In the past decade, the word sustainability has become a widely recognized and often misused term. Consider the fact that Google returns over 30,000,000 results for a search on the keyword "sustainability" alone. While this apparent paradigm shift is quite encouraging, the sustainability movement is moving in the wrong direction.
Granted, one must "learn to crawl before you learn to walk" and the general public is often skeptical about theories and practices that were the battle cry of the founders of Earth Day and environmental Pollyanna's throughout the end of the last century. All hope is not lost, however. Landscape Architects, a profession in which I have a tremendous amount of faith and zeal for, is not only the best equipped to further the cause of sustainability, but they have begun to take the reins of the sustainable movement.
A prime example of this new found leadership can be found in the Sustainable Sites Initiative. The Initiative has taken the lead through on an interdisciplinary team that is furthering the cause of sustainability and most importantly, landscape architects are the leaders of this multi-disciplinary team. One of the most important and hopeful features on this site is the "Standards and Guidelines Report" which the team has produced. This findings of this report will help design professionals integrate sustainable development principles into their everyday practice.
This is the direction that the movement must move towards, as opposed to convincing the public (and ourselves) that simply because a household saves 10-cents on heating costs, they have become "green" or sustainable. While this movement is still fairly new, and somewhat radical in the eyes of the general public, we must be wary of creating systems and guides that will allow and encourage more "greenwashing", which would result in businesses who truly are not practicing sustainability to be rewarded.
Granted, one must "learn to crawl before you learn to walk" and the general public is often skeptical about theories and practices that were the battle cry of the founders of Earth Day and environmental Pollyanna's throughout the end of the last century. All hope is not lost, however. Landscape Architects, a profession in which I have a tremendous amount of faith and zeal for, is not only the best equipped to further the cause of sustainability, but they have begun to take the reins of the sustainable movement.
A prime example of this new found leadership can be found in the Sustainable Sites Initiative. The Initiative has taken the lead through on an interdisciplinary team that is furthering the cause of sustainability and most importantly, landscape architects are the leaders of this multi-disciplinary team. One of the most important and hopeful features on this site is the "Standards and Guidelines Report" which the team has produced. This findings of this report will help design professionals integrate sustainable development principles into their everyday practice.
This is the direction that the movement must move towards, as opposed to convincing the public (and ourselves) that simply because a household saves 10-cents on heating costs, they have become "green" or sustainable. While this movement is still fairly new, and somewhat radical in the eyes of the general public, we must be wary of creating systems and guides that will allow and encourage more "greenwashing", which would result in businesses who truly are not practicing sustainability to be rewarded.
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