This guide takes the essence of TreePeople's Citizen Forester training and gives you a sense of what it takes to create community using a powerful physical medium - the urban tree. Yes, it's logistically challenging but trees give you physical proof of the power of pulling together as a community - proof that just keeps getting more beautiful and providing more benefits as time passes.

The goal is sustainability for Los Angeles but the means - neighborhood planting -- will create sustainability for its people too. Only through re-knitting the fabric of community in the city will we succeed in making this a city we'll want to live in for the rest of our lives…a city worth making sustainable.

If you're ready to take it on, you should definitely call TreePeople for more guidance.

"That's great for someone else," you might say, "but I don't want to plant trees." That's okay. There are plenty of other ways you can take action to help make this city sustainable and to nurture the community vital to its survival.

Maybe you like trees but there's no room on your street. Fine! How about starting in your own backyard? You can even talk with your neighbors and transform all your yards over the course of a year. Imagine how much you can learn from each other - and about each other. TreePeople can get you started with the Home Forester workbook. You can learn where and what sort of trees to plant to shade your home and increase its value, as well as how to capture more rainwater on-site, and how to make your soil more permeable.

Perhaps you've got a gorgeous yard and your street's already planted. How about the local elementary, middle or high school?

Parking lots and school campuses make up the largest percentage of blacktop in this city, creating massive heat islands and contributing to global warming. But it doesn't have to be that way. Planting trees to shade campuses and absorb runoff brings as many benefits to kids and teachers as it does to the local environment. If your own children or grandchildren are students there, you probably know some of the faculty. If not, introduce yourself and if there's interest in auditing the campus and making it greener, you can bring TreePeople staff together with the principal and interested teachers and get something happening.

TreePeople's Schoolyard Explorers curriculum is linked to the California Standards for math, science, language arts and social studies so teachers can involve the kids in improving the campus while still meeting the state's teaching requirements.

For more information on working with neighbors to transform your yard, or students to transform your local campus, contact TreePeople's Alma Schwartz at 818/623-4879.

Next: Define Your Dream