TreePeople founder and president, Andy Lipkis

TreePeople founder and president, Andy Lipkis

Since 1973, a Los Angeles organization called TreePeople has focused on growing trees in southern California. People in the Owens Valley have pointed out that Owens Valley water grows trees in LA while trees here have withered and died from water diversions and groundwater pumping. Now, the founder of TreePeople wants to address Owens Valley environmental issues and asks the question – “Could LA really use 30% less water a year?”

That’s the name of a talk, TreePeople President Andy Lipkis will offer Monday from 5:30pm to 7:30pm at Mountain Light Gallery in Bishop. A press release for the TreePeople talk says Lipkis is working in LA to “inspire others to take responsibility for the water.” Lipkis has spent time in our area and apparently wants to help the situation here.

A press release says TreePeople is committed to a 10 year long “public activation campaign aimed at having Los Angeles’ water supply be at least 50% locally sourced….” The group names methods to do that as “landscape transformation, advanced water conservation, distributed rainwater harvesting, recycled water and groundwater remediation.”

TreePeople’s goals also include a minimum 25% tree canopy cover and water-retaining soils. TreePeople’s main goals for the last 40 years have been use of trees and forest-inspired technologies to “make cities sustainable while mitigating floods, drought, pollution, and global warming.” LA’s “Functioning Community Forests” have served as models for other cities. Lipkis was inspired as a teenager to plant trees in LA because trees were seriously threatened by heavy smog.

Now, the TreePeople founder says he will look at LA’s water source to help the Owens Valley. His talk is Monday, from 5:30pm to 7:30pm at Mountain Light Gallery.

 

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