To whom it may concern: > > We are TREE (Teens for Responsible Environmental Education) Organization. We are a small group of students who want to help solve climate change. We have done a variety of different events including hosting a grocery-bag painting workshop for elementary students to help stop the use of plastic bags. Our real goal is to plant trees all over Vancouver by hosting events such as noted above. We are currently looking for some help because we do not know where to get premature trees donated or for a reasonable price so that we can hand it out to the local public as well as begin planting trees ourselves.> > If you have any suggestions or would like to help us, please email back soon. > > Thanks so much for your time, > > Sincerely, > the TREE organization >
The type of missionary work that you have in mind is entirely unnecessary for the task of planting trees as there is usually no opposition to doing so, and the missionary approach always steps on someone's toes. "All over Vancouver" is either private property, or it is the jurisdiction of the City or Parks Board - that is to say, it is public property. If you have some ideas for places where trees could be planted on public property, then why not function in the way that democracy has designed for citizens to function, and contact City Council with that suggestion? I imagine that the city arborists would be delighted to have you participate in the selection of an appropriate type of tree for the spots you have in mind, if trees are a good idea for those spots, and to provide the trees from the city nursery. I am entirely empathetic with the desire to plant trees, and I plant lots of them myself. However, trees can also be a nuisance or a danger, they can do damage to buildings and sidewalks (causing accidents), and they are both costly and dangerous to remove in the long run. Are you planning to be accountable for all that? If not, I would strongly suggest that you either stick to planting trees on your own property, or engage with the city to have more planting done on public property. I should also add that requests with names attached often go over much better than from people who hide behind an organizational name.
