The James River. (Photo: Patrick Larsen/VPM News)
On April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day brought out about 20 million people nationwide to protests, teach-ins and more. It remains America’s largest ever single day demonstration.
But on April 22, 2021, experts say COVID-19 means it’s still too risky to gather in large groups. Not enough of the population has been vaccinated yet.
So there will be no major marches this year, but the day maintains a legacy of celebrating the planet and advocating for its protection - so much so that April as a whole is often referred to as Earth Month.
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A freshly-planted tree in Swansboro Park. (Photo: Patrick Larsen/VPM News)
Volunteers and community members planted 50 trees at Swansboro Park on Saturday. They dug holes, spread mulch and watered the new additions around the mostly empty field.
It was the first such event in the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s ‘Greening Southside Richmond Project,’ which aims to vegetate neighborhoods long-term and provide green job training for young people. It includes more events like Saturday’s, as well as efforts to distribute new trees to community members and teach them proper care.
The Foundation is partnering with the City of Richmond and several local organizations for the program. Venus Pannell heads up one of those partner groups, Friends of Swansboro, and she grew up in the neighborhood.
A Tree Grows in Richmond: Southside Moves from Redlining to Greening
A nonprofit-led project seeks to address environmental injustices and improve water quality with targeted tree planting.
Kenny Fletcher/CBF
Left: Southside, Richmond, Virginia, courtesy of Southside ReLeaf; Right: previous (2018) tree plantings led by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation at Branchâs Baptist Church in Southside.
At the peak of a Virginia summer, the difference between the sun and shade is stark. High urban temperatures can be dangerous in the capital city of Richmond. Trees can provide substantial cooling, pull pollution from air and water, and beautify neighborhoods. But in Richmond and other U.S. cities, the racist housing policy of redlining has resulted in less tree canopy for many neighborhoods with predominantly Black residents, making them now hotter in the summer.
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FILE PHOTO: Trees line the James River in Richmond. (Creative Commons License)
Over the last month, Reforest Richmond has distributed more than 8,000 Eastern Redbud tree saplings.
Reforest Richmond is a campaign from the Richmond Tree Committee, an arm of the city council-created Green City Commission. The campaign mobilized more than 60 volunteers to hand out trees at dozens of distribution sites in November. Many of these sites were Richmond Public School facilities, intentionally picked because they’ve acted as free meal distribution sites during the pandemic.
Daniel Klein, the Green City Commission vice chair who heads the Reforest Richmond campaign, said their focus is “restoring the tree canopy with an equity lens.”