Baltimore gets green with Forest Project

By: Jennifer Klein

Posted: 4/17/08

This Homecoming weekend, while the Beach was covered with sunbathing students from both past and present, it was also the site for the opening festival of the Baltimore: Urban Forest Project, the GROW! Festival.

GROW! Festival took place on April 12 and included a variety of events. For children, there was face painting, while a display tent projected banners, which will be on display across the city, aimed at education residents about planting trees and beautifying their community. Trees donated by Bell Nursery were given away as prizes.

Students of both Hopkins and MICA aided the program; MICA students developed the event's concept, while Hopkins students executed the plans. Among the Hopkins students involved were Mackenzie Barton-Rowledge and recent graduate Blake Hough.

"The great thing about this event was that while it occurred on the Hopkins campus, it drew a large crowd from the Baltimore community at large-over 800 attendees," HEAT President Julia Blocher said.

The Urban Forest Project encourages the use of greener initiatives through artful banners, a variety of citywide events and decorative bags. The project, which began April 11 and will run until June 28, is a collaboration of TreeBaltimore and the Tilt Foundation. Similar events have been held in cities like New York, Portland and Denver in recent years.

Planning for the project began about a year ago through the efforts of Rachel Baird and Jessica Pegorsh from the Tilt Studio Foundation. It was originally based on the initial event located in Times Square, New York. However, Baird and Pegorsh wanted Baltimore's project to be more community based, as well as have more information about sustainability and the environment, as well as be able to have a more direct impact on people's lives.

Baltimore is also canopying the city with banners. Additional events are being held for two months that the Tilt Studio and their collaborators hope will teach Baltimore residents how to take personal steps towards making the city and world greener.

The Urban Forest Project plans to take this more community focused approach through the efforts of TreeBaltimore. One of the major goals of the Urban Forest Project is to raise awareness for TreeBaltimore. The stated goal of TreeBaltimore is to double the percentage of tree cover in Baltimore from 20 percent to 40 percent by 2030. However, as TreeBaltimore does not have access to enough public property to amass this green space, they are calling upon the residents of Baltimore to plant trees on their own.

Homeowners are given $10 coupons on trees to plant as an incentive, as well as the knowledge that they are beautifying their city and helping the environment.

"We can stand around and talk about [the environment], have banners up- but its action that really makes a difference. TreeBaltimore does this," Matt Roberts, the press contact for the Urban Forest Project, said.

There will be around 350 banners hung in various locations across the city. Mainly local artists designed the banners, but there are some that were created by schoolchildren in Baltimore schools and some designed by Taiwanese schoolchildren. The banners are also relatable to Baltimore residents, with one banner reading, "Think Green Hon."

Events will be held throughout Baltimore for the duration of the project. Locations include Patterson Park, Carroll Park and MICA. At these events, TreeBaltimore and the Tilt Studio hope to provide spectators with information about environmental problem-solving initiatives. Funding for the banners and other events is sponsored by Southwest Airlines, Development Design Group (DDG-green) and Comcast, among others.

At the end of the exhibit, the banners will be turned into bags through the efforts of Jess-M Bags. Pre-ordering of the bags began on Wednesday, April 2. Recycling the banners into the totes further spreads one of the messages of the Urban Forest Project - to avoid wastefulness, no matter what the circumstance.

Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon has been promoting the Urban Forest Project though the Greener Baltimore Initiative. Although the Urban Forest Project and the Greener Baltimore Initiative are not directly linked, Mayor Dixon, like the leaders of the Urban Forest Project, is hoping to impart information on Baltimore citizens that will motivate more responsible, environmentally friendly actions.

"Lots of private entities are doing positive things to make Baltimore cleaner and greener, and the Urban Forest Project is one of these," said Celeste Amato, a representative of the Initiative.