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Urban Forests: A Natural History of Trees and People in the American Cityscape

#098 June 2017/Column/The Big Picture

An urban arboreal history, from the prehistoric ginkgo to the resurgent American elm

Illustration by Corey Schumann Trees of Life interview by Heather Shayne Blakeslee When historian Jill Jonnes sat down to write her book “Urban Forests: A Natural History of Trees and People in the American Cityscape,” it was with the intention of looking at our past relationship with trees in order to see into the future

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May 31, 2017
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📷 Grid voter guide coming out next month! Thank 📷 Grid voter guide coming out next month! Thank you, Cherelle Parker for the photo shoot. MORE SOON!! 🗳 @cherelleparkerphilly @lenfestinstitute #Everyvoiceeveryvote #GridVoterGuide
Start your week with this important read - an exce Start your week with this important read - an excerpt from the new novel "Blood Grip" from one of our favorite writers Constance Garcia-Barrio: "PART ONE Virginia, June 1837 Alsie Stone’s breasts leaked milk from the moment of her escape. Over hard miles, her milk painted stripes of terror down the front of her heavy tow-cloth blouse. The stitch in her side grew teeth. She tripped in the darkness, fell on her face, and jounced the baby in the sling on her back. Footsteps ahead of her stopped. “You all right?” Alsie raised her head and spat, but the sharp-sweet taste of dirt and rotting leaves still prickled her tongue. The baby cried. “Hush, Hannah!” she said. Alsie sat up, uncorked a small bottle. Her heart skittered as she gave Hannah more herb-water to make her sleep. The less she used, the better. She scrambled to her feet, then limped toward her family. “Ben,” she grabbed her husband’s arm, hard as the iron he worked at his forge, “got to stop.” “Can’t be long.” He handed her a cow bladder full of water, his face grim. She looked into his eyes, starved for reassurance, but he turned away. “Miller might be huntin us already,” he said. Alsie’s stomach lurched when she heard Miller’s name. The devil alone knew what Bellaire’s overseer would do if he caught any of them, especially her. He’d first threatened her soon after he arrived at the plantation a year back: Go to his cabin or he would find cause to whip her sons. After leaving his bed that time she had raced to the creek, stripped, and bathed until the chill water set her teeth chattering. She recalled the cabin’s mustiness, the grimy sheets against her skin, Miller’s smell of horse flesh. His finger had kept circling her nipple, and the pleasure it had given her deepened her shame. Her getting with child and lying to her mistress, saying that she was spotting, put a stop to his bedding her, but by then Ben knew about Miller. Everyone did." 🩸 For the full excerpt from "Blood Grip" visit Gridphilly.com and Illustration by Abayomi Louard-Moore #BloodGrip #Novel #phillynovel #phillynovelist #phillywriter #phillywriters #AbayomiLouardMoore #ConstanceGarciaBarrio
🖊 "As we are overwhelmed by news about problems 🖊 "As we are overwhelmed by news about problems with no easy solutions, we should rejoice in this triumph, and learn from it as well. Helen Gym, a former councilmember now a candidate for mayor, says: “When we are clear about our missions, we can go out and leverage resources to make it happen.” Intractable problems require unshakeable resolve. We must set the moral compass, something our City government has struggled to do, and then get to work." Read this months full editor's notes at Gridphilly.com @helengymphl #editorsnotes #Gridphilly #Gridmagazine #philadelphia #phillymagazine #philly
🌎 In his classroom at Lankenau High School, vet 🌎 In his classroom at Lankenau High School, veteran teacher Matthew VanKouwenberg points out to his students the connection between average daily temperatures across Philadelphia and tree canopies, noting that the lack of tree cover can leave some neighborhoods — often poor, often majority-minority — overheated in summer. 🌳 VanKouwenberg, who teaches chemistry and environmental science at the 350-student magnet school in Northwest Philadelphia, takes it a step further, telling students that these discrepancies might make them and their relatives more susceptible to heat exhaustion or getting sick, or force them to pay higher costs to keep their homes livable. He teaches them how historical practices like redlining have contributed to environmental injustice. And then he asks them how they can help change it. “It ignites this righteous anger,” VanKouwenberg says. “They should be mad about it.” Read the full featured piece from Ben Seal on Gridphilly.com Pictured: Lankenau High School principal Jessica Naugle McAtamney (center) and teacher Matthew VanKouwenberg take their students out of the classroom to learn about nature and sustainability. Photography by Chris Baker Evens / @chris_bakerevens @philly_schools @phillyschoolnews @lankenau_esmhs @pennenvironment @fairmountww #climatechange #globalwarming #treecanopy #treecanopies #environmetaladvocacy #environmentalscience #ENVIRONMENTALJUSTICE
💧Dwayne Wharton was tasked with helping to solv 💧Dwayne Wharton was tasked with helping to solve one health care crisis affecting kids when he discovered another.🥤 Wharton was working for The Food Trust in the mid-2010s, and that organization’s goal was to reduce the number of sugary beverages, especially soda, kids were drinking. They encouraged students to drink more water from the ubiquitous water fountains. But many kids, Wharton learned, were reluctant to drink from the fountains. “We spent enough time in schools to know about the old water fountains,” Wharton says. Students told him that some were used as trash receptacles, and some fountains were turned off and had “do not drink” signs on them. “Kids were saying, ‘If that water over there isn’t safe, why would this water be safe over here [at functioning fountains]?’ Kids were bringing this up.” Read our cover story from Bernard Brown at Gridphilly.com Pictured: (1)+(2) While working to reduce soda consumption at schools, Dwayne Wharton discovered students were reluctant to use water fountains. Pictured: (3)+(4) Former City Councilmember and current mayoral candidate Helen Gym proposed a bill in 2016 to test schools’ water supplies for lead. Photography by Chris Baker Evens. @philly_schools @phillyschoolnews @dwyanewharton215 @helengymphl @lankenau_esmhs @pennenvironment @chris_bakerevens @phillybillynature #waterfountains #phillywater #philadelphiawater #foodtrust #publichealth #phillypublichealth #phillywaterissues #phillyschools #phillyschooldistrict #philadelphiaschools
🌟 Our new issue has arrived - the #Community & 🌟 Our new issue has arrived - the #Community & #Education issue!🌟 Featuring our cover story: Advocates, City Council and the school district get the lead out of our children's drinking water. 💧 Plus our featured story: Are Schools Preparing For Climate Change? 🌎 & an excerpt from the forthcoming novel: Blood Grip! 🩸 Inside you'll find coverage of: @philly_schools @phillyschoolnews @dwyanewharton215   @helengymphl @lankenau_esmhs @pennenvironment @philly_schools @phillyschoolnews @lankenau_esmhs @pennenvironment @fairmountww @philastreets @cedarparkneighbors @terracycle @aampmuseum @incolorbirdingclub @interpret.green @fairmountww @pennalexanderschool @weaversway @urbanessencesalonspa All part of our continuing 2030 series.  Don't see it in your mailbox? Subscribe and support independent journalism for as low as $2.99/month! #Gridmagazine #Gridphilly #phillymagazines #phillymagazine #philadelphiamagaznie #philadelphiamagazines
🥳 The Vaudevillains NYB, a queer, femme-led New 🥳 The Vaudevillains NYB, a queer, femme-led New Year’s Mummers brigade in the comics division, is an eclectic group of individuals from all walks of life who come together from across the city and beyond to create performances with a point. Melissa MacNair (she/they), one of the three brigade captains along with Al San Valentin and KL Miller, described the group as a family that practices radical joy and speaks out in defense of open and healthy communities. The 2023 march sent a clear message to city leaders: take your hands off our green spaces.🍃 In the past year, City officials authorized the felling of hundreds of trees, including some old-growth giants, in two locations. The first strike hit along the western side of the Cobbs Creek golf course. Hundreds of trees — including native species — lay in ruin, and before the dust settled the earthmovers’ maw struck again. The second clearcutting authorized by officials ravaged a beloved pandemic refuge: the South Philly Meadows in FDR park.  After these events and many discussions and emails, the Vaudevillains adopted a theme portraying the forces of nature against the destroyers for a 2023 protest theme. “We’re about speaking truth to power,” MacNair said. “One thing that spoke to me the most is [that] people who live in the city and who don’t have cars are losing access to untouched natural spaces. Philadelphia is becoming a city where nature is inaccessible to people in a certain economic class.”  Read the full piece from Dawn Kane on Gridphilly.com and for more follow the @vaudevillains_nyb #SaveTheMeadowsFDR #SaveTheMeadows #TheVaudevillains 📷 Photography by Chris Baker Evens @chris_bakerevens
😠 A community meeting Thursday night to discuss 😠 A community meeting Thursday night to discuss the future of Philadelphia’s FDR Park turned into a tense and unproductive affair, demonstrating the significant gaps that exist in the City’s efforts to satisfy the disparate groups who use its hundreds of acres to picnic, play and commune with nature. 🌳 Protesters advocating for civic leaders to #SaveTheMeadows that became a refuge for many during the pandemic were not allowed into the Grand Yesha Ballroom in South Philadelphia with their signs, leading to a disruptive back-and-forth between state Rep. Regina Young and some of the 400-plus community members in attendance almost as soon as the meeting began. By the time the night’s speakers had concluded their remarks, less than half an hour after beginning, a frustrated audience was begging for an opportunity to be heard. “This wasn’t a meeting,” one woman yelled. “We want a community meeting.” Read the full piece from Ben Seal at Gridphilly.com and stay tuned for expanded coverage on this breaking news. First and last photos @southphillyoracle If you have additional photos from the meeting, please reach out. For more coverage (and our thanks to) follow: @savethemeadowsfdr @savethemeadows #SaveTheMeadowsFDR
🖼 Infographic: #WasteWatchers - We can help to 🖼 Infographic: #WasteWatchers - We can help to curb household food waste as individuals 🗑 Visit Gridphilly.com to view the full amazing infographic from Bryan Satalino. #foodwaste #waste #recycling #infographic

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