We (that is the Uniting Church Synod of WA’s Social Justice Unit) have just discovered a cool new resource-and it is Australian!

The vision of 20202 Vision is -grow more trees! Seems to be a great idea, doesn’t it?

Why?

They’re good for our health and productivity, keep cities cool and reduce pollution. People even heal faster when they’re around them. Yet, so often, plants and trees are overlooked when plans are drawn and concrete poured.202020 ‘s mission is to create 20% more green space in our urban areas by 2020.

They have a fantastic resource on the site, which can tell you how much of your city’s area is hard surface, bare ground or trees!  See it here: http://202020vision.com.au/media/7145/where_are_all_the_trees.pdf

We were surprised at the lack of tree canopy in our Perth suburbs.

Kalamunda features tree canopy rates of 63% but it is only one of the two
assessed LGAs in WA—the other being the Shire of Mundaring (54%)—with tree canopy rates of
over 50%. Meanwhile, the City of Belmont in the greater Perth region features a tree canopy of
only 9%.
Of the urban LGAs, many feature sizeable hard surface areas with comparatively little
in the way of grass-bare ground. Bayswater,Belmont, Canning, East Fremantle, Fremantle,
Joondalup, Subiaco and Vincent all have hard surface proportions of over 50% with grass-bare
ground averages of 20-25%. These environmental characteristics call for innovative approaches to our urban spaces.

And they have great ideas about what to do to change things.

Read more here:

http://202020vision.com.au/the-vision/

AND if you are looking for more ideas of how your Church can support the environment, there are plenty of resources on this site. Here!