This week was my first week back at Green Columbus after vacation, so there were several updates this week!

This week, I visited the tree nursery and saw how much the tree samplings had grown. We had only planted the samplings ~4 weeks ago and they’re already so tall which was great to see. Green Columbus has its annual tree giveaway in October each year, so it’s great to see that the trees will be ready for residents to take them home. The dates were also finalized for the tree giveaways so I was able to start doing some outreach to spread the word. I also began designing some new signs for the tree nursery on Canva this week.

Because of the heat advisory this week, Green Columbus had to cancel a volunteer event. I also attended a Zoom meeting hosted by the Columbus Chamber of Commerce about preparing for the heat advisory. Green Columbus and many other community stakeholders are concerned about the heat because of the many health issues it creates, and it was very interesting to hear everyone’s perspectives. Green Columbus is particularly concerned with the heat advisory because it disproportionately impacts communities of color in Columbus because of historic disinvestment. Trees are a great way to combat heat, which is why Green Columbus does tree giveaways in these communities. Extreme weather is going to become more and more common due to global warming so it is critical that this issue is addressed.