What is Sustainable Landscaping anyway

What is Sustainable Landscaping anyway?

Sustainable landscaping has it’s roots in, and in fact was derived from the phrase “sustainable development”, which was coined by Barbara Ward, the founder of the International Institute for Environment and Development, a British non-profit organization. She used the term for the first time in the 1970’s to make the point that development and the environment are linked. Since that time the concept has spread (albeit slowly!) throughout the world.

In the United States, the phrase has been in use for a couple of decades, but only became well known when President Clinton organized the Presidents’ Council on Sustainable Development in 1992 (remember those happy days?), and charged them with the task of coming up with a working definition. They came up with the following: “sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. It is hardly the only definition (there are probably a gajillion by now), but it has become the most popular and most accepted definition by far.

Using this definition, Rebecca Smith, the owner of Fine Gardens, developed a model of sustainability as subject of her thesis for the degree of Master of Science in Planning (MSP). The model is a framework for sustainability, and was initially designed for use by planners and developers, (it is still used by our parent company R Smith & Associates toward that end). But for the past ten years, we have applied the model to landscaping with excellent results.

Basically, there are 5 principles of sustainability* that make up the foundation of our model, and which guide our landscape projects:

1) Resource Conservation: To ensure the supply of natural resources for present and future generations through the efficient use of land, less wasteful use of non-renewable resources, their substitution by renewable resources whenever possible, and the maintenance of biological diversity.

2) Built Development: to ensure that the development and use of the built environment respects and is in harmony with the natural environment, and that the relationship between the two is designed to one of balance and mutual enhancement.

3) Environmental Quality: To prevent or reduce processes that degrade or pollute the environment, to protect the regenerative capacity of ecosystems, and to prevent developments that are detrimental to human health or that might diminish the quality of life.

4) Social Equity: to prevent any development that increases the gap between rich and poor and to encourage development that reduces social inequality.

5) Political Participation: to change values, attitudes and behavior by encouraging increased participation in political decision making and in initiating environmental improvements at all levels from the local community upwards.

Here’s how these principles might be applied to the landscape:

Resource conservation: reduce water consumption by using low flow (drip) irrigation systems, use native plants in your landscape.

Built Development: design in harmony with nature, and use “green” materials

Environmental Quality: reduce or eliminate the use of toxic chemicals in your landscape. Use organic or IPM techniques instead.

Social Equity: Hire women or minority licensed contractors. Hiring mow-blow-and-go unlicensed companies actually increases the gap between rich and poor by keeping wages low.

Political Participation: get involved in not only your own landscape project, but help develop landscape ordinances in your community that embrace sustainability.

There you have it, probably more than you ever wanted to know about sustainable landscaping! Sustainable landscaping and sustainable development can help move us off of our present course of domination and submission of nature (and other people) into a more harmonious relationship with our environment and with each other. It isn’t a new phenomenon; it’s been around for thirty years and has been in development in the scientific, academic and business arenas for a long time. So it’s roots are well established.

It is very important to understand that sustainability is a systems approach – everything is connected. Using native plants is important not just because they use less water and require less maintenance, but because they help recreate an ecosystem, from the birds, butterflies and insects that feed on them to the microbes in the soil they help restore. So, while recycling is a good thing, by itself, it is not sustainable. In fact, if there is no market for the goods we recycle, then recycling only creates more garbage. That’s why using recycled materials in the landscape in considered to be sustainable (at least to some degree), because it helps create a cycle from use to reuse.

Source: Town and Country Planning Association, Great Britain