Living Green – Eco Living By Design

Communities In Action – It is happening! There is a growing global movement that is creating more environmentally responsible green communities. In this Communities In Action section we profile community initiatives in sustainability. We review what real communities are putting into action to create more sustainable practices. By profiling community solutions we show you what different communities are achieving with their environmental policies and Eco programs.

Maintaining our urban forests

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Written by Peterborough Green-Up staff

While we usually think of forests and cities as two very different places, trees have a huge effect on how well cities function, and on the health and well-being of the people who live there. In fact, the trees in our cities are an “urban forest,” whose true worth we’re just beginning to understand and value.

Consider an aerial view of your city or town in the summer. When you look down from a bird’s eye view, the tree canopy covers much of what you see. The canopy is made up of islands of green leaves and branches that cover the streets, buildings and parkland.

With greater understanding of the benefits of urban trees, many cities are setting targets of 40 per cent for their total tree canopy coverage, as recommended by American Forests.