Sustaining Our Urban Landscape (SOUL)

SOUL's mission is to drive a resilient and environmentally equitable New Orleans through reforesting our city.

New Orleans was declared the most deforested city in the United States by the U.S. Forest Service after the city lost 100,000 trees due to Hurricane Katrina. This matters. Trees have the ability to drink and enormous amount of stormwater, lower air temperatures and energy bills, mitigate subsidence, sequester carbon and decrease pollution, all while improving community health and beautifying our city. SOUL's approach to New Orleans' deforestation program is to strategically cluster trees so that they can function as systems and in tandem with traditional infrastructure.

SOUL was launched in June 2016, and since then, the organization has planted more than 1,800 large, native, water-loving trees. SOUL is an independent project of Multiplier, a nationally recognized nonprofit with a growing portfolio of innovative initiatives that conserve and protect a sustainable and resilient world (www.multiplier.org).