TreePeople’s Work Toward a Climate-Resilient Southern California

On January 7, one year after the devastating Eaton and Palisades wildfires, Marlborough students gathered to hear from TreePeople, a non-profit environmental organization that has worked for decades to take action for the environment by planting and caring for trees in forests, mountains, parks, and neighborhoods in Southern California. Organized by Brooke C. ’27 and Kira C. ’28 as part of Marlborough’s Pushing Perspectives series, the talk offered students a chance to learn about ecological restoration and how they can be part of the recovery.

Pushing Perspectives is the School's student-driven speaker series that brings thought-provoking voices to campus during Flex or lunch periods. These talks offer spaces to explore new ideas, challenge assumptions, and connect across differences. 

Loren Feder, TreePeople’s Development Engagement Manager, spoke with students about the organization’s history and decades of work in ecological restoration, park beautification, and community forestry. Brooke and Kira felt the visit could provide an opportunity for students to feel empowered in the aftermath of the fires, learn about TreePeople’s work with ecological restoration, and identify ways to get involved. For students in the community affected by the fires, the timing felt especially meaningful.

“I wanted to encourage students that they can still fight back and combat the devastation, even if that is just through educating them about the futures that are possible through TreePeople,” Kira said. “Change in our community doesn’t have to happen overnight, it happens through the little steps.”

Little steps can truly lead to big changes over time, as exemplified by TreePeople and its history. TreePeople was started in the 1970s by 15-year-old Andy Lipkis who learned that smog was killing local forests. He began mobilizing his peers to plant smog-tolerant trees. When the state forestry division refused to give him surplus saplings for free—demanding thousands of dollars instead—Mr. Lipkis didn’t give up. He shared his story with the LA Times, and a wave of community donations, mostly in the form of nickels and coins, poured in. This grassroots funding allowed him to launch TreePeople, which would go on to become an influential environmental non-profit still impacting communities over fifty years later. 

The story of Mr. Lipkis taking action at only 15 resonated with Marlborough students, many of whom are of a similar age. They were encouraged to hear of the dedicated work behind TreePeople’s founding, and inspired by the unwavering and consequential environmental work that Ms. Feder described, particularly work relevant to fire scars in Southern California. 

Ms. Feder explained, “Fire is a very natural part of the cycle, but now unfortunately we have too frequent fires and our ecosystems aren't able to recover on their own, which is why we assist that recovery by removing invasive plants and installing native plants. I got started at TreePeople in mountain forestry restoring oak woodland that was affected by the Woolsey Fire in 2018. It's really amazing to see some of the transformations of our ecosystems.”

For students considering how to get involved, the talk offered both inspiration and practical next steps. “Through this past year many people, including Kira and I, have felt the need to rebuild our LA community,” Brooke shared. “I wanted to bring a speaker from TreePeople to provide our Marlborough community with hope and a vision for renewal.”