It is always a good thing when people contact Greenseniors with ideas, tips and information; we do see an awful lot of "greenwash" coming our way, along with quite a few oddities, but whatever we see, it informs our work so we know what is going on in the world -- good, bad or indifferent.
Recently we received information from a person in the Netherlands who is using online mapping in a brilliant way. Bomen Voor Bejaarden, or Trees For The Elderly could be the start of something very influential. We all know that trees are natural air conditioners -- anyone who has walked into woodland on a hot day would have experienced the welcome drop in temperature that accompanies the shade and increased humidity that trees provide -- but even on their own, they can be extremely beneficial. The campaign group
Bomen Voor Bejaarden have used Google Maps to plot where trees are providing shade in urban areas, particularly around nursing homes and other facilities where seniors are prevalent. They are also researching the best types of trees to provide shade in summer months -- not all trees are suitable, but it is no coincidence that the best shade trees are also the best climate change preventers, and the best pollution catchers (it's all in the leaves).
Green Seniors foresee this idea going global; there is no reason that there shouldn't be a global database of shade trees and other trees of ecological importance -- at the moment protection for trees, both urban and rural, is utterly useless. It's way past the time when we should have realised how important trees are for life: without them we really cannot live.
You can contact Arno via the web site at http://www.bomenvoorbejaarden.nl/CMS/index.php/contact (yes, he does speak English too), and we would also encourage you to go to the Trees For Cities website, which is doing a great deal of good work in raising the profile of urban trees.
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