Tampa Tree Advocacy Group T-TAG

05/17/2026

So to the City of Tampa, if the City of Cleveland can do this (cue the jokes), why can’t we? Serious question. 🤔🌳🌳🌳

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1HDn1wtgfr/?mibextid=wwXIfr

04/22/2026

Earth Day 2026: What you can do in your community to promote conservation, climate action
Collective action will be imperative to mitigating the climate crisis.
ByJulia Jacobo April 22, 2026, 5:02 AM

Global warming is a looming threat that will require collective action to mitigate, according to experts. While the vast majority of the greenhouse gases that cause climate change are emitted by the burning of fossil fuels for energy -- about 75% globally, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency -- individuals can still participate in actions that have reverberating impacts on their regional environment and ecosystems.

Collective action -- including taking part in community-led events -- is a "key" tool in building climate resilience, according to the World Economic Forum.

The theme for Earth Day 2026 is "Our Power, Our Planet" -- emphasizing the power of community mobilization and collective action to defend progress in protecting the environment.
Here are some actions people can partake in to conserve and decarbonize the planet:

Participate in a beach cleanup!

Tidying up a local beach can have impacts far beyond the shore. Every year, up to 23 tons of plastic waste leaks into aquatic systems around the world, including lakes, rivers and seas, according to the United Nations Environmental Programme. The volume of plastics in the oceans has been estimated to be up to 199 million tons, UNEP said.

Actively removing litter from the coasts can reduce the amount of debris that may degrade into harmful microplastics. A 2022 study by Norwegian researchers found that removing large, visible plastic items from coastlines reduced local microplastic pollution by 99.5% within one year.

Removing trash from beaches can also lead to pro-environmental habits, such as increasing awareness of personal plastic consumption, according to a 2016 study published in the journal Environment and Behavior.

Volunteers who participate in beach cleanups report that they found the experience meaningful; learned more about the marine environment; and intended to engage in more pro-environmental behaviors, the study noted.

Cleaner beaches also support safer recreation, stronger local communities and healthier ecosystems, Vishnu Chandran, CEO of Wild Republic, told ABC News.

"It creates collaboration, and I think it helps us learn more about what we're doing and why we need to leave the planet better," Chandran said.

Scientists are using several models to understand how to meaningfully reduce the amounts of plastics entering the environment, said Britta Baechler, director of ocean plastic research at Ocean Conservancy, a nonprofit that focuses on protecting the ocean through science-based solutions.

The actions boil down to cutting down the amount of plastic being produced, better managing and recycling plastics already in circulation and cleaning up the plastic that gets into the natural environment, Baechler told ABC News.

Vote in your local elections

National elections tend to garner the most media attention and turnout, but people who engage in local elections can help make long-lasting policy changes that drastically improve their environmental circumstances.

While voter turnout in the U.S. is about 60% for presidential elections and 40% for midterms, local elections often garner less than 20% of voters, according to the University of Chicago's Center for Effective Government.

Voting in local elections can lead to cleaner air and less traffic as city councils prioritize walkable, transit-friendly neighborhoods; protect water supply by offering incentives to save water on landscaping and new development; and reduce pollution by keeping major sources, like oil and gas drilling, away from communities, according to conservation experts.

Places like "Cancer Alley" in Louisiana and Port Arthur, Texas have been heavily impacted by pollution and industrialization from petrochemical plants and oil refineries, leading to high cancer risks for residents who live in the region. Communities of color and low wealth are disproportionately impacted, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center.

About 59% of registered voters prefer to vote for a candidate who supports action on global warming, while about 41% of voters would like to hear more often from political candidates about efforts to reduce global warming, a 2025 analysis by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication found.

The "number one" thing voters can do is look up their next local election and bring 10 friends with them to vote, Adam Met, executive director of climate nonprofit Planet Reimagined, told ABC News.

"These local elections put people in power that decide what local transportation looks like, how waste is collected, what types of energy your neighborhood uses and more," Met said.

The Sierra Club -- a 133-year-old environmental group with chapters in all 50 states -- encourages voters to research candidates' positions and support those who best represent their commitment to environmental sustainability.

"We almost always know these candidates who live in and represent our communities," the environmental nonprofit said.

Voters can also help to fight climate change by donating to candidates whose promises align with the decarbonization efforts, a 2021 study found.

Plant a tree or garden

People can turn to their own backyards to make a difference in keeping the air around them clean.

Trees and plants sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, filter pollutants from the air and reduce urban temperatures through shade, according to The Nature Conservancy.

Trees can also help manage stormwater and water quality as the roots absorb excess rainfall and reduce runoff into waterways; prevent soil erosion because trees stabilize the earth; and support biodiversity by providing essential habitats and food for pollinators and wildlife, according to the Arbor Day Foundation.

The Value of Trees

From backyards to tropical rain forests, trees around the world are hard at work providing the necessities of life. Trees clean our air and water, provide habitat for wildlife, connect communities, and support our health and well-being.

Greenery can also play a critical role in creating healthier, safer communities.

They have been found to boost mental and physical health. Spending a short amount of time in nature can lead to a drop in anxiety and reduce the risk of depression, according to a 2018 study.

A large-scale experiment that involved the planting of more than 8,000 new trees in Louisville, Kentucky, between 2019 and 2022 found that the additional greenery improved local peoples' health conditions linked to heart disease, stroke and cancer. The plants serve as a physical barrier against dirty air, absorbing chemicals into their cells and collecting particles with their leaves, according to the researchers.

Planting a tree or tending to a garden is a simple way for individuals to contribute to the climate fight, Chris Cerveny, a soil science and agronomy expert and co-founder of Just Good Soil, an agricultural company that focuses on regenerative gardening practices, told ABC News.

"This is a great opportunity for any climate-activist gardener to bank carbon in the soil for future air quality," he said.

In addition, gardening is an "incredibly rewarding" hobby, Cerveny added.

🌳🌳🌳

04/14/2026

Yes, you can make friends with trees. Here’s why it’s a good idea.
We form interspecies relationships with our pets. So why not plants?

By Kate Morgan

RJ Laverne’s childhood home in Detroit had a big elm out front. In fact, the whole neighborhood was lined with them: great, graceful trees whose branches spread across the street to create a shady canopy. Elms were so widely planted in cities and suburbs in the 19th and 20th centuries that they became known as the “Main Street tree.” Then, in the 1930s, Dutch elm disease began to ravage them, and by 1989, most of America’s 77 million mature elms were dead.

Laverne’s elm and its demise remain seared into his memory decades later. “I was maybe 8,” he says, “and I remember standing at the front door next to my sister when the trucks came down the street and cut down the elm trees one by one. When they cut ours, it felt similar to losing a pet. I imagine I was not the only person that grieved to see our neighborhood transformed from this beautiful cathedral of trees to clear cut.”

It was the first tree he loved, but certainly not the last for Laverne, who is a master arborist, an adjunct associate professor of forestry at Michigan Tech, and manager of education and training for Davey Tree Expert Company.

Many of us have loved a tree. Maybe it’s the big sycamore that held a tree house behind your childhood home. Maybe it’s the spruce that waves outside the window of your office, or the maple on the corner near your town’s post office.

I adored a huge fir in the corner of my cousins’ yard in New Jersey, with lower boughs that bent all the way to the ground and formed a sticky, fragrant fort at the trunk. Every day, my daughter greets a trio of towering oaks in our front yard that she lovingly calls “the mama trees.”

It’s not all that unusual to feel a particular bond with a specific tree. In fact, researchers in Finland found that the majority of respondents to a survey did in fact have a favorite. It’s also not unusual, says Laverne, for that bond to feel a lot like friendship. We form interspecies relationships, he points out, with our pets. So why not plants?

“In most cases, when we think about a friendship, it’s a symbiotic relationship and both parties are actively involved,” he says. Trees might not respond to us the way a dog or cat would, but “we can form a symbiotic relationship with them nevertheless,” Laverne says, “if we understand all of what they provide for us. Not just the wood, but the shade, the wind-shielding. They take pollutants from the air, reduce stormwater runoff. There’s a huge list.”

While those are all good reasons to appreciate trees, Laverne adds, “you’re not going to fall in love with a tree because it’s sequestering carbon.” But there are other, perhaps slightly more intangible, reasons you might.

In the Finnish study, University of Turku researcher Kaisa Vainio and her colleagues identified three main types of human-tree relationships. The first was centered on nostalgia: People recalled trees from their childhood memories or felt a familial connection. “It’s a custom here, and in many places in the world, that you plant a tree when somebody has been born,” Vainio says. “You see it grow, and it’s mirroring your own growth, which creates a bond. That relationship is not just between yourself and the tree, but maybe with your grandmother who planted the tree, and her grandmother who planted one before her.”

Others in Vainio’s study chose their favorite tree based on what she calls a nurturing relationship. People felt close to trees that they had planted or were directly responsible caring for.

The third category, which she calls admiring relationships, involves “charismatic trees,” she says. “You probably know one. They are somehow impressive — maybe weird-shaped, really old, very big. They can be monuments or have some special status or be a rare species.”

But a tree needn’t be so singular to become beloved. In many cases, Vainio says, a “favorite” is just a “really ordinary looking tree that is important to somebody, because it’s the tree they share their everyday life with.”

How to befriend a tree
There can be a lot of benefit to getting to know the trees in your yard or along your commute, says Holly Worton, a naturalist and author of the book “If Trees Could Talk,” but first you have to realize they’re there.

“A lot of people think of them as inanimate objects,” she says, “even though obviously they’re alive. But they’re just standing there, so I think they’re so unlike other living creatures that it’s easy to think of them as, basically, outdoor furniture.”

Worton believes trees can communicate with her — and with anyone else open-minded enough to converse with them — telepathically. In addition to factual information about a number of tree species, her book also includes their advice for life, delivered, she says, in their own words. A Norway maple suggests she should stretch her comfort zone by spending time in the woods relaxing with her eyes closed. An ancient yew suggests that she might benefit from spontaneity and stepping off the path.

Other trees tell her stories. An English oak, one of the last old-growth trees in a stand of young pines, describes seeing his neighbors cut down with chainsaws. “For some reason they let me stay,” Worton writes that the oak said. “They cut down the trees all around me — my network, my family — and planted these evergreens, the ancestors of those which you see today. The diversity of our community was gone.”

04/03/2026

On Wednesday, March 25, members of the community and stakeholders gathered for a Tampa Tree Roundtable meeting to discuss TTF spending, tree planting, mitigation fees and incentive structures, and enforcement of illegal removals. While several different opinions were voiced on each issue, one idea rang true for the group: The City of Tampa needs to be doing more to protect and rebuild the tree canopy.

03/31/2026

Put this on your calendar!

FREE trees, compost, educational sessions & more at our first annual Earth Fair! This family-friendly celebration will also feature live music, food trucks & hands-on activities. Join City departments and sustainable community partners as we highlight ways we're building a healthier, more resilient Tampa.

📆 4/19 | 10am-3pm
📍 Al Lopez Park
🔗 tampa.gov/EarthFair