by Heather Whitlow The Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) is pleased to announce the launch of its new LandscapePerformance.org website. With 90 Case Study Briefs, over 100 Fast Facts, and dozens of Benefits Toolkit calculators, LandscapePerformance.org is sure to become your go-to place to find design precedents, show value, and make the case for sustainable landscape…
Sustainability
Forget the Debate! Let’s Get on with Planting Resiliency
September 16, 2014 in Sustainability
by Kevin Staso If you listen to nightly news reports or read articles in Nature, The Journal of Ecology or The American Meteorological Society, the frequency and severity of drought in the United States seems unavoidable, despite being more predictable. Headlines like “Drought Monitor shows record-breaking expanse of drought across United States” from 2012 and…
Book Review: The Resilient Farm and Homestead
August 14, 2014 in Book and DVD Reviews, Sustainability
Written by Ben Falk Published by Chelsea Green Publishing, 2013 Reviewed by Kerry O’Kelly Another title for the The Resilient Farm and Homestead by Ben Falk could be “Permaculture in Practice” as the value of this book is primarily through examining the 10-year case study of Mr. Falk’s Whole Systems Research Farm. This is where…
Soil as Carbon Storehouse: New Weapon in Climate Fight?
July 23, 2014 in Soil Health, Sustainability
This article first appeared in Yale Environment 360. by Judith D. Schwartz In the 19th century, as land-hungry pioneers steered their wagon trains westward across the United States, they encountered a vast landscape of towering grasses that nurtured deep, fertile soils. Today, just three percent of North America’s tallgrass prairie remains. Its disappearance has had a dramatic impact…
A Cornucopia of Experiences: Teaching Gardens in the Schoolyard
June 20, 2014 in Edible Landscaping, Sustainability
by Marilyn Wyzga With watering can in hand, a first grader earnestly speed-walks across the grass, finds a pepper plant in need of a drink, and slowly drains her can around its base. She scoots back and tags her teammate in the waiting line; he quickly scuttles off to the basket of mulch, scoops a…
Conserving Soil with Grow Bags
February 17, 2014 in Sustainability
by John Kinchla
Amherst Nurseries grows trees and shrubs on approximately 100 acres of land on farms in Amherst, MA and Charlemont, MA. I try to produce plants that are as environmentally friendly as possible by reducing the use of pesticides, using drip irrigation, and growing in field soil (which uses less water and fertilizer than plastic container methods). One problem with field grown nursery stock is the loss of soil when the plant is harvested balled and burlapped (B&B). Since the soils at Amherst Nurseries are of a very high quality, the problem of soil loss is something that I’m acutely aware of. In response, I’ve been shifting the production of Amherst Nurseries from B&B to grow bags as a means to reduce the loss of field soil via B&B production.
In Poverty and In Wealth….Water Consciousness
April 14, 2013 in Stormwater Management, Sustainability
by Heather D Heimarck I have always been a map gazer, letting my mind wander along the mountain ridges and rivers of the world. Recently, I have taken up a study on the history of cartography, how each map reflects a worldview, a “cosmology” of the planet. The connection between human habitation, expansion, and commerce…
Transition to Sustainability at Kent Hospital, Warwick, Rhode Island
October 14, 2012 in Restoration, Sustainability
by Nick Novick Beginning about ten years ago, a significant portion of the landscape around Kent Hospital has been transformed from the common template of mostly maintenance-intensive lawn and beds of shrubs and annuals to a more sustainable model comprising stormwater retention, mostly native plants, and designs that are more self-sustaining.
A Tale of Three Garden Shows: Progress?
April 13, 2012 in Sustainability
This excerpt from a longer article is reprinted by permission of the author and Native Plants & Wildlife Gardens and appears in full at http://nativeplantwildlifegarden.com/a-tale-of-three-garden-shows-progress/. by Sue Reed I have recently attended three very different garden shows that together reveal a big shift in our society’s gardening attitudes and interests. Yet I also found that…
Piloting the Sustainable Sites Initiative™
March 15, 2012 in SITES, Sustainability
by CeCe Haydock The Sustainable Sites Initiative™, or SITES™ for short, was born from a need for a nationwide, voluntary rating system for landscape construction. The collaborative effort involved forty groups, with the Lady Bird Johnson Wildlife Center, the American Society of Landscape Architects, and the U.S. Botanic Garden as lead partners, and the rating…
Planning for Resilient and Sustainable Communities
January 16, 2012 in Sustainability, Urban Landscaping
by Jack Ahern An original method for planning resilient and sustainable cities is presented here. The method builds on established planning methods and models. The method has five themes: (1) goal-oriented and exosystem-services-based, (2) strategic, (3) scenario-driven, (4) transdisciplinary, and (5) adaptive. Each of these five themes is discussed in the following sections.
What is Sustainability?
December 16, 2011 in Sustainability
by Ronald G. Dodson To my way of thinking, sustainability is an individual and personal ethic that informs, guides, and inspires actions in daily, personal, and professional life. Practicing the tenets of sustainability is motivated by an individual’s acceptance of a responsibility to, quite simply, make decisions that leave our world better able to meet…
