Hal Rosner

 

Hal Rosner started in the tree care business during a high school spring break, sophomore year. His grandparents ran their tree business, The Care of Trees, with three stake body trucks parked in the driveway of their home in Glenview Illinois.

An eclectic course of education after high school followed, including studying ornamental horticulture at Kishwaukee College in Malta IL; environmental studies at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, and journalism at Temple University in Philadelphia.

His post-college career started with The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Philadelphia Green Program, working as a coordinator and community organizer for street tree plantings and other greening projects in low-income neighborhoods. He then joined the Morris Arboretum, serving as chief arborist and where he also coordinated workshops for tree care professionals.

As an ISA Board Certified Master Arborist, Hal has spent the better part of his career working in the private sector, working closely with institutional and residential clients diagnosing tree problems to help people maintain safe and healthy tree collections. As an NOFA Accredited Organic Land Care Professional, he maintains a focus minimizing pesticides and chemical fertilizers.

Hal’s primary focus these days is to engage arborists in the conversation about the current climate catastrophe, and to explore what steps can be taken to reduce the tree care profession’s huge carbon footprint.

The major turning point came when he attended The Climate Reality Leadership Conference in 2018. Over a three-day period in Atlanta, presentations made by scientists, community leaders and activists along with former Vice-President Al Gore, were a wake-up call that the tree care industry wasn’t entirely “green” and in fact is arguably quite grey.

Hal currently is an active supporter and instructor of the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society’s Tree Tenders program, training citizen arborists to establish and maintain canopy in their neighborhoods.