#2 Energy Saving Tree Planting

With 30 different kind deeds to do, I'd like to try new things that I normally wouldn't participate in.  Yesterday was just such an opportunity.  I worked with Hands On Nashville and Sound Forest and, you guessed it, planted trees!  Here is a little information about what this organization does from the details email I received.

"..plant strategically placed trees in low-income neighborhoods to shade homes from the setting sun and AC units. By keeping direct sunlight off the AC units and homes during the summer, homes stays more temperate, reducing energy costs for homeowners. By shading an AC from direct sunlight, there is an estimated 10% utility bill savings during the warmest months of the year (a home with a $150 monthly bill will save $90 every year)."

Sounds awesome, right?!  Summers in the south border on miserable with the heat and high humidity.  Anything to help with lowering energy costs sounds pretty alright by me!

                                                                           The trees


When I showed up at the starting work site, I joined a small group while one of the team leaders was being interviewed by some students from Vanderbilt.  In this interview, I learned more about what this project does as far as what I quoted above about shading the AC units.  I also learned about the kind of trees they use for various shading.  I was surprised by how many fruit trees we would be planting.  Not only do we help these people with their air conditioning costs, but we are giving them a food source as well.  In the few minutes it takes to plant a tree, our efforts would continually be appreciated for years to come.  So cool!

                                                         A tree planting demonstration

Getting ready to plant this bugger!

Our fantastic group!

                                                                 
I feel very honored to say that I was a part of the first group to get to do this new type of volunteer service in Nashville.  When I signed up, I did not know that they had never done this before.  Even though this was the first time, it was well planned out.  The houses, the planting spots, and even the types of trees for each house were already laid out ahead of time so we could hit as many houses as possible.  There were two teams and each team hit around six houses and planted at least three trees at each house.  I was with one of the project leaders (random fact: his wife is from Idaho!!!) so we often planted extra trees at the houses because we had so many extras.  We even planted two memorial trees for one household's recent loss of a dog and cat.  It was really nice to see how appreciative the homeowners were once their trees were planted.  I love thinking about how a tree that I helped plant can be giving people shade long after I'm dead and gone.

After a busy day of labor, we were welcomed back at the original tree planting site with some much needed pizza.  After scarfing down my three slices, I said my thank yous and good byes.  I drove away hoping that I have another opportunity to help in this way again.

                                           I got to ride around town in the back of a truck!


If you live in the Nashville area and are interested in helping in this type of service, sign up through Hands On Nashville at http://www.hon.org/HOC__Affiliate_Home_Page .  If you are interested in learning more or helping with Sound Forest go here:  www.soundforest.org

There are a lot of cool things going on with these organizations.  Look 'em up and figure out how you can help today!