Editor:

What single cheap, fast and easy action can SF take to conserve water, sequester carbon, lower the urban heat island effect, enhance social justice and equity, reverse habitat losses, and reduce air, light and noise pollution? We can stud the city with tiny forests!

Tiny forests are native, quick-growing woods – 600 seedlings planted on land the size of a tennis court. Working with nature, not against it, means these forests mature quickly.

Tiny forests can now be found in cities all over the world: next to high rises, in backyards, by train tracks, in former parking lots. They are planted by school children and communities and cared for by neighbors. Because of redlining, SF suffers from massive inequalities in our urban forest. Tiny forests can eliminate this tree gap while doing so much more besides.

Look up Miyawaki and Sharma for more details and plant your own forest. 

Ellen Koivisto