19: What effects have extreme weather had on sustainable building?

TTF Emphasizes the Importance of Land Use Planning

Stewardship of the natural environment falls upon us all. Amidst both metropolitan and rural development, preservation of greenspace is best achieved through land use planning. However, during urban expansion, the haste to grow bigger and better has become dominant – connection to the natural environment is too often forgotten or undertaken only as an afterthought. As land use planning falls by the wayside, the quality and health of the community is compromised.

Trees and people are symbioticexist as one. A revitalized connection with the natural environment is, in fact, an investment in ourselves and our communities. Further, this symbiosis between trees and the health of people is broken without the proactive step of land use planning. TTF exists to protect public health by marrying the gray–concrete, large buildings, and major transportation corridors–with trees and green infrastructure. As our cities heat up, the places in which we live and work should feel restful and cool.

Since 1982, Texas Trees Foundation has been investing in trees and, by extension, people. With human health as a fundamental focus of our work, the key to creating greener, cleaner, cooler, and healthier cities – is environmental stewardship.

This responsibility is the ecological cornerstone for ongoing fostering of the relationship between trees and people, and mitigation of rising levels of urban heat. Care and preservation of our natural surroundings is centered on an intrinsic affection for it. We feel a sense of loss when trees are gone – as they are known to provide social, economic, environmental, and health benefits for a better quality of life. Reconnecting to the natural environment through tree planting and urban forestry is the key to a flourishing ecology – and a reconnection within ourselves. It is time we fall in love with trees again!