A Forgotten April Climate Day (It's Not Earth Day)

On April 27, 1882, thousands of people gathered in the City of Cincinnati to celebrate a newly declared state holiday that unbeknownst to them recognized and celebrated something that is in play today as a major factor to address climate change. There was a parade with marching bands, and seven thousand uniformed girls and boys from thirty school districts marching as part of it.

Ohio was the second state to recognize this new holiday, and today 50 states today having it on their books. It is also a federal holiday which occurs on the last Friday of April (4/26 this year).

The day is called Arbor Day. A celebration of Trees.

When Europeans arrived on the East coast of America, they found a continent that in large part was completely forested. They were intimidated by this dark mass since most of them had very little experience with forests since much of the ones in their homelands had by then been chopped down and turned into open land. Even though the New World forests the arrivals saw were reported to have been managed by the indigenous population to the extent that one could “drive a wagon through them”, they were still something entirely new for the colonists to encounter.

As Annie Proulx describes in her eye-opening non-fiction work titled Barkskins, the colonists wasted no time attacking the forest to create farms, build and heat their homes, and provide the ship building industry with tall masts and other building materials. As Proulx tells the story, the logging industry started to chop down the trees the in the Canadian Maritimes and New England and over the course of decades they moved west, chopping as they went.

Something else happened to trees in the 19^th century – sheep. Sheep farming in the Northeast became the de facto farming industry and the value of cleared land rose to support that. Deforestation got to the point where at one point only 18% of Vermont was forested. Another comment recorded in those days was that you could take a coach from Boston to New York City and not see anything that might be called a forest. If you look at painting, or later photographs, from that era you will note the openness of the landscape.

But while the forests were being reduced, there was something different happening with trees in U.S. cities. The value of trees in the urban environment was recognized. It was obvious to municipal leaders and their citizens that the trees provided a cooling effect and that this, combined with their contribution to aesthetics, made a city with trees simply a nicer, more pleasant, place to live and work.

Urban streets in the 19^th Century were filled with trees, including with corridors of tall, stately elm trees. People also wanted trees in their yards. The term “leafy” began to show up in real estate circles as an indicator that a place was a pleasant neighborhood or village.

But that doesn’t mean that these urban trees were not under threats. They were constantly under threat from invasive pests, disease, and municipal budgets, which had to include funding for maintenance of public trees. The trees began to come down along the streets and in the yards.

A few influential people realized early in the mid-19^th Century what was going on and began to organize efforts to address the loss of urban trees. Chief among these efforts was to create a day devoted to the celebration of trees. It would be a day when people would come together in communities across the nation and praise and plant trees. There would be parades, speeches, and contests for children. This new holiday called Arbor Day became a day that people planned for, and looked forward to, all throughout the year.  Starting in Nebraska and slowly spreading to all the States, Arbor Day was the kind of thing that caused communities to act like communities.

As the 20^th Century progressed, however, urban budgets became simply too tight to support urban trees. The mantra of urban renewable not only resulted in tearing down older buildings because it was seen as too expensive to repair them but affected the urban forest as well. Furthermore, many people began to look at the trees in their yards as a nuisance that did not do too much other than lead to a lot of work especially in leaf raking during the Fall. It they came down they didn’t replace them. The rise of Air Conditioning also contributed to this, as now it was possible to be cool inside a home, meaning the cool shade of trees on a lot became less thought of and appreciated.

And Arbor Day fell by the wayside.

The people who created Arbor Day, and the thousands who used to celebrate it did not know anything about climate change. Today is a different story. Climate change is issue number one in terms of the relationship between living beings and the physical world. And Trees are an important component of that.

Because of climate change, most everyone today recognizes that trees are good for the environment, and good for fighting climate change. We are remembering what we were taught in our early school years about photosynthesis and the carbon cycle and understanding the importance of trees as a carbon sink, i.e. removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. We are also starting to remember the cooling effect of trees in the urban environment. Studies show areas of cities with trees being multiple degrees cooler than areas of the same city that are treeless.

A key part of many Earth Day celebrations is planting a few trees. But there are a lot of other things that are focused on that day, and Earth Day itself is not what it used to be in terms of the public consciousness. I find this a bit counterintuitive given the rising awareness and concern over climate change, but it is indeed less of a thing than it used to be.

People are always asking me what they can do as one person to combat climate change. I find myself responding with the usual list of things that will reduce their personal carbon footprint. In thinking about Arbor Day, however, I am realizing that I rarely talk about trees (other than in the big context of global deforestation, and the other related issue of the challenges of carbon offsets). I should be doing that.

I am also realizing that it is the public nature of trees that presents an opportunity for a new communal activity that could include a good dose of climate activity. The most communal climate activity that most people participate in today (if they do anything communal at all) is a march. Unfortunately, whereas marches may have once had a big impact on policy and consciousness, that is not the case today. They result in no tangible “product” to address emissions, and in my opinion have become simply a “feel-good” activity. I see no evidence that they are making a difference to policymakers.

If Arbor Day is brought back, it offers a chance for a communal activity where people can work together on something, and that would in turn give people a way to talk to each other about climate change – something that climate experts (and climate psychologist) say is very important to create a foundation for broader and faster climate action. 

Yes, we could simply make trees an even bigger part of Earth Day. But I think trees are worth a stand-alone event. Let Earth Day focus on the large and varied number of environmental issues, including non-climate issues of clean water, non-carbon air problems, etc. Not many people are against trees, when you come down to it, especially if you lay out the benefits to them. And you don’t make Arbor Day only about climate change, you should be able to walk a line that brings everyone together.  

Hmm…. everyone getting together in activities on a designated day to celebrate trees (and planting a few) while also talking about climate change. Why not?

Look … making a bigger deal out of Arbor Day is not enough to eliminate our climate emergency. But we need more opportunities for collective conversation and collective action on climate change. Let’s make Arbor Day one of them.

Note: I was fortunate enough to grow up in a house that had a yard large enough to have six massive elms of our own.  We lost them all, along with all the other Elms in my small town. Today, when I am in Central Park, or on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., I remember what it was like. If you find yourself in either place, take a bath in the elms.

Note: While there is a Federally designated date for Arbor Day, many States have designated their own different dates for the celebration. The list of State Dates can be found at "Arbor Day Calendar by State and Date." ThoughtCo

Note: If you want to know more about Arbor Day, and the history of trees in the urban environment and how society has viewed them in the past, you will enjoy (and have your eyes opened) by reading “Urban Forests – A Natural History of Trees and People in the American Cityscape” by Jill Jonnes.

Note: If the city, town, village, or community where you live does not celebrate Arbor Day, what better thing for your to do than jump in and help create something. You can visit to get some ideas and possible support from the Arbor Day Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to the holiday.