PCC Geography: Mr. Lee

COMMUNITY SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

General Information

This page was last updated: 24 June 2007

Community Service: The idea is to combine theory with practice. Generally, people learn better by doing and by trying to teach others. The goal is to demonstrate your understanding of and ability to apply classroom theory to real life situations in your local community.

Students can use Community Volunteer opportunities to build their resume and gain job related skills, knowledge, and experience especially when combined with the SCANS checklists. (See the article "SCANS: Preparing Students for Employment" in the Our Pages Section of this website.)

Tree Planting Opportunities

Planting trees help clean the air, can shade your home to reduce air conditioning costs, improve property values, create urban wildlife habitat, and provide you with stress relief and sometimes food.

Municipal Tree Planting (Must be a LA DWP customer):
Los Angeles Dept of Water / Power: Green LA Tree Planting: Go to http://www.ladwp.com/ladwp/cms/ladwp000744.jsp and click on “residential workshop calendar”. Attend the 2-hour workshop Get the tree(s) and plant them according to your plan. For more information, use the appropriate web link at the bottom of this page.

Burbank Dept of Water / Power (Must be a Burbank resident): Made in the Shade: Visit the Burbank Water and Power site http://www.burbankwaterandpower.com/freeshade.htm Call the Burbank Water and Power program arborist at 818-957-8196 to schedule an at-home consultation. They will assist you in planning the tree-planting project. When you get the tree, plant it according the plan you developed with the arborist. For more information, use the appropriate web link at the bottom of this page.

Tree People Tree Planting: Go to http://www.treepeople.org/ and click on the word “Calendar” near the top of the home page. On the “Calendar” page, look for the event icons along the bottom edge of the calendar for “Mountain Plantings” or “Community or Campus Plantings” and click on the icon. Look for a project that interests you. For more information, use the appropriate web link at the bottom of this page.

National Arbor Day Foundation: Join this group and get free trees to plant in your yard or area. See their website http://www.arborday.org/shopping/memberships/memberships.cfm?trackingid=529
or use the link below.

Urban Wildlife Habitats

The LA area urban landscape is mostly concrete and asphalt with very few parks and green spaces. You can make a difference by planting native plants in your yard. Native plants use less water and provide food / shelter for local pollinators and birds.

To find out what native plants may be suitable for your area, check out the following site (or click on the link below): http://www.laspilitas.com/comhabit/zipcode.htm

For water saving ideas visit the following site (or click on the link below): http://www.bewaterwise.com/

Backyard Conservation: A free program for you to create and certify your backyard conservation effort with the US Dept of Agriculture. Visit the site http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Feature/backyard/wildhab.html or use the link below.

National Wildlife Federation Backyard Wildlife Habitat program: For a small fee you can register your Backyard Wildlife Habitat following the NWF guidelines. Visit their site at http://www.nwf.org/backyard/ or use the link below.


Photo: ESSI American and Thai volunteers conducting community-based environmental training in Ban Na Fa, Nan Province, Thailand. (c) 2005, ESSI. Photo by G.K. Lee.

Last updated: 24 June 2007

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Extra Credit / Community Service Hotlinks

LADWP: Trees for a GreenLA
City of Burbank: Get Made in the Shade
TreePeople
Native Plant Community Information
Water Conservation Information
Backyard Conservation
Wildlife Habitat Information
National Arbor Day Foundation