Imagine walking through a cool forest, feeling the softness of the soil beneath you, and breathing in the fresh air. As you are walking, you raise your head up to see the sun’s rays peeking through a canopy of leaves. Compared to a city with block after block of tall, towering buildings, the forest has cooler temperatures and clearer air.
The trees in the forest have many positive effects, purifying water, taking harmful gases out of the air, and stopping soil erosion. When trees are planted in urban areas, they have similar benefits, such as clearing the air. Trees in urban forests are also responsible for eliminating urban heat islands, areas of high temperatures caused by man-made infrastructure reflecting heat, rather than absorbing it like nature would.
Girl Scouts recognizes these many benefits of trees, as well as the importance and vitality of them in both wooded and urban areas. For this reason, the Girl Scout Tree Promise was created. This pledge commits Girl Scouts to planting, conserving, protecting, and honouring new and existing trees.
The Lime Green Giraffe has made many efforts to uphold the Girl Scout Tree Promise. Over the past several months, we have been working on earning the patch that goes along with the Promise. On our journey, we have done two projects to encourage the growth of new and existing trees. In late 2021, we participated in an event led by Trees Atlanta, an organisation dedicated to planting, conserving, and educating about Atlanta’s urban forest. At the event, we planted seven trees.
Our second project we have put our effort into is this curated issue on trees which you are about to read. We chose to do a second project to accommodate those staff members who wished to remain virtual and/or did not enjoy the outdoors, but still had a passion for trees. This issue allowed us to expand and combine our knowledge of trees with our gifts in writing and creating art.
We hope you enjoy our special issue about trees, More than Tall Plants – a Tribute to Trees.
Jessica L.
Lime Green Giraffe Service Director
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