Trees of Life (Lawrence)

Why Lawrence

Few things are as lovely as a tree. And yet, if you look around the streets of Lawrence, MA — or plug one of its zip codes into a digital “tree equity map” — you’ll quickly realize there aren’t nearly enough, a stark indicator of the climate resilience of an entire community.

Environmental justice starts from a simple recognition: a changing climate affects everyone, but it doesn’t affect everyone equally. The communities hit first and worst are often the ones that have contributed the least and have the fewest resources for resilience. Lawrence is one of those places — a heat island where summers run 5–10° warmer than the surrounding suburbs — and it’s where MassIPL is putting environmental justice work into practice.

Faith communities leading the way

Trees of Life is our initiative to meet that need, in partnership with the Merrimack Valley Interfaith Team (MVIT). Across Lawrence, congregations are hosting Creation Care gatherings featuring speaking and contextually appropriate presentations for faith communities, led by Father Joel Almonó, followed by a shared meal and community discussion that MassIPL leads at each gathering. Twenty of these gatherings are now done or scheduled, and they’ve reached hundreds of people across the city.

“Climate change especially impacts communities like ours,” says Pastor Javier Roche, who also serves as MassIPL’s technical coordinator and helps lead the initiative. “Creation Care is loving what God loves. And Creation is groaning, just like the Bible said it would. It impacts our neighborhoods.”

People leave these gatherings with concrete asks: start recycling, work with us to make your house of worship greener, sign up to plant a tree, or join our Youth Ambassadors. The program builds toward this fall, when congregations from across the city will come together for community tree planting events. Working with the MVIT network, Groundwork Lawrence, and other partners, we’re preparing to plant up to 31 trees across the city this year.

More than trees

But environmental justice is about more than buildings and trees — it’s about the health and future of entire neighborhoods, and the people who live in them. Alongside Trees of Life, and with grant support, MassIPL is directing $75,000 toward capital projects at EJ houses of worship, covering everything from LED lighting upgrades to high-efficiency heating systems. This work has already lowered emissions at participating congregations by more than 165,000 lbs a year while saving thousands on utilities.

Roche knows that trees are part of the solution. They clean the air, lower dangerously high temperatures, help prevent flash flooding, and support biodiversity. And, for anyone familiar with the Jewish and Christian scriptures, they are part of the divine story. The Hebrew Bible begins with the Tree of Life, and the Christian New Testament’s final vision of paradise includes the tree of life, “whose leaves are for the healing of the nations.”

In Lawrence, we’re planting trees and sharing resources grounded in that hope — one person and one congregation at a time.