ecosystems

Cleaner, Faster, Friendlier

2016 May-June, ecosystems, LEED impact

[vc_row][vc_column width="1/2"][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="30"][vc_single_image image="16705" border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" img_size="full"][vc_single_image image="22120" border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" img_size="full"][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="30"][vc_column_text] By Katharine Logan [/vc_column_text][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="30"][vc_column_text] Brownfield remediation’s third generation comes of age. [/vc_column_text][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="20"][vc_column_text] Brownfield cleanup, long a quagmire of cost and uncertainty, is undergoing a paradigm shift. As regulatory agencies put away their big sticks and facilitate collaborative, market-driven solutions instead, brownfield redevelopment is emerging as cleanup’s main driver. “What we’re seeing is the maturing of a third generation in brownfield remediation,” says James Maul, president of Maul Foster & Alongi, a consulting firm integrating environmental engineering with planning and community development. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width="1/2"][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="30"][vc_single_image image="22121" border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" img_size="full"][vc_column_text]Brownfield development is providing opportunities for the city of Portland, Oregon.[/vc_column_text][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="30"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type="row" type="full_width" text_align="left" padding_bottom="25" padding_top="15"][vc_column width="1/1"][vc_column_text] In brownfields’ first generation, regulatory agencies drove cleanup for cleanup’s sake, with no consideration for economic or community context. In the second generation, elements of proposed redevelopments crept in for cost savings: pathways or building foundations, for example, might form part of the cap on a contaminated site. In the third generation, the most polluted sites have been dealt with, and most of the thousands of brownfields that remain will never rise to the top of the environmental...

Sustainable Sips

2016 March-April, ecosystems, LEED impact

[vc_row row_type="row" type="full_width" text_align="left" padding_top="25"][vc_column width="1/2"][vc_single_image image="16705" border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" img_size="full"][vc_single_image image="21782" border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" img_size="full"][vc_column_text] By Kiley Jacques [/vc_column_text][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="30"][vc_column_text] Sonoma County’s wine region is on the verge of a new identity—the first of its kind. [/vc_column_text][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="30"][vc_column_text] Two years ago, Sonoma County Winegrowers (SCW) put forth a comprehensive sustainability initiative—one that aims to position the county as the nation’s first completely sustainable wine region. The county’s wine industry has always been a forerunner when it comes to sustainable farming. This latest move is a prime example of regional winegrowers’ efforts to ensure agriculture remains the vanguard of the local economy. A 100-year business plan—thought to be the first of its kind in the global wine industry—outlines the ways in which they will protect agriculture into the 22nd century. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width="1/2"][vc_single_image image="21787" border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" img_size="full"][vc_column_text css=".vc_custom_1458324637593{margin-bottom: 20px !important;}"] Karissa Kruse is the president of the Sonoma County Winegrowers. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type="row" type="full_width" text_align="left" padding_bottom="25"][vc_column width="1/1"][vc_column_text]Originally known as the Sonoma County Grape Growers association, SCW pushed for commission status in 2006. At that time, 1,800 growers voted to impose a self-assessment on the sale of their grapes, which meant that any vineyard in Sonoma County selling 25 tons or more would pay half of 1 percent...

Middle Grounds

2016 January-February, ecosystems, LEED impact

[vc_row][vc_column width="1/2"][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="30"][vc_single_image image="16705" border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" img_size="full"][vc_single_image image="21382" border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" img_size="full"][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="30"][vc_column_text] By Kiley Jacques | Photography by Emily Hagopian [/vc_column_text][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="30"][vc_column_text] By closely examining nature for over 40 years, Alrie Middlebrook developed a model ecosystem in which people of all ages learn ecologically sound principles and practices in a playful environment. [/vc_column_text][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="20"][/vc_column][vc_column width="1/2"][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="30"][vc_single_image image="21386" border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" img_size="full"][vc_column_text]Alrie Middlebrook created an ecosystem in which people can learn ecologically sound principles and practices.[/vc_column_text][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="30"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type="row" type="full_width" text_align="left" padding_bottom="25"][vc_column width="1/1"][vc_column_text] It's not just anyone who would drive by a bus depot parking lot in downtown San Jose, California, and think: I can build a garden there. But a “For Lease” sign had ecological designer Alrie Middlebrook thinking just that. In 2000, her musings gained momentum and ultimately led to the formation of the California Native Garden Foundation (CNGF), a public-benefit corporation of which Middlebrook is founder and president. In time, CNGF developed the site to support its Environmental Laboratory for Sustainability and Ecological Education (ELSEE) program. Indeed, that lowly parking lot made way for the Middlebrook Center—headquarters for both CNGF and Middlebrook Gardens, its namesake’s for-profit garden design/build business responsible for funding the...

Line of Thought

2015 November-December, ecosystems, LEED impact

[vc_row][vc_column width="1/2"][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="30"][vc_single_image image="16705" border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" img_size="full"][vc_single_image image="21027" border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" img_size="full"][vc_column_text] By Kiley Jacques [/vc_column_text][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="30"][vc_column_text] The Metro Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority of Monrovia, California, adopts sustainable design principles despite the seemingly limited options. [/vc_column_text][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="30"][vc_column_text] A maintenance facility that services an entire metro system’s fleet does not readily lend itself to sustainable design, never mind the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification. At least that was the thinking at the start of the two-phase Foothill Gold Line light rail project from Pasadena to Montclair—the second phase of which was to include the building of an operations and maintenance facility as part of the Pasadena-to-Azusa segment. However, [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width="1/2"][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="30"][vc_single_image image="21030" border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" img_size="full"][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="5"][vc_column_text css=".vc_custom_1446132187860{margin-bottom: 20px !important;}"] The Gold Line Operations Campus is an integral part of the 6-station, 11.5-mile Foothill Gold Line light rail project from Pasadena to Azusa, California. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type="row" type="full_width" text_align="left"][vc_column width="1/1"][vc_column_text] when key players from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro), Parsons architects, and Kiewit Construction came together to look at what could be done, they decided LEED Silver certification was within reach—and then, much like the rail itself, they reached a...

Sustainable Heritage

2015 September-October, ecosystems

[vc_row row_type="row" type="full_width" text_align="left"][vc_column width="1/1"][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="30"][vc_single_image image="16705" border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" img_size="full"][vc_single_image image="20592" border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" img_size="full"][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="10"][vc_column_text] By Nancy E. Berry [/vc_column_text][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="50"][vc_video link="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3ayMQHGG6k"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type="row" type="full_width" text_align="left" padding_top="25" padding_bottom="25"][vc_column width="1/1"][vc_column_text] Appleton Farms preserves cultural and historical landscapes while practicing sustainability. Walking down a pristine gravel road past the fields of grazing Jersey cows, meandering stone walls, and historic dairy barns, a pastoral landscape unfolds. Appleton Farms in Hamilton and Ipswich, Massachusetts, is one of the oldest and largest (with more than a thousand acres) continuously operating farms in the United States. Established in 1638 by a land grant to Samuel Appleton, the farm today preserves a bucolic landscape, agricultural traditions, and historic farm buildings that are disappearing in the eastern part of the state. The working farm is just one of 114 properties located on more than 25,000 acres across the state under the auspices of The Trustees of Reservations, a nonprofit organization in Massachusetts that not only preserves land and historic buildings but also works in ways to support the vitality and sustainability of the communities in which they exist. The Trustees was founded by landscape architect Charles Eliot in 1891. The properties are open to the public with a...

In The Zone

2015 March-April, ecosystems

[vc_row][vc_column width="1/1"][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="30"][vc_single_image image="16705" border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" img_size="full"][vc_single_image image="19223" border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" img_size="full"][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="30"][vc_column_text]By Kiley Jacques Article 89 gives Boston a new lease on urban agriculture. [/vc_column_text][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="30"][vc_single_image image="19228" border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" img_size="full"][vc_column_text]Boston neighborhood planner Marie Mercurio visits a greenhouse in Roxbury run by the Food Project. Photo: Eric Roth[/vc_column_text][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="30"][vc_column_text] [dropcaps type='normal' color='' background_color='' border_color='']T[/dropcaps]he list of favorable things former Mayor Menino did for Boston could very well run the length of Washington Street. Among the items on that list is Article 89, which permits and regulates urban agriculture as a by-right land use. No other city has anything like it. The seed that would become Article 89 began germinating five years ago, when a farmer wished to put vacant city lots to use for food production, but couldn’t secure a permit to do so. So he went to the Mayor’s Office. That farmer was Glynn Lloyd—founder and CEO of City Fresh Foods, City Growers, and the Urban Farming Institute—and he is greatly responsible for getting the article off the ground and into the garden. // It wasn’t long before the idea gained support from all corners of the city. By 2010, a community-based effort to draft Article 89...

Restoring Nature

2014 September-October, ecosystems, LEED impact

[vc_row][vc_column width="1/1"][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="30"][vc_single_image image="16705" border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" img_size="full"][vc_single_image image="17412" border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" img_size="full"][vc_column_text] [caption id="attachment_17417" align="alignnone" width="1024"] The design of the new nature center is finally underway nine years after Katrina. It will consist of three pavilions linked by 5,800 square feet of covered exterior boardwalks that will replace trails destroyed during Katrina. Rendering: Billes Partners[/caption] By Katie Sherman The Audubon Louisiana Nature Center enters its first phase of rehabilitation after Katrina. [dropcaps type='normal' color='' background_color='' border_color='']I[/dropcaps]n the quarter century after it was first built in New Orleans East, the Audubon Louisiana Nature Center grew to become a hub for environmental education. When Hurricane Katrina swept through the Gulf region, it left the center broken, its darkest hour prolonged into nearly nine dim years. But in 2014, rays of light began shining onto this community favorite near Lake Pontchartrain. The Audubon Louisiana Nature Center is in the midst of the first phase of an $8.4 million revival intended to restore the center to its former glory. A part of the Audubon Nature Institute—a nonprofit that operates a network of museums and parks around New Orleans—the center has long educated, entertained, and engaged visitors about the importance of wildlife education and environmental conservation, and that ethos...

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