This week, students in Creating the Urban Eden: Woody Plant Selection, Design, and Landscape Establishment (HORT/LA 4910/4920) are highlighting why trees are worth hugging, by hanging bright green “price tags” on trunks around the Ag Quad and in an Ithaca park.
Using an online tool, the National Tree Benefit Calculator, students from the course estimated the environmental and economic benefits of 29 trees based on their location, size and species.
“It’s really quite eye-opening for people who think that trees are just nice to look at and don’t have any other value,” said horticulture professor Nina Bassuk, who leads the class alongside landscape architecture professor Peter Trowbridge.
There are also benefits that are not easily quantified, such as wildlife habitats and emotional responses, Bassuk said.
See also video segment on YNN news.
Watch the ‘Urban Eden’ class install new landscape around Caldwell Hall on the Ag Quad.
Update 2013-04-27: Second installation outside Bradfield Hall April 25: