Articles Posted in January, 2010
Letter From the Editor
Dear Reader,
Welcome to the ELA monthly electronic newsletter. We’re joining the global conversation about environmental sustainability – furthering ELA’s mission to promote ecological landscaping solutions. Our newsletter is part of ELA’s growing web-hub and we need your help. We hope that you will keep us posted on where it’s working best and what’s missing the mark. This newsletter, now 12 issues per year instead of 4, exists to serve a growing readership. You’ll still enjoy top-quality articles from innovators in the field. In fact, this new forum opens the possibility of engaging more contributors on a regular basis. Look forward to more pictures and multimedia content. We’re excited that the wider circulation of the newsletter will introduce more readers to tools like ELA’s “Find an Eco-Pro”, connecting professionals with eco-conscious customers.
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Posted January 15, 2010 under Letter From the Editor.
Gaias Garden (excerpt)
In Gaia’s Garden, Toby Hemenway presents permaculture. Permaculture is a design method that helps humans design and re-wild landscapes following nature’s patterns. Robust enough to invigorate and regenerate landscapes across continents, permaculture has found astounding success is every climate. Hemenway takes it to the home-scale, offering tools to create self-sustaining systems that increase functionality and yield abundance. Toby Hemenway is the keynote speaker at the ELA Conference & Eco-Marketplace on February 25, 2010 in Springfield, MA.
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Posted January 15, 2010 under Native Plants, Permaculture / Edible Gardens.
Coastal Buffer Zones
Article by: Kate Venturini, of the URI Outreach Center
Buffer zones between development and shoreline habitat are attempted in many states, but rarely work well enough to protect the ecosystem. Laws and enforcement vary between communities, as do development histories and how people interact with the environment. Realizing this dilemma, land developers are finding common solutions to invigorate buffers across the country by turning to ecology. Relying on native plants to distance fragile coastal shores from the impact of human development does more than obey a zoning laws. Growing healthy native buffers gives coastal habitat a true shot at survival and regeneration. The Native Plant Design Manual offers a new strategies to design rich coastal buffers. The Manual was created for a New England coastal climate, though the paradigm shifting approach presented is transferable to any ecosystem.
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Posted January 15, 2010 under Ecological Maintenance, Native Plants, Wildlife Habitats.