Sustainable Community: February 2008 Archives

The earth's natural systems work quietly and efficiently to maintain the most complex systems we can imaging.  No human system is as complex, as self-healing and replenishing, or as life supporting.

Sustainability is a way of thinking about our work, our homes, our communities.  It's about self-restoring systems.  Systems are like colonies -- they thrive on diversity and are regenerative.  One member helps a neighbor. That neighbor helps another...and the circle continues in a complex web of life.  For example, native plants live and thrive in colonies.  You just don't see mono-culture in nature.

Trees, shrubs, vines, grasses, mosses, annual wildflowers, perennials, wetland and bog plants, rock lichens, tree lichens all thrive in a single ecosystem.  What a model for sustainability!

Each member of the society specializes in using and providing something of value for and by a neighbor.  If we model our cities this way -- we each help one another to thrive.  It's not a matter of altruism -- it's a matter of practical thriving.  It's not even about survival, really.  It's about thriving with splendor and beauty and resiliency to meet the changing conditions of our fluid planet.

Sustainability on earth is about surviving on a very thin skin of a highly volatile planet.  Change is essential and that's why sustainability is such a shifting, morphing concept.  What's sustainable on a moutaintop isn't sustainable in the desert or even the mountain's foothills.

Sustaining life and the earth is in our own best interest.  The natural services provided by the diverse systems of earth are just not affordable when usurped by modern commerce.  We can't afford to filter polluted air across an entire city or region.  We can't afford to turn salt water into fresh water.  We can't afford to create new creatures that will provide us with food.  We can't even farm land without depleting it of nutrients!

Hubris is the antithesis of sustainability.  And hubris is an ancient word that has gotten us into trouble civilization after civilization.  It's time we replace that attitude of pride and greed with one of living in harmony with our neighbors of all varieties.  The earth is speaking -- are we listening to the values being explained to us through the voices of the air, the waters and the land?

Sustainability for Homes

Residential use of energy, transportation, food and water seem small compared to big business consumption patterns, but there are SO MANY HOMES! Every home puts a drain on local habitat, fresh water supplies, soil quality and food supplies, air quality and energy.

By thinking about sustainability and how to live lighly on the land, we can all protect our precious fresh air, clean water and fertile agricultural lands. Yes, even urban residents!

We are gathering together a host of practical solutions for your home that will help protect your family from natural disasters such as floods, droughts, fires and outages. And we'll help you conserve water by telling you which low-flow water faucets make a difference, and which Energy Star appliances, and cisterns for your lawn's runoff, and especially trees -- those gentle giants that filter our air, transfer water to the water table and provide cooling shade for our concrete jungles of urban streets and parking lots.

We have pratical solutions for you, your neighborhood and your beloved hometown.

Sustainability for Neighborhoods and Communities

Neighbors can work together to plant an urban forest, reduce runoff, educate one another about great rebates and incentives to add solar or electric lawnmowers or LED lights for safety.

Green neighborhoods and sustainable communities are vital to your peace of mind, your children's sense of freedom and adventure, and your property value. We'll help you find practical solutions to common community problems -- things you can do as an individual or a family.

Sustainability for Offices and Businesses

Businesses are our productivity centers -- we've moved cooking and sewing and furniture making out of the home and into the business center. So we have a responsibility to make our workplaces green and sustainable so they don't waste paper, dispose of plastic and metal and construction debris recklessly.

We'll help you take your first and your tenth step to greening your office operations -- from paper to printers to Webinars!

Sustainability Product Categories

• Stormwater Runoff Prevention
• Renewable Energy Cogeneration
• Alternative Transportation
• Multi-use Development & Communities
• Natural Resources Protection
• Functional Natural Habitat for Wildlife and US!
• Energy Efficient Equipment and Appliances
• Celebrating Urban Community Life Together