Tree Ambassadors in Action! – Chicago Muslims Green Team

On July 19, 2023, Tree Ambassadors (TA) from CMGT, Masjid (mosque) Al Farooq, Imani Village, Faith in Place accompanied by experts, Trinity from CRTI Morton Arboretum and Jared from the City Forestry joined forces to do TA Field Day in the Calumet Heights neighborhood where the mosque is located.

Back in May, the mosque hosted the Tree Ambassadors Training where we trained 28 new TAs. We followed-up the training with canvassing around the neighborhood and requesting trees using the CHI311 App.

Unfortunately, during our canvassing, we encountered technical difficulties in using the App and rejections from residents who do no want trees. We acknowledge the need of support to do more canvassing in the area. Therefore, we were grateful that CRTI invited us to do the TA Field Days.

CMGT signed up for the Field Days on July 19 and 25, from 3 to 4:30 PM. It was fun to meet fellow TAs from other organizations and helped us talking to residents. Many residents still refused trees, so we were excited to finally met a resident who allowed us to request as many trees as we want in front of her house!

While walking back to the mosque, we were delighted to find a healthy and beautiful Ash tree in the neighborhood. In Chicago, just like in many other US cities, Ash trees are under constant threat of a disease called Emerald Ash Borer, the mass-murdering beetle that’s laid waste to tens of millions of ash trees across 35 states.

In conclusion, we had a productive Field Day with more than 10 tree requests via the App. We also still encountered one technical difficulty and due to the limited time, we left other potential planting spots for the next Field Day.

We thank C3 Nature Museum for providing a free merchandise, a beautiful eco-bag for our Tree Ambassadors.

Here are more pictures of our Tree Ambassadors in action!