trees

Fifty-four years after the first annual Earth Day, many people are making environmental sustainability their business. KCUR's Up To Date spoke with Kansas Citians whose livelihood is saving the planet.

Scientists have looked at decades of data on trees and other native Missouri plants blooming. As the region warms, plants like the dogwood are reacting by changing their bloom times.

Kansas City and several other cities worked with NOAA to map neighborhoods to find out how heat impacts neighborhoods. The data can help cities prepare and adapt to a warmer world.

At least three states have banned these trees outright, and others discourage the public from adding them to their yards.

Instead of sending trees and broken lights to the local landfill, here’s how and where you can recycle those unwanted holiday wares.

The holiday season is evergreen trees’ time to shine. But one tree — the eastern redcedar — has come to be considered a nuisance as it spreads across the Great Plains.

North American oak-hickory canopies are powerhouses for feeding wildlife. Without periodic understory fires, they wane.

So you want to do something about climate change, but what? We have ideas. Some require a little planning, while others might mean one less thing on your to-do list. (You can skip raking leaves!)

Honey bees are critical to pollinating field crops and fruit trees across the region — and they make delicious honey. One Kansas City beekeeper helps when these insects make their homes in inconvenient places. Plus: Big dollars are going towards urban tree canopies across the country.

A major surge in climate resilience funding is allowing urban forestry departments to focus on trees. About $1.5 billion of funding will be invested in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry Program.

Cities in Kansas and Missouri are finding that they often have too many of the same kind of trees, making them extra vulnerable to pests and diseases. Plus: Three companies in the Midwest want to capture carbon dioxide from ethanol plants and store it underground, but that idea worries some landowners.

About one-third of Overland Park's street trees are maples. Experts say cities must diversify their canopies, or pests will keep devastating them.