Unit 1 Street Trees
Theme-related Project

Make a 10-page ppt against drug abuse and illicit trafficking to educate the people in your community. You can include : statistics about the current situation; causes, the harm of drug abuse, measures to be taken, etc..

What does she mean?
We come from the earth, we return to the earth, and in between we garden. The hard task is loving the earth, all of it. Thinking globally without acting locally can spin me into despair.
Street Trees
Arbor Daay of Trees) April 10 (the US, Canada, Australia...) In many countries it has long been the tradition to hold an annual tree or forest festival. The origin of such celebrations dates back to antiquity and is in the dawn of religious feeling and awe for what trees represented. However, Arbor Day, as it is commonly known today, is of American origin and evolved from conditions peculiar to the Great Plains. It was first observed in Nebraska in 1872. The idea, conceived by J.S. Morton, then a member of the Nebraska State Board of Agriculture, was one of forest conservation. It was a move to promote replanting, following deforestation, and to plant up treeless areas. The idea has spread widely to other lands where it is variously celebrated as the 'Festival of Trees', 'Greening Week' of Japan, 'The New Year's Days of Trees' in Israel, 'The Tree-loving Week' of Korea, 'The Reforestation Week' of Yugoslavia, 'The Students' Afforestation Day' of Iceland and 'The National Festival of Tree Planting' in India. Arbor Day in its various forms is now recognized in more than fifty countries.
Pre-reading Prediction

Why does the author plant trees in the community? What’s the effect?
Introduction


The neighborhood where Chavis lives used to be a good place. People there lived and worked in peace, if not in perfect contentment. But to Chavis dismay, after the place was flooded in drugs and cheap liquor, it became crime-ridden. For example, in the past 5 years, 16 people have been murdered in her neighborhood. Another problem Chavis has in mind is that many people there seem to care little about the protection of the environment. A case in point is the sideways are littered with cans, candy wrappers, brown bags and what not. To help save her neighborhood from deteriorating, Chavis has done all she can think of: planting trees , recycling what she can……obviously, it’s unlikely that her efforts alone will be rewarded with great success. However, when more and more people came under her influence, and choose to contribute their bit towards the solution of these problems, things will definitely look up.
Do you think vegetation can reduce crime in the inner city?

Environment and crime in the inner city: Does vegetation reduce crime? This study used police crime reports to examine the relationship between vegetation and crime in an inner-city neighborhood. Crime rates for 98 apartment buildings with varying levels of nearby vegetation were compared. Results indicate that although residents were randomly assigned to different levels of nearby vegetation, the greener a building's surroundings were, the fewer crimes reported.



Authors F.E. Kuo, W.C. Sullivan Date Published 2001 Journal/Conference Environment and Behavior
Melody Ermachild Chavis






a member of the Berkeley Zen Center former board member of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship a founding member of BPF's prison project As a private investigator for 20 years, she works to defend people charged with capital crimes or who have been sentenced to death. She is a youth justice advocate who volunteers with a community gardening program for youth at risk. Her memoir, Altars in the Street: A Courageous Memoir of Community and Spiritual Awakening, chronicled her efforts to reclaim her own battle-scarred, crackinfested neighborhood. She devotes her time to the movement to abolish the death penalty.
Skimming and scanning



What was the shout for? What is the neighborhood like? What did he do with the tree? Why are the trees and the people at the risk of dying young? What did she do to turn things around? Why is the garden paradise for her? Who is Mrs. Wright? Compare the map of the neighborhood 15 years ago and now. Did she get away? How did she feel then？ What did she decide to do ?