Posted on: Saturday, September 4, 2004

EDITORIAL
Made in the shade: Be cool, plant a tree

Hot, yeah?

There's a much more constructive way to cool off than to ramp up your air conditioner.

It's to plant a tree. Or trees.

Trees make shade. Shade is cooler than sunlit areas.

Try standing on the sidewalk next to Foster Garden. Then cross the street, and see the temperature climb — almost 10 degrees on some days.

It's truly tragic, if understandable, that vast tracts of housing were built in sunny 'Ewa and Central O'ahu so close together that there's no room for trees. With trees, these neighborhoods wouldn't be so infernally hot, with each house sucking energy for air conditioning.

Those houses were built close together to make them affordable. How long, with oil prices nudging $50 a barrel, will their air conditioners be affordable?

There's a better way, and you can take part in it tomorrow. That's when the nonprofit community organization Malama o Manoa will be giving away 1,000 trees.

From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., anyone who registers at the Manoa Recreation Center pavilion will be given a choice from more than two dozen varieties of fruit, shade and endemic trees.

There will be experts there to tell you where the trees will thrive.

Boy Scout Troop 1 will be on hand to help load the trees, and each recipient will get a free planting guide.

Do something about the hot weather.

Plant a tree.