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News from the Greater New Orleans Foundation: Earth Day Edition!
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Greater Good Earth Day News
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SOUL Plants their 6,000th Tree
SOUL (Sustaining Our Urban Landscape) is driving a resilient and environmentally equitable New Orleans by reforesting South Louisiana's urban landscape one tree at a time. Since its inception in 2016, SOUL has planted 6,082 trees, including 682 trees as a part of their Pontchartrain Park reforestation project. The Greater New Orleans Foundation team joined SOUL staff on their last day of planting season to add another 30 trees to the Pontchartrain Park canopy. This season's plantings will lead to 343,123.15 gallons of storm water runoff prevention and 53,391.01 pounds of carbon sequestered.
SOUL's next big undertaking is planting 1,000 cypress trees and flower meadows along Lafitte Greenway.
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Healthy Community Services Hosts
7th Ward Community Input Day
Healthy Community Services, a Foundation partner and environmental program grantee, will host a community input day on May 7 with residents of the 7th Ward at the Healthy Community Services Learning Center at 1855 Duels Street.
The event will support Phase 2 of their Urban Heat Island Effect Research Study, which has been conducted to reduce heat indices across the area over the past 5 years. They will map 547 trees planted in a 4x2 square block targeted area and demonstrate a rendering of 3D designs of the trees at maturity. Additionally and in collaboration with Ground Work New Orleans, another Foundation grantee, they regularly issue real-time heat alerts to residents of the 7th Ward via a solar-powered weather station (pictured above, left).
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98% Survival Rate for Pontchartrain
Conservancy's 2,400 Cypress Saplings
The Pontchartrain Conservancy’s mission is to drive environmental sustainability and stewardship through scientific research, education, and advocacy. Last year, they planted 2,400 cypress saplings along the Tchefuncte River in Madisonville. The trees, which started the size of twigs and are wrapped in plastic “nutria protectors," are regularly monitored by the scientific team at the conservancy. Despite Hurricane Ida, reports are showing that the trees have an astounding 98% survival rate.
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Foundation Continues Support of Blue Bikes
On April 13, the Foundation unveiled a brand-new sponsored Blue Bikes station outside of the organization’s headquarters on Howard Avenue in the Central Business District. The Foundation has played an impactful role in the relaunch of the New Orleans’ bike share program, first and foremost by providing critical startup funding and fiscal sponsorship for the nascent non-profit, Blue Krewe. So far, locals and tourists alike have taken Blue Bikes on over 180,000 miles of riding.
In addition, the Foundation is proud to sponsor Bike Valet at YLC's Wednesdays at the Square. As April is bike-to-work month, we believe everyone in our region should have access to reliable and affordable transportation, and these opportunities will help us get there.
read the press release >>
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Our Greater Region
News and events from around the 13-parish region. On Earth Day, we're focused on the climate and environment.
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- The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana Oyster Shell Recycling Program collects shells from New Orleans restaurants to restore oyster reefs and shoreline habitat in Coastal Louisiana. This month, CRCL set a shell-bagging record, bagging 12.4 tons of oyster shells! Want to help? View CRCL's upcoming volunteer opportunities here.
- The annual Grand Isle Migratory Bird Celebration will make its "grand" return on April 23 throughout the town of Grand Isle. Migrating birds are known to flock to Grand Isle; as such, the island has become one of the best places in the world to see a variety of species. Read about the fest here.
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People of Philanthropy
We believe that everyone can be a philanthropist. Meet the people, grantmakers, and nonprofits that are making it a reality.
Meet Allison Tiller, a Foundation board member and co-founder of Epiphany Throws. She is also a member of the Foundation's Environmental Programs Advisory Committee.
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Name: Allison Tiller
Role: Co-Founder
Company: Epiphany Throws
Why do you believe in giving through the Greater New Orleans Foundation? Giving through the Foundation is easy and keeping a fund at the Foundation helps leverage those funds to better support the Greater New Orleans region as a whole.
Talk to us about your interest(s) in the environment: My love of the outdoors is what originally inspired my interest in the environment. Selfishly, I want to be able to continue to do the outdoor adventures I love to do. This led me to learn that protecting our fragile ecosystem is about more than just playing outside, but also protecting vulnerable populations as well as other species.
How can we recycle those old Mardi Gras beads we all still have months after Fat Tuesday? Epiphany Throws' mission is to lessen the waste that Mardi Gras produces. We make quality products from eco-friendly materials such as upcycled T-shirt material, bamboo, and Acai seeds. Because of the ethically-handmade nature of our products, they tend to cost more than typical Mardi Gras beads. We aren’t asking people to spend more on their Mardi Gras throws, we are asking them to throw less, but throw items that people will want to keep and not beads that end up trashing our streets, clogging our storm drains, and poisoning our waterways. In addition, we encourage everyone to recycle their beads through ARC of Greater New Orleans. Drop-off locations are available on their website.
How are you celebrating Earth Day? My business partner requested that our kids’ school host a "dress-down day" to raise funds for local environmentally-focused non-profits!
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The Good Word
What we’re reading and listening to for Earth Day.
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- It's easy to experience "eco-anxiety;" a worry about the future of our earth and environment. Jane Goodall's recent book, Hope, is the perfect treatment for such anxiety. Through powerful stories of her lived experiences, Goodall shares her vision for the future of our earth and why she has good reason to be hopeful for our future. Read about it here.
- If you're in need of climate updates in a radio format, New Orleans Public Radio’s Coastal Desk has you covered. It handles "...stories about land loss and efforts to restore a changing environment. It means coverage of the seafood industry and efforts to maintain levees in places prone to storm surge... And with sea levels rising and extreme weather happening more often, the coastal desk brings you the latest news and science about climate change." Support for the Coastal Desk comes from the Walton Family Foundation, the Greater New Orleans Foundation, and local listeners. Listen here.
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Lagniappe
This Earth Day, an $87 million project to create a massive wildlife crossing across the 101 Freeway in Los Angeles will officially break ground. It will be the largest of its kind in the world!
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Thanks for joining us for today's edition of The Greater Good.
Happy Earth Day,
The Greater New Orleans Foundation Team
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