A local eco activist is advocating a plan to combat the effects of global warming by planting thousands of shade trees to mitigate the ‘heat island effect’ in Pasadena.
When it’s sunny during the daytime, heat builds until afternoon and evening, when it cools — but buildings, exposed cement and asphalt and concrete soak up the sun’s heat all day and release the heat back all night, reducing nightfall’s natural cooling effects.
Long-time activist and Pasadena resident Greg Apodaca wants to train people to plant trees and native vegetation to provide shade that will cool down the city continuously through his ‘Create A Plant Covered City’ project.
“Our effort, ‘Create a Plant Covered City’ will have people planting trees and native vegetation to provide shade that will cool down the cities.”
“Literally if we plant 10,000 trees in Pasadena, it’s going to cool the city down because there’ll be more shade. At the same time we’d like to work with big organizations that have the equipment to remove asphalt and cement where it’s not needed,” Apodaca said.
For the project’s first event and training session on Saturday, August 20, Apodaca urges the community to attend and learn about drought tolerant plants and trees and participate in a planting demonstration.
When he learned of the alarming situation of environmental pollution and the urgency of action required to change it, Apodaca quit his job and started an organization called Community 2.0 (C 2.0).
“I have to do what I can do to turn things around. And so I quit my job and started this organization,” he told Pasadena Now in an interview.
The organization mobilizes individuals and organizations in the greater Pasadena community and larger Los Angeles County area to take action to help overcome climate emergency challenges.
Last month, C 2.0 started organizing eco town hall meetings to bring people together to a discussion on how to fight climate change.
“The eco town halls are our effort to bring people together. People who care about the environment and people who want to learn more about actions they can take,” Apodaca said.
Apodaca added that town hall meetings are held to inform people that they can join organizations, including C 2.0 and have a much bigger impact.
“There’s so many organizations, eco organizations out there, kind of one for every area of interest. And so people can feel part of a larger community of people taking environmental actions.”
Apodaca expressed hopes that the attendance of eco town halls will reach 150 to 200 attendees by the end of the year.
“We are an organization of eco activists and the early adopters who believe that the climate emergency is for real and that we need to take urgent action to address it,” said Apodaca.
On October 15, the organization will hold its second “Green Economy Conference” where participants can learn from city-associations about innovative climate solutions.
Over 300 people are expected to attend the event. According to Apodaca, between 50 and 100 representatives from the City of Pasadena will talk about best environmental practices during the conference.
He also hopes that many people will join the “Green Economy Conference” as well as C 2.0’s sponsored tree planting sessions for the city, a quarterly event, which will start in November.
“Our first tree planting session will probably be in November. I’d love to have between 500 and a thousand people mobilizing in the greater Pasadena area to plant trees and native vegetation.”
“Our goal is to soon have, five and then 10,000 people in the greater LA county area, and then link with other organizations and take it to a national effort and have a hundred thousand people doing this on a regular quarterly basis,” he added.
For more information on C 2.0 and its upcoming events visit: https://gapodaca.com
To register for ‘Plant Covered City – Training and planting demonstration’ on
August 20 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/plant-covered-city-training-and-planting-demonstration-tickets-367057327347?aff=ebdsoporgprofile
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