Monday, July 23, 2007

Miami Tree Summit at Jungle Island

Russ and I attended the Miami Tree Summit at Jungle Island (formerly known as Parrot Jungle Island) on Wed, July 18, 2007. Click here to read more about it: http://www.ci.miami.fl.us/cms/comm/1724_4186.asp.

The talk was focused on a few things. One of which included how municipalities could join the Tree City USA organization as one of the starting points to growing more trees (dubbed as increasing tree canopies). The benefits of trees were discussed and touted. And ideas were shared -- some came from successful programs such as the one in North Miami Beach and Coral Gables.

Trees are needed for a few reasons: They have been identified as a good source of Carbon Dioxide (aka See-Oh-Two) Gas reduction and a good way to cool local areas. Of course, there is the added benefit of the aesthetic aspect of having more trees. It seems there is a trend developing here: Society would like to move back into balance with nature.

In the past we lived in the jungle of trees then we developed the land which included cutting down trees and turned it into a concrete jungle. This leads me to wonder: What kind of jungle is next?

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