New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg launched an ambitious forestation initiative Tuesday, which will increase the city's forest by 20 percent with the planting of one million trees in the next decade.
Launching the Million Trees NYC initiative, Bloomberg planted a Carolina Silverbell tree in the Morrisania section of the Bronx, one of the five boroughs of the city, and declared it to be the first of one million trees.
Through a mix of public and private plantings, the Million Trees initiative will expand New York City's urban forest by 20 percent, according to a news release from the mayor's office.
All New Yorkers will share the many benefits that come from planting trees -- more beautiful neighborhoods and parks, cleaner air and water, higher property values, energy savings, cooler summer streets, yards, and public open spaces, and a healthier, more environmentally sustainable city, said the release.
"Over the next decade, we are going to plant an unprecedented one million trees across the city. This is an ambitious goal and to achieve it we're going to need the help of the entire city," said Bloomberg, adding that the initiative is a key part of the effort to make New York a greener, greater city.
The Parks Department of the city will receive nearly 400 million U.S. dollars over the next 10 years to plant 600,000 public trees by reforesting 2,000 acres of existing parkland and lining New York City streets with trees, according to the news release.
The remaining 400,000 trees will be planted by nonprofit and community organizations, businesses, developers and everyday New Yorkers, the release said.
To mark the launch of the initiative, New York City's famed Empire State Building went green on the evening of Tuesday.
Beginning at sunset, the world's most famous skyscraper's top 30 floors were lit-up green with the lights shining bright until midnight.
The green beacon of light was to serve as a reminder to all New Yorkers of the importance of getting involved in what is expected to be the United States' largest and most aggressive urban tree planting campaign in the nation's history.
Source:Xinhua
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