We feel so lucky to be able to get to work with young land stewards across the city! The youth of New York City are our future land stewards, educators, and advocates. They'll be inheriting the world we leave behind, which is why we're so passionate about providing environmental education and resources to all New Yorkers.
Help us continue this necessary work of providing experiential knowledge about the environment to future generations and New Yorkers of all ages. With the uncertainty around federal, state, and city funding for environmental programs, we depend on people like you who understand the value of this work! Donate to our End-of-Year Fundraiser today.
We recently visited PS 050Q: Talfourd Lawn Elementary in Jamaica, Queens, where we led an after-school tree care event with 18 excited 4th and 5th graders! They gave love to 5 trees at the entrance of the school and found a couple wiggly worms—a great sign that the soil is healthy!
Earlier in November, we spent the early morning with PS 705: Brooklyn Arts and Science Elementary School in Prospect Heights, where 26 amazing 3rd-5th graders and PTA parents cared for 15 tree pits!
We were also able to work with Brooklyn College students through Brooklyn College Sustainability and Treeage, a youth-led climate justice group. Over the course of 6 hours, 40 students learned how to build tree guards. They installed four guards to protect young trees on campus (check out a video of the process here!).
Big Reuse's gil lopez, who co-led this workshop, said that “witnessing young people learn new skills and apply them in real-time over the course of one or two construction sessions has been a highlight of my professional life. The joy these young people bring to the work and the appreciation after a few hours of successfully building these tree guards is not something you typically find in the average day-to-day work.”
Completed tree guards at Brooklyn College!