Environmental Fact

Nov 19, 2009

Unless something is done to stop global warming/climate change, in your lifetime there will be no more Polar Bears in the wild!

Fact of the Day

Nov 19, 2009

One acre of trees provides oxygen for 18 people. The acre of trees  will absorb the amount of carbon dioxide each year equivalent to that produced by a car driven 26,000 miles.

Fact for the Day

Nov 18, 2009

Trees reduce carbon emissions from our atmosphere while producing oxygen.  As the tree grows it is possible that it could provide enough oxygen needed to sustain one human life.

Kids Planting Trees!

Nov 17, 2009

This is a picture of one of the girls that attended our presentation. This picture was graciously emailed to us by her parents.

Exposure!

Nov 17, 2009

When our school heard of our project to help save the polar bears by planting trees, they were so excited that they posted an article on their website. If you want to check it out here is the link:

http://www.hollandhall.org/?p=hh_news&NewsId=1344

Advice from a Tree

Nov 15, 2009

* Stand Tall and Proud

* Sink your roots into the Earth

* Go out on a limb

* Remember your roots

* Drink plenty of water

* Be content with your natural beauty

* Enjoy the view

The last of the trees...

Nov 14, 2009

We will be done planting the rest of our trees by this Wednesday. We will be going out to one of Tulsa Housing Authority's many sites (which are similar to government housing) to plant 100 trees. After all of the trees are in the ground we will shift our focus to educating kids, parents, and teachers about trees and the environment. So far we have been able to reach around 750 people through our presentations and tree handouts. We have also created an educational group on Facebook which will help us reach hundreds of people.

Another GTOT meeting

Nov 14, 2009

Today our group met to discuss the project. We are planning our planting date for the Tulsa Housing Authority planting. We are close to wrapping up the planting part of our project and beginning the education part. We have a few possible presentations that we will hold during the next month.

Tree Planting at our school

Nov 12, 2009

Today we had the 8th grade science classes help us plant the 100 trees we acquired from the Apache Grant.  The trees were planted on our school's campus.  Not only will these trees help our environment by absorbing carbon dioxide, they also will make our campus more beautiful.

Our Primary School Presentation

Nov 02, 2009

Today our group went to the Primary School to teach the kids about global warming and how it affects the polar bears. We gave them many tips on how to help, including recycling, carpooling, and of course planting trees! We told the kids of all the benefits trees provide and gave them each 2 saplings to take home. One of the trees is to plant in their own yard, and the other is to give to a friend or neighbor. This way we are able to educate twice the amount of people. They were VERY excited to help save the polar bears.

This is a photo of all the kids promising to plant their trees and follow the environmental tips we gave them.

Mike delivering some saplings to a classroom.

Our official logo!

Nov 02, 2009

We have had this for around a month now, but we have just figured out how to post it on our blog.

Saplings info cards

Oct 31, 2009

Here are the info cards that we attached to the 600 saplings.

Saplings!

Oct 31, 2009

The saplings have arrived, and sorting has begun!

Oct 31, 2009

Today we met for the first time since our 600 Loblolly pine saplings arrived. We spent the majority of the meeting taping and rubber-banding pamphlets and fliers onto them. Each primary school student will receive 2 saplings, one to plant themselves and the other to give to a friend or neighbor. We also discussed pickup-up dates for our 200 4-6 foot trees. Those 200 trees will be planted in Government Housing areas.

We will be distributing the saplings this Monday during our presentation to approximately 300 students + faculty. We will be educating them on the "plight" of the polar bears, and what they can do to help. We will explain how planting trees in Oklahoma can help polar bears thousands of miles away.

Tons of trees, and thats only from 1 semi!

Oct 31, 2009

Unloading Oak Trees

Oct 31, 2009

Unloading Trees

Oct 31, 2009

Semi-Trucks Full of Trees

Oct 31, 2009

The Trees are Here!!!!

Oct 28, 2009

Today 6 semi-trucks arrived carrying thousands of trees for Up With Trees. Up With Trees then distributes them to local organizations who were aproved during the application process. We will receive 200+ 6 foot trees off those trucks. Today Connor took a few volunteers with him to help unload the trucks. We plan to pick up our own trees in the next few days.

Meetings, lots of meetings

Oct 28, 2009

During the last few weeks our GreenTree team has been meeting 2-3 times a week. There is lots to be done, and it is crunch time. Everything is happening at once! We have our Primary School presentation date set for Monday, November 2nd and we have our presentation ready.

Autumn progress

Oct 22, 2009

Things are beginning to come together.  Trees have been ordered, and we're set to break ground.  The details should be established early next week.  The primary school presentation is set for Monday November 2nd.  The weather seems to be getting colder, and we need to get our little ones planting soon.

Trees are coming!!

Oct 07, 2009

We now officially have 800 trees. 600 of which are going to be distributed in the Primary School (Grades Kindergarden- 3rd grade). Each student will get two trees. One to plant at their house, and one to give to a neighbor or friend to plant at their house. This will result in new trees being planted throughout the city.

The other 200 trees will be planted on our school's campus and at government housing locations throughout the city.

It's All Downhill From Here...

Oct 05, 2009

We have finally aquired our trees!!

Due to generous donations from Up With Trees and the Oklahoma Forestry Service we have access to 800+ trees.

We will be planting our large trees at Government owned housing developments. Not only will these trees reduce the Co2 in the air, they will also help beautify these low-income areas. We have scouted 17 potential sites and have narrowed it down to 8 possible areas in which we plan to plant.

Moving Forward

Sep 14, 2009

We're still pursuing our lead with Up With Trees, and they've told us that they'd be happy to supply us with decent-sized trees to plant on city property. We hope to look in to planting trees near the water treatment plant, public housing, and possibly at the zoo as a way to spread the word of our plan to reforest Tulsa.

We're on a roll, but finding saplings continues to be a struggle for us. We've found several places that would be glad to help us, but can't supply them until April.

We'll be sure to post a graph soon of the effect that our proposed plantings would have on the CO2 in the atmosphere. Our plan seems to be progressing nicely as a whole.

Looking Back

Sep 08, 2009

GreenTree has finally made it over the hump. We have secured our Trees and have several areas we are contemplating planting them. In the past month and a half, our group has done the following:

Created an enviormental organization

Met with executives of large companies

Sent over 20 emails and letters to possible tree donors in over 4 states.

Created several plans and agendas

Greatly influenced kids at our school just by what we have been doing

and lots more!!!!

We plan to continue all these great things even years after project polar bear is over. Our plan is to incorporate our organization into the school and form a club like group where we will continue to plant trees every spring and fall. With any luck we will be able to model our organization after other local tree groups and become one of Tulsa's tree planting super-powers.

At Up With Tree's new office

Sep 05, 2009

Outside Up With Trees

Sep 05, 2009

In The conference room of Up With Trees

Sep 05, 2009

Meeting With Up With Trees

Aug 30, 2009

By Connor Cass

Last Friday, Mike, Caroline, and I met with the Operations director of Up With Trees, Steve Grantham and the Outreach & Volunteer Coordinator, April Woodul. The Executive Director, Anna America, was unable to attend. We went to their new office and talked in their nice conference room. Not only did we learn new things about how Up With Trees operates, but we also learned that they are more than willing to help us. They are for sure able to provide large trees for one of our projects, and are trying their best to find saplings to give us. They also offered us the opportunity to partner with them in their Neighborwoods program which kicks off in October. We are extremely grateful for their help in our efforts to reforest Tulsa!

Meetings!

Aug 27, 2009

By Connor Cass

Tomorrow, Friday the 28th, Mike Caroline and I are meeting with the executives of Up With Trees. Up With Trees is the large non-profit organization that is big on planting trees all around Tulsa and surrounding areas. Hopefully they will be able to help us in our efforts to make Tulsa a better and greener town to live in.

Monday, August 17th

Aug 17, 2009

GreenTree of Tulsa

After sending 15 letters to different tree organizations , on August 15th, Connor Cass recieved three e-mails from different tree organizations including the Arbor Day Foundation, Up With Trees, and Alliance for Community Trees. The executives of Up With Trees would like to set up a meeting with the three of us. The Alliance for Community Trees are willing to try to help us. We are still trying to set up a meeting with our school's headmaster to inform him of our plan to distribute the saplings. We have designed a logo for our group and it will be posted soon. Today we are working on blog posts, writing a mission statement (our goal, where we will start, and a timeline of getting/distributing trees) to present to our headmaster, planning one thing for each of us to do before our next meeting, and setting up an official calendar for our meetings. Although off to a slow start, we have finally sped up and will hopefully be twice as productive our next meeting!!

Mailings!

Aug 04, 2009

Working hard...

Aug 04, 2009

Tuesday the 4th

Aug 04, 2009

This is our second meeting since the deadline. We were off to a late start, but we have already contacted over twenty organizations via e-mail, phone, and letters. Although we have been unsuccessful in finding tree donations, we are still going strong! We plan to have a meeting with our school's headmaster next week. We still have numerous numbers left to call and we are all sure that we will find donations soon. Apparently the Oklahoma Forestry Service runs the tree racket in Oklahoma...