Elizabethtown Community and Technical College has received a Plant for the Planet grant through KU and LG&E to plant more trees on its campus.
A Plant for the Planet grant has recently been awarded to Elizabethtown Community and Technical College from LG&E and KU. The grant money will be used by ECTC to plant trees on its campus.
The Plant for the Planet grant program is based on the United Nations Environment Program called Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign. Both the grant and the UN’s program is to encourage various organizations, such as schools, that already have a record of tree planting, to continue planting trees. Elizabethtown has spent the grant money to buy native trees to plant on campus such as maple, dogwood, redbud, and oak.
In an article posted on the school’s website, ECTC professor emeritus and chair of the college’s sustainability committee, Martha Wolfe, was quoted about the grant, saying, “We hope to incorporate the new trees, along with all the trees on campus, into educational experiences for ECTC students. For example, biology lab classes can perform wildlife surveys around the trees or calculate how much carbon dioxide they remove from the air.”
Earlier this year, Elizabethtown Community and Technical College earned the Tree Campus distinction. That distinction, and the Plant for the Planet Grant, are just two points in a long line of tree related activities that the school’s sustainability committee has put on, following a tradition of pro tree practices at the school.
The school plans to host a Tree Week celebration from October 6 until the 13th. The event will be sponsored by the Urban Forest Initiative at the University of Kentucky. Tree Week will have activities such as an outdoor biology lab experience involving tree identification, daily tree information emails, a tree giveaway, and more.
Wolfe further noted the importance of trees to the college, saying, “Trees are a valuable asset to the ECTC community, providing benefits such as shade, improved air quality, reduced stormwater impact, instructional uses and mitigating climate change. Even more importantly, trees provide a sense of community and social benefits that include reduced stress and improvement of mental health.”
More information about Elizabethtown Community and Technical College can be found at the school’s website here.