Paris will plant its first "urban forest" this winter

Check out this Reuters article about Paris's plans to create its first urban forest. The city plans to plant 478 trees on the Place de Catalogne this winter in an effort to reduce noise and pollution and combat global warming. The former car roundabout at this location has recently been transformed into a bicycle-friendly junction that marks the beginning of a green biking path leading to the city’s southern suburbs. I imagine it will become an increasingly lovely place to hang out as the trees mature.

According to the article, Paris has planted a whopping 63,000 trees throughout the city since 2020 and has transformed several streets that have schools on them into car-free mini-parks. Impressive! The city is also expected to hold a public vote next February on whether to ban SUVs from the city centre.

You know, when I wrote this article suggesting we turn our cities into gardens, even I thought I sounded naively optimistic. 😅 Yet here’s Paris actually DOING it. And as the benefits of using nature to protect urban environments from climate-change-intensified extreme weather become increasingly apparent, I’m guessing other cities will follow in its footsteps.

You can read the Reuters article here.