There’s no reason to be green with envy when you can be green for the environment. Local residents and business owners are becoming proactive to reduce the environmental impact they have on San Diego and the world.

Many people recycle, use reusable grocery bags, remember to turn off the water when brushing their teeth, and walk rather than drive to the neighborhood coffee shop. From simple tips to complex strategies, more people are considering their carbon footprint.

Alex Hempton, a San Diego native and urban planner, has been an advocate for “going green” at the local level. In particular, Hempton’s concern is the environmental impact and overall environmental friendliness of the gayborhood. His “Complete Streets” concept is one way Hillcrest can go green.

“Complete Streets is the idea that streets should be safe, accessible, and available for all users, not just automobile traffic,” Hempton says. “Most of the streets we use today are built for quickly moving cars through an area. Complete Streets really go hand-in-hand with the development we are seeing in areas like Hillcrest.”

Hillcrest, voted one of the best neighborhoods in the nation by the American Planning Association, is on its way to becoming a more pedestrian-friendly community, which benefits residents, businesses, and most importantly, the fledgling environment.

“With denser development, more people will have the opportunity to walk or bike to their destinations, and streets that are safe and pleasant become that much more important,” Hempton says. “Streets that include elements such as street trees, benches, trash cans, pedestrian-scale street lighting, etc. are beneficial to the entire community, including retail establishments and restaurants. Streets that provide a destination – not just a way to quickly pass through – encourage people to stay and patronize shops.”

“A good example of this is Little Italy. Streets like India Street used to have small sidewalks and three lanes of high-speed traffic. Now India Street is two lanes of traffic, has ample sidewalk space, street trees, traffic-calming elements and more.”

Hillcrest and University Heights still have much ground to cover in order to achieve total Complete Street status, according to Hempton.

“Streets like University Avenue are on their way to becoming more complete, but still aren’t as safe as they could be for all users. This includes pedestrians, bicyclists, the disabled, children – essentially everyone,” he says. “Complete Streets has a Web site at www.completestreets.org that has some photo simulations of incomplete and complete streets.”

A greener community also means adding more green, Hempton says: “An important element of Complete Streets is street trees. Too often, trees in Hillcrest are removed, hacked, ‘topped,’ or generally uncared for. There are some important exceptions, but in general trees aren’t protected and are in danger. It’s important for people to view trees in the community as a resource to be protected and maintained.”

While efforts have been made to plant trees throughout the community, it is essential that property owners, residents and businesses get more involved as to not lose this momentum. “It’s important for [them] to adopt a tree,” Hempton says. “Maintain that tree. Don’t ‘top’ the tree – topping a tree means removing almost all of the tree’s branches, which leaves a trunk. This may seem like an efficient way to get the most from a tree trimming, but it’s actually very bad for the tree. Topping trees results in scraggly growth, limbs that aren’t properly supported by the tree, and reduces the tree’s aesthetics, health, tree canopy and beneficial effects in general.”

Often, residents remove trees, hack them down, or abuse them in other ways – all of these greatly affect the environmental homeostasis of our community. “We need to really start taking care of the urban forest,” Hempton said. “If there’s a tree in front of your house, give it some love. If it’s in front of your business, give it some water. Trees increase property values and make people want to stay.”

Hempton urges people to work with urban nature, rather than fight it. “If a tree currently blocks your store sign, nurture it so that the tree canopy is able to grow above your sign. There have been a few cases in Hillcrest where trees have been severely pruned because the trees were blocking a store’s sign. It’s actually illegal to chop down or improperly prune street trees. These trees have been replaced, but now they are small and it will take that much longer for them to reach a mature canopy size.”

New developments are required to provide trees at a rate of one every 30 feet of street frontage. If palm trees are utilized, they are required every 20 feet of street frontage. The City of San Diego’s Land Development Code requires a planting area of 40 square feet, with no dimension less than 5 feet. “Even though this required area is a good size, trees that are planted next to structural soil can be located under the sidewalk and roadway,” Hempton said. “This special soil supports the weight of traffic, but also allows tree roots to integrate under the roadway and benefit from a greater root zone area, without damaging the sidewalk or road. A greater root zone, therefore, allows for a larger tree canopy.”

You can help preserve urban nature and green our community merely by planting a tree or nurturing one outside your home or business. Property values escalate when street trees are cared for. Be sure to visit the City of San Diego’s Web site – www.sandiego.gov – and read over the city’s Street Tree Selection Guide. This will give you a great deal of information in selecting the best tree for your area, so that the roots will not damage the sidewalk.

There are numerous benefits for putting more trees on our streets:

Street trees increase property value – the council of Tree and Landscape Appraisers have stated that “A mature tree can often have an appraised value of between $1,000 and $10,000.”

Trees improve the aesthetic quality of the built environment.

Trees soften the mass of buildings to bring them into a pedestrian scale.

Trees make the sidewalks more pedestrian friendly, by providing shade.

Trees reduce the urban heat island effect – urban areas can become “heat islands” because of the great amount of concrete and asphalt – trees provide shade and help reduce this effect.

Trees reduce storm water runoff, which in turn improves overall water quality.

Help the environment, yourself and the community by giving a little green love to the trees that share our home.