Urban Forest Banner (Photo credit: phil dokas)Today, I had the pleasure of meeting with Timothy O’Connor, an attorney with the Environmental Defense Fund. O’Connor also serves as the Director of the California Climate Energy Initiative and is based in San Francisco. He requested the meeting because of the strong interest of EDF and other environmental organizations in the “urban forest carbon offset credits” program I am trying to launch in Long Beach.
According to Mr. O’Connor, our urban forest project presents a host of benefits for our city, the environment and other cities who would use Long Beach as a model.
Trees provide numerous benefits to Long Beach and with the adoption of the “Urban Forest” as an acceptable part of the Air Resource Board’s compliance offset protocols to support the proposed Cap and Trade program under AB 32, our trees (currently planted and new plantings) provide an additional benefit that eventually could result in revenue to the city.
I am scheduling a follow up meeting with the City Manager, the Office of Sustainability, the EDF and an expert on the use of urban forests for carbon offset credits to see if Long Beach can get some free expert advice on how to make this project happen.
I will keep you posted on the outcomes.
