Who doesn’t love a nice, wooded spot to escape to? And, what’s better than when you find this shady oasis in the middle of a city? They’re out there, but they’re not everywhere, and they should be.
In conjunction with the Arbor Day Foundation, and local non-profits, Stop & Shop Restore is helping restore some natural beauty to the areas around Boston by distributing and planting trees in those areas that need it the most.
Last October, efforts were focused on the Boston suburb of Mattapan, where there’s a significant lack of tree canopy as a result of years of environmental neglect and redlining. You might not think a lack of trees makes that much difference in a single community, but that’s the total opposite of the truth.
Stopping the heat island effect
Under-canopied neighborhoods (those without trees) have issues. Without enough trees to provide shade, during the summer months, the buildings and roads in the area are free to absorb all the sun’s heat. It’s then re-emitted into the atmosphere, creating the heat island effect.
It’s like getting hit with summer twice, and the disproportionately high temperatures can lead to issues like poorer air quality and an increase in health issues like asthma and heat exhaustion. The heat island effect can also cause energy bills to skyrocket and put higher levels of pollutants into the air. Too much heat can even impair water quality.
Shade is perhaps the best way to reduce the heat island effect, but Mattapan and the areas around it have less than 30 percent tree canopy coverage. A vibrant neighborhood, Mattapan is home to a culturally diverse community and many immigrant-owned businesses. Today, it has a large population of African Americans and Caribbean residents. As one of the southernmost neighborhoods of Boston, it also fits the profile of many under-canopied communities, being a low-income neighborhood.
Spreading the environmental wealth
Trying to level the playing field and put a stop to marginalized areas having fewer trees, Speak for the Trees is a local organization, founded right in Dorchester, working to more equally distribute trees across the city of Boston. The group targets those communities in most need under the larger mission of increasing the size and health of the city’s urban forest.
Understanding that trees are essential to public health, Speak for the Trees not only provides trees but teaches individuals how to properly plant and care for them to ensure they continue to grow and provide that much-needed canopy of shade.
Planting in Mattapan
With the help of Speak for Trees, Stop & Shop Restore supported a neighborhood-wide greening project on October 16, 2021 in Mattapan. Here, family and friends can come together to plant together. This event enables locals, concerned about the well-being of their environment, to take an active role in improving it.
This effort is just a small part of the Arbor Day Foundation’s mission of planting 100 million trees by 2022. This effort aligns with Stop & Shop’s Restore program as well. Both have the same goal: offsetting carbon.
Through Restore, Stop & Shop helps you reduce your carbon footprint by offsetting your tailpipe emissions when you fill up at your local Stop & Shop fuel station. Based on the amount of fuel you buy, Stop & Shop calculates the carbon emissions that get released and offsets it through investments in carbon reduction projects like renewable energy, reforestation, and more.
The trees being planted through Stop & Shop Restore’s efforts will also have a positive impact. As they grow and mature, trees are known to take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and trap it for life. They’ll also help ensure Boston has a proper tree canopy to give people access to both shade and urban beauty on a daily basis.