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New Trees Help Offset Carbon Footprint

By April 27, 2011January 11th, 2019No Comments

College will plant 28 trees in Arbor Day Celebration

In two separate plantings, students and staff at Kirkwood Community College will plant trees in two different areas of the Cedar Rapids campus on Arbor Day, April 29. Thirteen trees will be planted at The Kirkwood Center at 10 a.m., with 15 more trees being planted on the east side of campus at 2 p.m.

As a licensed school with the Arbor Day Foundation, Kirkwood plants trees every year on Arbor Day. This year’s tree planting will carry extra meaning for one group of students travelling to Costa Rica this summer on a Study Abroad trip.

The 13 students travelling to Costa Rica this summer will plant trees in the afternoon to help offset the carbon footprint for their May-June trip. They will plant more trees during their trip.

“Our students will be studying environmental science and ethics on this trip,” said Assistant Philosophy Professor David Bullwinkle, who will be leading the students on the trip to Costa Rica. “What better way to kick off the learning than with some ecology, climate science and ethical action right here at home.”

The college will plant 13 Japanese Lilac trees at The Kirkwood Center. This is a replacement planting, as the trees that are currently there will be moved to other places on campus.

Kirkwood Arborist Guy Gibson will share the history of Arbor Day, why this day is important to plant trees, and demonstrations of proper plant selection, location and planting techniques, during both plantings. “As Kirkwood applies to become a Tree Campus USA this fall, we continue to manage our 2,260 trees on our Cedar Rapids campus, and engage our students and community with planting trees,” said Gibson.

The plantings, demonstration and short program are open to the public and free to attend.