What is Sustainable Site Development?

Here is an article on Sustainable Development:
From Tom Barrett, Green Water Infrastructure.

Sustainable Site Development

Sustainable site development has the goal of preserving or restoring a site’s natural ecosystem. The most widely recognized definition of sustainable development is development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”^[1]

Sustainability Starts with the Soil

Soil is the soul of project

Soil is the soul of a project. Today, when a construction project begins, first  the vegetation is removed. Clear-cutting the trees. Removing any obstructions so the construction equipment can freely traverse the site. If the timber cannot be sold off as lumber (and usually the timber cannot be sold as lumber) the wood is burned onsite or chipped into mulch.

After clearing out the construction traffic obstructions, the topsoil is scraped off. Removing most if not all the rich soil and micro organisms. The soil’s fertility, permeability, and ability to sustain life has been irrevocably transformed into a barren desert. The remaining hard-panned, encrusted soil resembles a track of land with the texture of a poorly compacted piece of asphalt.

When the construction project is complete, new topsoil has to be trucked in for any chance for plant survival. And forget about any wildlife. They have abandoned the site, gone for the hills, literally moved to higher, less inhabited, ground.

Protecting and preserving the soil through minimal site development practices is the starting point for sustainable site development. Restoring an existing site’s soil to a native, natural condition is imperative and the benefits are extraordinary.

Developing Water Resources

Water is the life-blood of the environment

Water is the life-blood in the environment.  Water in the environment is the connecting force that ties the environment together. In a natural, forested environment, seventy to ninety percent of the rain fall stays on site. Less than one percent runs off the site.

In nature’s hydrologic (water) cycle, in a naturally, forested area, forty to fifty percent of the rain fall is returned to the atmosphere as water vapor by evaporation and transpiration. Twenty to thirty percent of the rain fall enters streams and waterways after being cleansed by the soil through the soil interflow. The soil interflow is the lateral movement of water through the upper levels of the soil. The remaining ten to forty percent of the water percolates down through the soil in the aquifer.

Today, we rapidly collect the rain water and pipe it into our streams and waterways. This rapidly collected rain water carries debris and pollution from our roofs, parking lots, and roadways. Additionally, in many communities throughout the nation, storm water is combined with waste water and treated  as waste water. When communities combine storm water systems with waste water systems the result often is the overflow of raw sewage into the local streams and waterways. Storm water is the single largest source of non-point source water pollution. There has to be a better way!

The result from a low impact site is a dramatic reduction in storm water runoff, resulting a dramatic reduction or elimination of non-point source pollution.

Local pollutants stay local. Stream sedimentation is almost completely avoided. The local aquifer is replenished.

Trees are the spirit in the woods

Plant Trees

Simply, plant trees. Trees are the spirit in the world. The environmental benefits of trees are without limit and almost unappreciated. The lack of nature in our environment is creating a “nature deficit disorder.” Richard Louv in his book, Last Child in the Woods,  says,”Unlike telivision, nature does not steal time, it amplifies it.” Powerful experience with nature can have a positive influence on attention deficit disorder, reduce depression, reduce stress, and improve creativity. The need to plant trees is largely unrecognized in our communities and the need has never been greater.

The EPA reports that tree planting sequesters carbon and enhance the quality of soil, water, air and wildlife. If every family planted just one tree, the amount of CO² in the atmosphere would be reduced by one billion pounds annually. One tree will absorb about ten pounds of air pollutants, including four pounds of ozone.  Trees planted around a home can reduce air conditioning usage by 30%.  Over a fifty-year lifetime, a tree generates $31,250 worth of oxygen, provides $62,000 worth of air pollution control, recycles $37,500 worth of water, and controls $31,250 worth of soil erosion.^[2]

(Source: http://www.coloradotrees.org/benefits.htm#2)

On a larger scale, one acre of new forest will sequester about five thousand pounds of carbon annually. Each year a tree will assimilate thirteen pounds of CO².

Trees reach their most productive stage of carbon storage at about ten years.

The benefits of trees go far beyond carbon sequestration and energy savings. Trees restore the natural balance of nature. People are more satisfied; communities are more productive; biodiversity increases.

Tools for Sustainable Site Development

Since the turn of the last century, little has been done to improve our gray infrastructure. In 2009, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) graded our drinking water and waste water infrastructures a “D” minus, the lowest grades in any infrastructure category. The next lowest grade is “F” ­ failure. Technology has improved dramatically.  Thinking has not. Though we might not always hear about it, sustainable development (and all the interrelated issues associated with it) is an urgent issue.

Green roofs, rainwater harvesting, condensate recovery, permeable paving, rain gardens, bioswales, and daylighting streams are effective tools for changing our world; enhancing our environment. Political will has been slow-paced at best. Much has been written about this.  Little has been done.

For example, there are:

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The more I learn about plants, trees, and their importance, the more amazed I am.  This article, explained alot for me, especially about the importance of trees.  If you also liked it, please share it with people you know, so others can benefit from it too.

One more thing.  Plant some trees around your home, your community, and give some thought into which trees.  Don’t just plant ornamentals.  How about edible ones, or ones that will attract hummingbirds, other birds, bees, etc.

There is one here in Washington state also doing it.  I’m sure there are others.  If you know one, tell us.  Another group called, The Food Project, teaches youth and young adults, as well as provides organic food, raised in a sustainable manner.

Farm in Denver to teach, feed

In Colorado, and I’m sure every else too, farmers’ markets are growing in numbers.  More and more consumers (and that is who really needs to make the change in eating demands) at choosing ‘Local Fresh Food’.  THIS IS AWESOME!  We in America, are in danger.  Think about this.  Where does OUR food come from?  Most is NOT ‘Local’ for sure, and a lot of it is shipped in from other countries.  We NEED ‘Local Food Systems’.

Better yet, grow your own.  Save money, have fun, and live better.  One more little thought.  Most people go to work to earn money to ‘buy’ what they need from others.  Right.  Right.  If the combined taxes, including all of the ‘hidden’ taxes, comes to around 45% (please, if you KNOW the correct amount, leave a comment and tell us) , and the food you and your family produce and consume yourselves is not added to your income (which if it was added, would raise your income level and MORE taxes) and is not taxed itself, so, 1) you would not need as much money to live on, 2) and is worth more then if you just bought it, because you are getting it with tax free dollars, so to speak, your labor, instead of from your income.

Anyway, just food for thought.  This isn’t about money.  It’s about Farmer’s Markets.

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Farmers’ markets are sprouting up all over Colorado

It could be the economy or it could be the number of visitors who flock to them, but farmers’ markets are finding renewed popularity with consumers and nearby businesses.

Since 2000, when a mere 30 markets dotted Colorado, the number has almost quadrupled to 110, according to state agriculture officials.

The resurgence was clear on June 6 as nearly 800 people descended on the debut of the market in the Highland community, only to be bested the following weekend with 1,000 visitors, said Kristin Morley, president of Highland United Neighbors Inc., the market sponsor.

The customer flow is not only good for the 30 vendors of food, produce and hand-made items, but for the Highland businesses around the market too.

“We have the ability to cross-promote (markets) with the restaurants and shops here,” Morley said of the Saturday marketplace on the 1500 block of Boulder Street. “We’ve got a lot of local businesses that are sponsoring the farmers’ markets, and people that have never come to the Highlands before are now coming.”

Farmers’ market customers seem to trust a product they purchase directly from the farmer who produced it, according to Loredana Ottoborgo, a vendor and market organizer for the Belmar, Evergreen and Frisco farmers’ markets.

“People know that there’s better nutrition in locally grown produce,” said Ottoborgo, a cheese and pesto vendor for 16 years. “I’ve had such great response from customers that are happy supporting someone from their community.”

And, Ottoborgo said she relies on customer feedback about the ingredients in her weekly batches of pesto.

The farmers’ market at Belmar seems to be weathering the economy just fine, said Brittany Maynor, assistant marketing manager of the shopping district there.

Alaska Drive at Belmar was purposely made wider than other streets in the community, with additional electrical outlets to accommodate events such as farmers’ markets, she said.

It’s helped, too. Maynor estimates customer traffic at the Belmar market has jumped 50 percent since 2005, up to about 1,000 people each weekend.

Customers shop at the farmers’ market at Northfield Stapleton mall. The increasing flow of people is not only good for food vendors but also helps the businesses nearby. (Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post) customer traffic at the Belmar market has jumped 50 percent since 2005, up to about 1,000 people each weeken

“In general, people like to attend them even if they don’t have the intention of spending a lot of money,” she said. “But with customer traffic comes those who are willing to spend money too.”

Tim Larsen, senior international marketing specialist for the Colorado Department of Agriculture, said the Boulder farmers’ market easily racks up a million dollars in sales each year.

“Farmers are finding it’s a better way to capture the consumer dollar,” he said.

Sara Castellanos: 303-954-1381 or scastellanos@denverpost.com

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We are thinking of making a listing by state and county, of all the farmer’s markets. To make is easier for people to find one in their locations.  It would also help to promote yours if you are involved with one.  Let us know, by leaving a comment, whether or not you would like this.

If you are a farmer involved with CSA’s or on farm sales, we would include you to.

Thomas John Fisher

Here is a Green Business News story from SW Colorado that is a great example of what is being done.

For 99 years, furnace tenders like “Outback” John Schertz have loaded coal into a giant boiler in the basement of the San Juan County courthouse.

Now Schertz is adding sunflower hulls into the flames.

Those hulls, pulverized and pressed into green pellets, represent a new twist in a southwestern Colorado attempt to turn sunflowers into fuel.

The pellets are made in Dove Creek at San Juan Bioenergy, which started in 2006 as a nonprofit cooperative to produce biodiesel from sunflower oil. The plant changed its business model and product focus as dropping oil prices and the loss of government subsidies for biodiesel made that fuel a less desirable commodity.

Today San Juan is a for-profit business creating uses for every scrap of the sunflower.

San Juan is extruding food-grade oil from the more than 10,000 acres of sunflowers and safflowers grown in that corner of the state.

Some of the sunflower hulls and other green waste from the plants power San Juan’s own gasification plant. The rest of the pellets are trucked to Silverton for the first large-scale use of sunflower hull pellets for heat in the state.

The plant also mixes sunflower hull pellets with aspen sawdust for home woodstoves.

“We started this up at the bottom of the recession, and we’ve adapted,” said Jeff Berman, chief executive of San Juan Bioenergy.

At between $500 and $600 for a seven-ton load, the pellets are cheaper than $150-a-ton coal, but when the cost of hauling the pellets to Silverton and its faster burn rate (8,000 BTUs per pound compared with 14,000 BTUs for coal) are figured in, pellets and coal are about equal in cost, San Juan County administrator Willy Tookey said.

“We felt if we could do it for the same or a lower cost, it wouldn’t hurt to be a little green,” Tookey said.

How green the pellets are remains to be seen. No analysis has been done of hulls’ carbon footprint, but Berman expects it would be less than coal’s.

Schertz, a former coal miner who has been tending Silverton furnaces for six years, said he is excited about the prospects for a heat source that is much easier on boilers, creates no dust and burns with an odor that reminds him of “a desert tumbleweed fire.”

He expects to add sunflower pellets to the furnaces in the Silverton town hall, old hospital and the Miners Tavern.

Schertz is giving pellet feedback to San Juan Bioenergy while Berman works on improving his gasification system that vaporizes sunflower waste and turns it into a power-generating gas. He said making biodiesel hasn’t been ruled out.

That could mean a cycle in which farmers such as Dan Warren, who grow the sunflowers, would be able to fill their diesel tanks and power their machinery with much cheaper fuel made from their crops, while the hulls would still be available to heat Silverton.

“It would be nice if we could burn it in our tractors. But whatever it takes to make this work, I’m all for it,” Warren said.

Nancy Lofholm: 970-256-1957 or nlofholm@denverpost.com

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It’s to bad that they aren’t making biofuel too.  Maybe they’ll start up again.  Plus, all the farmers need to do is make it themselves.  Work out a deal to maybe trade, sun flower seeds for processed biofuel.  Wouldn’t that be merely a trade of one commodity for another, and an ‘untaxable’ event?  I’m not a lawyer and not giving legal advise.  Just asking a question.

Food for thought!

Several organizations are building local communities, providing training and guidance to youth and young adults, working toward increasing awareness about the need for Sustainable Local Food Systems.

I’m sure there are more groups like these two:

• Real Food Challenge
• The Food Project

but I just learned today about them, and want to let you know about them.  Please go check them out.  They are providing very good models of what can be done with and by youth and young adults.

If you are aware of other groups like these, PLEASE let us know, leave a comment below and tell us.

Go to YouTube and enter the names of both of those groups and see what they are up to.  I think you too will be inspired.

There is also a local group here in Whatcom County, Washington, called “Transition Whatcom“, which I just joined.  I will be suggesting that one of the things on their agenda is to work on uniting as many local groups and work together, there is strength in numbers, to work on local food projects.  Ones that have come to my mind are, community gardens, with youth asked to join in and learn while they’re providing good food for those in need.  Also, getting local food into the schools and nursing home, and anywhere else possible.

This idea I challenge you with, to get this type of thing started in YOUR local community.  Contact these groups and ask them where you can start, or us.  We’ll see what we can do to help also.

Can you imagine what could be possible if we were to start local groups in all 3300 counties in the US?

I have a question for you.  When you look around your community, and see all the areas that have landscaping, how much of that area, both private and public (Parks, Schools, Buildings, etc) have edible landscaping???  Not much is there, with the exception of some homes.  Why not, promote making a change to this?

Leave me your thoughts.  This idea is one I will be encouraging.

Tell your thoughts.

Tom