Million Tree March

One of my favorite TV shows was Arrested Development.  Savagely witty and delightfully satirical, this show depicting a riches-to-rags Orange County family will be remembered for its insight in early 21st century living.  One of my favorite exchanges is when Portia de Rossi's character, Lindsey, bemoans her family's crash into poverty, only to recover 5 seconds later when Jason Bateman's character, Michael, informs her that he has to mow down some trees in order to build McMansions that would revive their family's fortunes.  She decries Michael for being "materialistic," only to rush outside to confront the tree-hugger (not Darryl Hannah this time) who's staked out a tree--

 

Lindsey:  Look, I'm an activist, too . . . but we're not the only ones who destroy trees.  What about beavers?  You call yourself an environmentalist . . . Why don't you go out and club some beavers?   Crunchy-granola activist:  You don't really get nature, do you?

 

Well, now tree planting is the rage.  You can reduce your carbon guilt by buying credits purporting to plant trees around the world.  Tom Vilsack, Obama's Secretary of Agriculture, is on a tree-planting binge.  Mayor Antonio pledged a million trees planted during his first term as LA's boss--with mixed results. 

 

Utah is on the bandwagon now.  Salt Lake City's mayor, Peter Corroon, wants a million trees planted by 2017, and is encouraging residents to plant on their own volition.  It's an ambitious plan, and it will probably work.  Once lush with forests, Utah saw rapid deforestation during the 20th century.

 

I have a feeling Utah will beat LA on this task.  Despite showing its cosmopolitan face during the 2002 Winter Olympics, Utah still brings snarls when mentioned to Americans living on either coast.  It's an unfair dismissal.  It may not be very blue (a Democratic presidential candidate pulling 30% of the vote wins a moral victory), but the state is remarkably progressive.  The state spends huge amounts of its budget on education; recently closed many state offices on Fridays to reduce energy consumption and therefore, cost; and ranks highly in quality of life surveys overall.  Visit Salt Lake City and you can see why:  less than an hour from skiing, wide and clean streets, and smooth traffic flowing even during their "rush hour." 

 

As for the trees, well, over 60 cities in Utah have the Arbor Day Foundation's seal of approval, and throughout the state, "tree banks" have been opened that enable residents to donate to specific tree programs at schools and parks of their choosing.  It's only one step on our society's quest to reverse deforestation and of course, global warming.  And even though Utah's population is only three-tenths the size of Los Angeles County, that spot of red may very well change to a lush shade of green.