Donald Trump anti-DEI push strips communities of $75 million to plant much-needed trees [View all]
Source: The Independent
Sunday 02 March 2025 07:38 GMT
In New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward, Arthur Johnson has witnessed firsthand the vital role trees play, from filtering pollution to providing respite from the scorching summer sun. But two decades after Hurricane Katrina decimated 200,000 trees across the city, including many in Johnson's own neighborhood, efforts to restore the tree canopy face a significant setback.
The US Forest Service's recent decision to terminate a $75 million grant to the Arbor Day Foundation has dealt a blow to communities struggling to afford tree planting initiatives. The program, designed to bring green spaces to underserved neighborhoods, has become the latest casualty of the Trump administration's campaign against environmental justice.
The grant termination has had a direct impact on organizations like Sustaining Our Urban Landscape (SOUL), an environmental group working in New Orleans' historically Black communities. Having already planted over 1,600 trees, SOUL has now been forced to halt plans for an additional 900, leaving a void in the ongoing effort to restore the city's green spaces.
Those are trees that largely low-income residents otherwise couldn’t afford to plant or maintain, said the 71-year-old Johnson, who runs a local nonprofit, the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development, that has helped SOUL with its work and done some tree plantings of its own in the area. “You're not just cutting out the tree, the environment” with such cuts, said Johnson. If those trees aren’t replaced and more aren’t continually added, “it really takes a toll on the sustainability of the Lower 9th Ward and its community.”
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/trump-dei-cuts-trees-new-orleans-b2707425.html
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