[ccfic caption-text format="plaintext"]
Wellesley Middle School Girl Scouts, in partnership with Wellesley Natural Resources Commission, have completed a community project to show how one tree impacts air quality by placing informative labels on public trees along Central Street in Wellesley Square.
Scouts collected data on the trees between Weston Road and Abbott Street with Town of Wellesley Natural Resources Commission Environmental Education and Outreach Coordinator Lisa Moore. Lisa taught the Scouts how to use i-Tree MyTree, software developed by the USDA Forestry Service, to compute the number of pounds of CO2 that each tree stores, both annually and over its lifetime. The label also shows the amount of pollution removed annually. Each tree has a QR code to scan for more information.
The Girl Scouts learned that public trees offer more than just beauty and shade - they provide tangible benefits, such as removal of atmospheric carbon dioxide and pollution, as well as storm water runoff reduction. By removing carbon dioxide, trees help mitigate climate change.
i-Tree MyTree allows members of the community to explore the individual benefits provided by the trees near them. For more information, visit http://mytree.itreetools.org.
