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Where to go to find Simple, Sustainable, and Affordable Practices and
Do-It-Yourself Projects to Enhance the Sustainability of Your Home.
 Dr.
Tolman in the Washington Post
Washington Post article |
PDF of article
The Sustainable Sites Initiative (http://www.sustainablesites.org/) is an interdisciplinary effort by the American Society of Landscape Architects,
the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and the United States Botanic Garden to
create voluntary national guidelines and performance benchmarks for sustainable
land design, construction and maintenance practices. The Initiative seeks to
achieve for landscapes what the U.S. Green Building Council has accomplished in
the design and construction of ecologically-friendly buildings, commonly called
LEED buildings
(Leadership in Energy and Efficient Design). Working with volunteer experts, the
Initiative’s staff is preparing the report with prerequisites that professionals
would use to design, build and maintain sustainable landscapes. Some of these
practices include using recycled rain and household water for irrigation,
improving soil health with compost, choosing plants suited for the site and its
climate, avoiding chemicals that contribute to water pollution, and using
vegetation to reduce the heat island effect of cities. The enterprise’s website
features selected case studies from across the U.S. on how
ecologically-sustainable gardens might be built. Dr. Deborah Tolman was the
imaginator, designer, implementer, and educator for one such case study: the
Malolepsy/Battershell Residence in Portland, Oregon.
Author note:
Watch this site for further updates about the guide and products from
the authors.
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