When the Barnes Foundation opens its doors to the public Saturday, it not only will introduce visitors to a new gallery on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway; it could well serve as a gateway to Philadelphia’s mélange of museums, galleries, art schools, historic sites, and gardens.

Or maybe not.

Aware of the intense interest focused on the foundation’s Philadelphia debut – the climax of nearly a quarter-century of hyper-publicity and controversy swirling around the fate of Albert C. Barnes’ extraordinary collection of modernist artworks – cultural and tourism officials have been considering how to transform the relocation of an art collection into a regional bonanza.

The Barnes opening is a Super Bowl in arts marketing. Put crassly, the question is: How can the Barnes’ move from Merion and to Philadelphia be exploited for tourism and development purposes?

“Is that what it’s here for?” Meryl Levitz, head of the Greater Philadelphia Tourism and Marketing Corp., wondered the other day. “I thought it was here so that more people could bring more beauty into their lives.

“We didn’t ask for the Barnes to be moved, but we were greatly in support of it,” she continued. “It had to be rescued in order to be kept intact and fulfill the mission of Dr. Barnes. And if it came to the Parkway, all the better.

“Once here, though, I think the challenge is to make sure that it fulfills the mission of being self-sufficient and that it preserves the art intact and that it be accessible to all of the people who he wanted it to be accessible to. And it does have to tell his stories about the interaction of art and horticulture, the interaction of art and education, and art in the workplace, and all of those kinds of things that he really believed in.”

Crafting those story lines is where the marketing comes in, and after discussions going back nearly two years, a concept has emerged dubbed “With Art Philadelphia,” a play on the city’s “With Love” marketing campaign. The heads of institutions once reviled by Barnes, for whatever reason, are suggesting that the doctor’s interests, if not necessarily his approach, are now embodied everywhere in the region.

The Barnes collection of early modernist and African art, its engagement with horticulture, its emphasis on art appreciation and education, and, before Barnes’ death in 1951, its focus on practical art training – all are part of contemporary regional life; “With Art” seeks to tie them together in the minds of visitors.

While “With Art” takes a broad, long-term view of the Barnes’ marketing potential, a handful of museum shows specifically target the Barnes opening.

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts – Barnes referred to it as “the morgue” – has mounted PAFA and Dr. Barnes (through July 8) commemorating a traumatic 1923 exhibition of 75 works from Barnes’ collection. The original show was savaged by critics as deranged evidence of an “infectious scourge,” enraging the combative Barnes.

David Brigham, president and chief executive, noted that the current show comprises works drawn from the academy’s own collection as stand-ins for Barnes’ reviled canvases. “He was very happy with PAFA,” said Brigham. “His initial anger was with the press, not with us.”

Brigham and Robert Cozzolino, senior curator, both emphasized that modernist painters on the academy’s faculty backed Barnes and his collection. Brigham said that the current show begins to document “a vital moment in our history” when there was a “significant transformation” of the academy into a modernist institution.

In other words, Barnes may have scorned the academy in years after 1923, but his ideas ultimately triumphed.

At the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gauguin, Cézanne, Matisse: Visions of Arcadia (June 20 through Sept. 3) was initially conceived apart from the Barnes opening. But it did not elude museum officials that the relationship to the Barnes collection was strong.

The museum – dubbed by Barnes the “House of Prostitution of Art and Education on the Parkway” – is bringing together Paul Gauguin’s Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? (1898), Paul Cézanne’s The Large Bathers (1906), and Henri Matisse’s Bathers by a River (1909-17), using these monumental canvases to explore the idea of a mythical earthly paradise.

Not only do the paintings relate very directly to work in the Barnes collection, but an unstated irony can be found in the notion of a lost arcadian garden, a place for human contentment and contemplation – precisely the lost world many critics say has been destroyed by the move of the Barnes from its original home in Merion.

Barnes himself was no recluse, however, and the Woodmere Art Museum in Chestnut Hill has found an unusual way to demonstrate that. Salvatore Pinto: A Retrospective Celebrating the Barnes Legacy, opened at the museum Saturday for a run through July 15. It explores the career of one of the three Philadelphia Pinto brothers, painters Barnes took under his wing. He often drove to their working-class South Philly neighborhood, parked in the middle of the street, and wolfed down a Sunday spaghetti supper. Everyone knew him.

Barnes saw great talent in all the Pintos. He accepted Salvatore to study at the foundation, then paid for him to travel to the south of France to study at Matisse’s side.

William R. Valerio, Woodmere director and chief executive, said the exhibition explores a “whole other dimension” of Barnes.

“He was an active entity that made modernism an active entity in Philadelphia,” said Valerio.

Beyond the three shows keyed to the Barnes opening, the $2 million “With Art” campaign seeks to draw links between the Barnes and the Penn Museum, the Michener Museum of Art in Doylestown, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, landscape and gardens on the Parkway (including the complete refurbishing of the Rodin Museum and grounds next to the new Barnes site), and the area’s art schools and galleries – a whole cultural landscape.

The Barnes opening – Levitz calls it “the art story of the year” – can be used to define Philadelphia as a cultural and visual-arts mecca, she believes. Her organization has created a website (http://withart.visitphilly.com/) in connection with the marketing campaign, and Internet visitors are invited to “curate your own experience.” The website should be completely functional by Tuesday.

While the Barnes opening is the trigger, the marketing gurus do not feel pressed for time. And given the breadth of Barnes’ interests, there is no shortage of material.

WHYY has produced a one-hour documentary, The Barnes Collection, for broadcast Aug. 3. The Art Museum will dedicate its new Sol LeWitt garden on May 24. The refurbished Rodin Museum and gardens – rejuvenated by Laurie Olin, who also created the landscaping at the Barnes and elsewhere on the Parkway – will reopen in July.

By Linda Hutchison

Can’t decide what you like more — gardens, art, or music? Fortunately, those taking the 14th Annual Secret Garden Tour of La Jolla on Saturday, May 19 won’t have to decide. They’ll enjoy a triple treat in each garden, with landscaping and design ideas, artists capturing what they see, and musicians sharing their melodies with plants and people alike.

One of the La Jolla gardens from last year’s event offered attendees a chance to enjoy coastline views. FILE

Scenes from last year’s garden tour. file

In all, the garden tour, which departs from Wisteria Cottage from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., will include 10 artists and at least 20 musicians, in addition to garden designers and plant experts.

“We have a lot of talent in La Jolla,” said local artist Dot Renshaw, who is coordinating the 10 artists appearing in this year’s garden tour. Most are professional, full-time artists who live in La Jolla and have been painting La Jolla scenes and gardens for a long time, according to Renshaw.

“They are used to seeing La Jolla in all different lights,” she added. “One of the joys of en plein air (in the open air) painting is being able to look at a scene and ask where is the picture that speaks to me?” Each of the artists will ask that question before the tour when they meet with the owner of the garden where they will be painting and decide on the best place to set up their easels.

After the tour, the artists will display and sell their work — ranging from colorful abstracts to realism to loose impressionism — for the month of June at Wisteria Cottage, 780 Prospect St. They will also set up their work on the walkways outside the cottage every Saturday and Sunday during June from 12:30 to 3:45 p.m.

The artists in this year’s garden tour:

— Patricia Jasper Clark — a still life and landscape artist who paints exclusively in oils. Her work has been featured in the La Jolla Art Association Gallery, a six-week show at the Riford Center last year, and on the 2010 Garden Tour poster.

— Diane Estrada — a dedicated water media artist. Her artwork is known for its dramatic color and impressionistic style, ranging from abstract to realism. “Painting outdoors in a lovely garden is very enjoyable and one of my favorite subjects is flowers. To paint in the garden for the Historical Society means a great deal to me as I have lived in La Jolla for over 40 years and graduated from La Jolla High School and have seen many changes over the years.”

— Jane Fletcher — works in a wide variety of styles (abstract, figurative, representational, landscape, cityscape, seascape, expressionistic, ornamental, portrait, nudes) and a variety of media (oil painting, wood carving, and glass etching).

— Andrea Gaye — paints in oil on canvas. Her figurative work includes casual portraits of children at play, nude studies, and colorful scenes of daily life in the countries in Latin America and Europe that she visits.

— Rodger Heglar — a former forensic anthropologist, he is a self-taught artist, influenced by Old Masters and early California plein-air painters. His coastscapes depict the harmony he finds in the meeting of sea and shore and his landscapes reflect the tranquility he sees in the natural world.

— Leah Higgins — specializes in personalized paintings of people and places, using the medium of acrylic or watercolor. Her paintings include houses, churches, pets, people, landscapes, seascapes, flowers and still life.

— Sharon Hinkley — works from real life in vivid watercolors in the matter of the Impressionists and plein-air painters. An award winning artist, she has had numerous one-woman shows and is also an teacher and author (“Watercolor Basics: Painting Flowers”). “I love everything bright and colorful and in a garden there is usually a vast array of color, even if it’s 1000 shades of green,” she said.

— Sally Irwin — a former interior designer, paints in oils and likes to work with a bold and bright combination of colors. She enjoys painting a variety of subjects including landscapes and still life and has been influenced by Fauvism (of which Henri Matisse was a leader) and the alla prima painting technique (in which layers of wet paint are applied to previous layers of wet paint).

— Salli Sachse — paints a variety of subjects in oil, including seascapes, sunsets, flowers, markets, and portraits. A former actress and counselor, her work is influenced by her travels and living in The Netherlands, where she fell in love with the light in the countryside.

n Carol Shamrock — loves using color, which is reflected in her watercolor, oil, and acrylic paintings. Using subtle to bright hues, her paintings are embellished with rich layers of transparent and opaque color. Carol’s subjects range from the real to the abstract and from visual satire to the creation of a peaceful contemplative environment. She is a teacher at La Jolla High School.

Musicians

The San Diego musicians who will be playing in this year’s garden tour are a highly-skilled group who love to share their music with others, especially for a good cause such as the La Jolla Historical Society, according to coordinator Dori Robbins. Many also teach and write their own music, said Robbins, a retired violinist who played with the Kennedy Center Opera House.

— Cathy Blickinstaff — plays flute and piccolo for the La Jolla Symphony and teaches music at Point Loma Nazarene University.

— Dusty Brough — is a nylon-string guitar player based in San Diego. He plays his original compositions as a soloist or with his quartet, inspired by flamenco, classical technique, jazz harmony, and Eastern European rhythms.

— Joey Carano — is a San Diego guitarist who performs live music venues, and corporate and private events.

— Ann Marie Haney — is a pianist who serves as co-chair of the Community Council for Music in the Schools, a nonprofit organization that receives donated instruments, restores them to good playing condition and lends them to students who are unable to rent or purchase an instrument.

— Betty Martin — is a retired piano teacher.

— Victoria Martino — is an international concert

violinist who grew up in La Jolla and is dedicated to the preservation of La Jolla’s unique historical heritage. She performs at the La Jolla Athenaeum Music Arts Library, and is planning a fundraising concert to help save the La Jolla Post Office.

— Valerie Norton — is a violist who plays chamber music with The Torrey Pines String Quartet. Norton is also the medical director of Scripps Mercy Hospital ER.

— Leah Panos — is a harpist and composer. Her repertoire has an emphasis on the classical, romantic, and 20th Century periods.

— Jimmy Patton — is a guitarist who has shared the stage with Grammy winners Stanley Jordan and Terrance Blanchard. He is signed with and has recorded two albums for Pacific Records.

— William Propp — plays the bassoon with Trio Divertimento, which also includes clarinet players Bob Barnhart and Katrina Schnorr. The group performs chamber music and was part of the former woodwind section of the Lyric Opera San Diego.

— Rosalind Richards — is a flutist who performs with the Del Mar Trio. She is also a composer who has released three CDs, and a teacher at Villa Musica in San Diego.

— Donald Strandberg — plays solo guitar in the finger-style manner, drawing upon traditional and folk music. He has produced several CDs, and is collaborating on a CD of country songs by Jack Phillips.

— Duo Lonato — performs music from the Renaissance and Baroque eras on recorders and Baroque guitar for educational outreach programs.

— Rob Thorsen — is a jazz bassist who performs with Steph Johnson, a guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. Both are award-winning San Diego musicians who perform nightly and tour with original music and jazz standards.

If you go

What: 14th annual Secret Garden Tour of La Jolla

When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 19

Where: Wisteria Cottage, 780 Prospect St.

Why: Fundraiser for La Jolla Historical Foundation

Self-guided Tour: $50

Platinum Tour: $150

Tickets:
lajollahistory.org
(858) 459-5335

Related posts:

1. District 1 City Council candidates gather for their first debate
2. Bird Rock Elementary looking for ways to replace farmers market income
3. La Jolla Shores Market looking to be replaced
4. Water crews repairing Bird Rock water main break, street collapse
5. All Hallow’s students from La Jolla make it to Science Fair

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Michael Farmer is a registered Maine Landscape Architect and has a BS degree from the University of Illinois in Landscape Architecture. He has over 40 years of experience in site planning, site engineering and landscape design. 

Michael’s first employment was in 1972 with the Shaver Partnership, an architectural firm located in Michigan City, Indiana. During this period, Michael worked on educational, recreational and commercial projects throughout the United States. In 1975 Michael moved to Maine and started his own landscape architecture business. For 21 years Michael operated this venture in Rockport and provided services for numerous commercial and residential clientele throughout the state.

In 2011, he decided to scale back his work load and semi-retire. At that point, Farley Son took advantage of Michael’s free time and expertise and brought him aboard to join Farley Son’s diverse design team. He brings with him his attention to detail, perseverance to deliver a high quality product and his ability to communicate and work with clients from the point of creating ideas on paper to the final stages of installation. Michael has great artistic abilities and can sketch concept ideas for simple designs that only include a handful of plants, to a more comprehensive plan for a multifaceted landscape project.  Michael also works with clients that are looking for master plans for land use. This is beneficial for property owners who have a vision of their future goals, but lack the perception of “best fit” for tying it all together. His master plans render an organized approach regarding all levels of site development, including grading, drainage, site circulation, landscape restoration, down to the detailed cost estimates of each phase of implementation.

 

What made you decide to work for Farley Son and not completely enter into your golden years of retirement?

Well the honest answer is I want to continue putting money towards that golden fund! I also longed for the challenge to work with people again. I have been self-reliant for so many years, I think there is enjoyment and something to be learned from working with people that you don’t get from working by yourself, like certain business skills, organizational skills and people skills. It’s also a breath of fresh air to work for an organization and not have to worry so much about the business details. I have also dealt with the Farley group on various projects over the years as an architect, so I knew the family, knew the firm, knew their work and what they are all about, and I thought it would be rewarding to be a part of it.

What initially determined your passion for landscape design and architecture?

In 1967 I studied forestry at the University of Southern Illinois.  When I had to declare my major I really didn’t like the thought of killing or harvesting so many trees! Through a guidance counselor, they asked if I ever considered landscape architecture and to which I replied I had never even heard of the profession! So they recommended I head back to my hometown and attend their landscape architecture program at the University of Illinois and that’s where it all began. 

What is the most frustrating aspect of your job as a designer? And the most rewarding one?

The most frustrating aspect is probably budget constraints. This applies to almost all clientele as you always wish you could do a little more for a client.  There are also lots of clients that could use my service, but they don’t come to me because they don’t think they can afford the service. This is really too bad, because they could get rewarding information in a short period of time which could really help their short term or long range goals.

One of the most rewarding aspects of the job is going to a project site in the pouring rain and seeing the drainage work properly! Another is to go to a project after 5 years has passed and see  aspects of the design working as anticipated and all plants flourishing.

Over your many years of experience you have met many challenges, what kind of landscape situations do you still find are the most challenging to face?

Slope stabilization projects! The challenge is a very narrow window of opportunity to get in, stabilize the area and get out. You are dependent on the weather, tides (if an ocean property), the right plant material, the right soil, enough moisture, and correct mulching.

I also still find commercial projects a challenge because you don’t often have a lot of space to work within. In most cases you have narrow slots within hot asphalt that you have to contend with. You always seem to be up against extreme limitations, from the budget to the site conditions.

You have what some would consider a lost art in today’s world of computer aided design, and that is the ability to hand draw all your sketches and plans and artistically color them with water paints. How have you mastered this talent over the years?

It started at an early age, as I liked to sketch at about 8 years old. Then in landscape architecture they start you in a lot of art classes and classes to develop special techniques. Likewise, I have a passion for working with water colors. Believe it or not, it’s an easy medium to work with. It is hard to make mistakes. You can start with green and end up with blue, start with yellow and end up with green, you can work with it, fade it in, and fade it out, etc. It is rewarding to provide quick three dimensional sketches which help people visualize the design process.

What do you think makes you successful at your job? 

I think the only thing that makes all of us successful at life is communicating with people; the rest of it is easy. I think I have learned good communications skills with people over the years, as I can talk to just about anybody. I have also learned the meaning of diplomacy. There are times when I have to eat my words, I may not like it, but I do it! I feel that I’m also a seasoned vet in the aspects of site planning. I have always had a passion for earthwork and the trades from the very beginning, which has always allowed me to have respect for the tradesmen in the field. I have performed a lot of the field work myself so I respect what they are up against and you can’t have a design implemented without having a good relationship with the men and women who are “hands on”.

Many people know you for your out-going personality, charm and design talents. What is one thing most people don’t know about you?

I’m a sensitive soul even though I might portray the tough “country boy” image! 

Why do you feel it’s important for a potential client to hire an experienced and multifaceted company such as Farley Son?

This company has several employees who have worked together for 15 to 20 years therefore creating a dynamic force. When you have that many seasoned veterans, a company runs like a well-oiled machine. Furthermore, when you can go to a “one-stop-shop”, it is less confusing and more cost efficient when all aspects of the job can be coordinated and implemented within one company.

What is an important landscaping tip that you feel is often overlooked by customers?

Good soil and positive drainage are everything. If you get the drainage right and have organic soil your plants will thrive.

  

 

“What can Michael Farmer and Farley Son, Inc. do for you?”

 

“Like” Farley Son on Facebook and stay up-to-date on our news!

 

 

 

 

What does a group of 30 “sustainability” professionals do when they run into a pair of two-story-tall common house sparrows? Most of them admire the anatomically correct metal sculptures; a few wonder what’s happening to the actual birds in this neighborhood.

It’s July and we’re in a planned community in the heart of Vancouver: green roofs, solar powered trash compactors, LEED gold and platinum architecture. It’s also a Thursday afternoon and hardly anyone is outside. Even with a building occupancy rate of over 70 percent, there is no public activity. No one is around but us and the two 19-foot tall birds, perfectly scaled sentinels of a morphing city.

The visit is part of the University of British Columbia’s Summer Institute in Sustainability Leadership, a week-long course for professional planners in July. We are hoofing it around the grounds of the Vancouver Olympic Village, the largest LEED-certified platinum neighborhood in North America—also called the world’s greenest athletic facility. The group includes planners, environmental and sustainability directors, landscape architects, social planners, energy experts, a coffee services manager, a yoga clothing manager, a Unilever middle manager—most of them from Canada, several from Korea, one from Brazil, and, me, the lone Yankee.

The developers and the City of Vancouver are trying to sell Southeast False Creek, the site of the Olympic Village, to a build-out of 16,000 people, with 250 affordable housing units—and ecology is part of the marketing campaign.

But the sparrows so lovingly depicted by Vancouver artist Myfanwy MacLeod are also a testament to humanity’s constant threat to biodiversity. Eight pairs of sparrows were first released on this continent in the spring of 1851, in Brooklyn, New York. They are now one of the most common birds in North America, the world for that matter. MacLeod’s artwork—commissioned for the 2010 Olympics and Paralympics—speaks volumes about the state of the planet and the current marketing around sustainability.

One of my conclusions from the sustainability institute is that green is in, but greenwashing reigns. James Howard Kunstler, a friend and colleague—and the author of Geography of Nowhere—is working on a new book about the limits of technology. In no uncertain terms, he tells us that inventing and selling us new stuff won’t fix our environmental problems. “The ‘green’ campaign has largely become a money-grubbing project based on extremely unrealistic wishful thinking about technology, along with a sort of therapy campaign to make us feel better,” he says.

Taking the pulse

My role at the Institute’s summer course was to take the pulse of a province, city, and university known as the most advanced green places on earth. I went in looking for a chance to frame the concept called greenwashing—or sustainability lite, as Judy Layzer calls it. Layzer is an associate professor of environmental policy and the director of MIT’s urban sustainability project.

I quickly found that many of the leaders in sustainable city movements across Canada and the U.S. tend to duck the really tough questions any planner might ask: Don’t we have to “do” deep sustainability at the municipal and regional levels to truly affect change? How does the planning profession promote greenwashing? If the poor have no safety nets and the middle class is struggling, what is the point of LEED platinum certified communities?

Many sustainability action plans call for superficial fixes. “Local policies such as plastic bag bans, restricting lawn watering, and tree-planting must be evaluated to judge their actual outcomes in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving the quality of city life,” says Anthony Flint, director of public affairs at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

Flint was more than open in explaining in email exchanges what we have to do to get sustainability implemented and greenwashing quashed:

“In my chapter in This Land (2006), I looked at the then-nascent green building movement, where municipal officials and others were contemplating requiring green standards as part of urban development agreements, essentially as part of codes,” Flint told me.

“The early examples got some of the basic stuff out of the way — encouraging the use of stairs, using natural light and ventilation, efficient lighting, bike lockers, stormwater treatment and water management, landscaping beyond lawns that need to be watered, composting/recycling ( both operational and in the construction process), the now ubiquitous green roof. Now just about every developer and architect is green, as a standard. It’s no longer news to have a LEED certified building, but rather an expectation.”

Flint, like others, sees the “greenest part” of any building as its location – “a redevelopment of an urban site, access to transit, walkability context.” So, a great LEED-gold building in a suburban office park that has to be accessed by car is not green by any stretch of the imagination.

Many cities are on that bandwagon: Tearing down old buildings and putting up new- fangled green dreams—the silver, gold, platinum, and beyond platinum goals of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design architecture administrated through the U.S. Green Building Council.

But are green points the answer to global warming?

“All rating systems are flawed and completely depend on the assumptions and inputs used to get the output. And once you have them, what do they really tell us?” asks Mike Lydon, a principal for the Street Plans Collaborative, a consulting firm that helps clients improve the viability of active transportation and smart growth. Lydon is also co-author of The Smart Growth Manual (2009), with Andres Duany and Jeff Speck.

“Take LEED, for example,” Lydon continues. “The new urbanists and other likeminded people helped awaken the world to the fact that a LEED platinum building is really not as great an accomplishment as a fully walkable, transit-served neighborhood. So, while we can rate buildings, it’s critically important to look holistically at their context and how people access them.”

How do these buildings perform? Joseph Lstiburek in the Journal of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers calls to task the architects and engineers who go after the brass ring embedded in those LEED points. He calls these “green motives” that have little to do with long-term energy savings. Some of these designs use more energy than they save.

A much larger question grows out of this sustainability and greenwashing discourse.

What is a sustainable city exactly?

“Cities are at their core consumptive networks,” says Todd Reisz, an Amsterdam-based architect and co-editor of the recently published Al manakh 2: Gulf Continued, which looks at the Persian Gulf region, from both historical and contemporary perspectives.

“They consume the most energy, not only in terms of fuels but also in terms of food and natural and manufactured materials.”

Suddenly cities seem cleaner, Reisz tells me, but that’s not exactly true. Both the U.S. and Canada have sent (or lost) their carbon-heavy industries to other nations. “Manufacturing and other unappealing uses have been moved elsewhere, either to an industrial park beyond the public’s eye or to another continent altogether.” But does the ranking of the “greenest” communities, he asks, “include the CO2 emissions required to manufacture that city’s computers in China, the energy required to grow its bananas in Costa Rica?”

Many planners and analysts look for guidance from architect and designer Steve Mouzon, who has defined what real sustainability means in the built and natural environments. Among his major points for the average citizen to live by, separate from what a city planner or architect has to do for sustainability, are laid out by Lloyd Alter, architect, developer, inventor, and builder of prefab housing. He writes for TreeHugger and is an Associate Professor at Ryerson University teaching sustainable design.

• Choose it for longer than you’ll use it
• Live where you can walk to the grocery
• Live where you can make a living
• Choose smaller stuff with double duty

But in his book The Original Green—a must read—Mouzon also coins the term “gizmo green.” We can’t rely on technological solutions to our global warming crisis. Instead, Mouzon says, we should stop relying on a few experts like architects, planners and engineers and designers.

“Think about this for a moment: if millions of the best minds around the world work for years to figure out the mysteries of true sustainability, how ridiculous would it be to expect each significant architect to reformulate sustainability in the image of their own personal style? Asking a single person to reformulate years of work by millions of the best minds goes beyond the absurd… to the globally treasonous! We must be allowed to share wisdom.”

For people like Anthony Flint, he weighs the practical with the philosophical when it comes to sustainability. Flint’s a journalist and author: Wrestling with Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took on New York’s Master Builder and Transformed the American City (2009) and This Land: The Battle over Sprawl and the Future of America (2006).

“So one divide is between what Steve Mouzon and others refer to as ‘gizmo green’ and urban development — with the emphasis on urban — that is almost by definition green. Skanska’s [USA division of Swedish giant, Skanska AB] retrofit of the Empire State Building is a good example of combining the two — the location green by definition, and cutting-edge construction processes and green technologies that result in the long-term energy savings that building owners covet.”

In the end, as the Vancouver Olympic Village architects and Mouzon and others tell us, the places that are sustainable have to build community involvement and love for place.

Lydon agrees. “We need to make places worth caring deeply about, and that requires far more than aggregating net zero building, bullet trains, or bike lanes,” he says. “Indeed, a million net zero homes that require their inhabitants to drive 30 miles a day probably aren’t as ecological as a million homes that aren’t net zero, but which are in places that don’t require driving.”

So, how can we in the sustainability movement start looking at sustainability in a much more holistic way?

“This is a good question and a challenge,” says Moura Quayle, former chair of Vancouver’s Urban Landscape Task Force, which gave birth to the city’s Neighborhood Greenways program, a true community-based sustainability tool utilizing small-scale, local connections for pedestrians and cyclists, linking parks, natural areas, historic sites, amenities and commercial streets. As the City of Vancouver’s web site explains:

“Neighbourhood Greenways provide opportunities to express the unique character of the neighbourhood and often include public art which adds further interest and distinctiveness to the project.”

Again, these projects in the Greenways Program are initiated by residents and are partnered with the City. The community is expected to take the lead and maintain the space, while the City of Vancouver assists with the design, development and construction of the project.

“We are facing it in Vancouver as we talk [about being the] ‘greenest city’ and mean much more than environmental sustainability.” For Vancouver, Quayle insists, place identity also fits into the concept of “green.”

“Place identity as a third component of community sentiment opens the discussion to a host of related disciplines, such as humanist geography and environmental psychology. These disciplines seek to investigate the meaning of place to human experience. Place identity consists of cognitions about the physical world, including memories, ideas, feelings, attitudes, values, preferences, meanings, and conceptions of behavior and experience which relate to the variety and complexity of physical settings that define the day-to-day existence of every human being.”

There are planners who see sustainability as a market-driven solution to community challenges tied to climate change, peak oil and heavy urbanization of our globe’s cities.

Mark Holland, a Vancouver city planner who now manages the Sustainability Office, has little tolerance for environmentalism and social justice driving sustainability.

“Sustainability was co-opted by the environmentalist and social justice movements and was quickly branded in the minds of those not personally identified with those movements as just another leftist radical stance.,” he says. “Sustainability is simply the only context which our economy can function in this century, and it needs to be loudly rebranded as that.”

What’s next?

How will we cope when the world has nine billion people (about 30 years from now)? Different visions for how we might operate were set forth in the report, “Our Common Future,” known more commonly as the Brundtland Report, published in 1987. The report—a gargantuan multi-government and multi-disciplinary effort—recognized holism and systems thinking as forces to solve a universal problem.

All sectors of society, according to the report, must be active participants and decision makers in a world moving into crisis mode. But it is only now that cities, counties, and states might be attempting collectively and strategically to come together after more than 24 years since that much quoted definition of sustainable development was penned by former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland: “…development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

A bioregional framework that represents a “whole scale nature-human linked system as a place-based approach to promote scientific understanding, planning, and action to regenerate our communities and other living systems” still is way beyond the average politician and citizen operational model.

However, it’s becoming clearer to planners and politicians alike that places like the Cascade Bioregion or the Napa Valley Bioregion, for example, each call for unique investigative practices that will bring forth planning, design, and management skills that will make the bioregion resilient through these unique sets of landscape-human patterns.

Despite a general acceptance that sustainable development calls for a convergence between the three rails of economic development, social equity, and environmental protection, the concept remains elusive. For many like Kunstler and Mouzon, the grip of technological, political, and other constraints creates a fertile ground for the greenwasher to thrive.
When I am with fellow educators, sustainability planners, and professionals looking for ways to be change agents in sustainability, I understand the learning curve is steep for those who have not immersed themselves in climate change, sustainability, and social justice and grassroots movements.

At the Sustainability Leadership class, it is clear that many of the facilitators did not want to tackle the big E in the triple bottom line: equity. In fact, there is dissonance with these leaders when I challenge their assertions that Wal-Mart is the model for sustainability.

Many in sustainability circles want solar, LEED, wind turbines, some metering for energy use and carbon emissions, but they do not question the “corportacracy” that many in the deep sustainability movement in U.S. and other countries are challenging.

We’ll use Wal-Mart as an example of a company trying to use sustainability as a tool for the corporation’s profit drive. Many times I’ve heard folk cite this new book, Force of Nature: The Unlikely Story of Wal-Mart’s Green Revolution (2011) by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Edward Humes.

The problem with Wal-Mart is endemic of a large predatory corporation that is attempting to corner the world’s retail market, whose CEO (Lee Scott) made $24 million last year in pay and another $8 million in stock options, and whose corporate policy is to give money to GOP and Blue Dog democrats as part of a lobbying effort.

Using solar panels made in China and selling organic produce from Chile do not make a sustainable company when one figures the wage gap issue –

According to the April 2011 “Living Wage Policies and Big-Box Retail” report by Center for Labor Research and Education at UC Berkeley, the retailer could easily pay associates $12 per hour. Even if Wal- Mart passed the total cost to customers, 46 cents per WalMart visit would be added to one’s tab.

Then there’s the issue of Wal-Mart’s “Love, Earth” line of jewelry, that, according to Wal-Mart meets environmental criteria and meets social criteria. The idea that these criteria are meaningful is refuted by the Broward-Palm Beach New Times article that examined “Love, Earth” from the mine to the store.

Think $50 a month paid to Bolivian miners for this line of Wal-Mart stuff. Or the cyanide heap-leaching process of mining the silver and gold.

Maybe the local city planner won’t be hosting a film night using Robert Greenwald’s Wal-Mart: High Cost of Low Price or the film, Store Wars: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town as a jumping off point, I’ve hosted a few in Spokane as a graduate planning student at Eastern Washington University. A few off the record voiced what Al Norman of Sprawl-Busters had to say about Store Wars:

Store Wars takes you inside the grassroots politics of Ashland, Virginia, and inside a campaign by Wal-Mart to overpower the town. It is not pretty, but it lays out why Wal-Mart has become the most reviled corporation in America today.

Planners seem to be caught somewhere in the middle of theory and practice, and pitted against politics and economics. So where does planning fit in?

“Planning’s greatest strength is its greatest weakness: It knows change does not come quickly,” says Reitz. “It also assumes there will be a continuously corrective process. And when a planner says it cannot be done quickly, he is let go. This is a broad generalization, but it happens.” Change can come neighborhood by neighborhood and still be effective, he adds. “I don’t see anything wrong in that.”

Michael Harcourt — former mayor of Vancouver and then, later, premier of British Columbia who is now a speaker and author of the book, A Measure of Defiance, and co-author of two books, Plan B: one Man’s Journey from Tragedy to Triumph and City Making in Paradise — sees sustainability as a spectrum. “I don’t use terms like greenwashing. I prefer to look on sustainability policies and practices as a continuum from easy to do, to very hard to accomplish without major structural, attitudinal, political changes.”

Also thinking along those lines is Moura Quayle, Deputy Minister of BC’s Ministry of Advanced Education as well as UBC Sauder School of Business professor. She helped save some valuable farmland on the UBC campus for what is now the ideal showcase for sustainability: the UBC Farm, where land, food, and community learning reign at the 24 hectare farm.

“My field has shifted from being focused on the built environment to a focus on leadership and transformation of the way people think. And I am quite pragmatic,” she says. “For example, I’ve tried to figure out (in the past) how to be practical about how communities can build their own environments—for social and environmental benefits.”

Another example of a seemingly fundamental shift: Will Chicago’s move to plant southern swamp oaks and sweet gum trees be considered deep sustainability or green panic? With permanent heat waves forecast in 50 to 100 years—and thermal imaging already showing the hottest spots—the city is ripping up pavement and putting in green roofs. Is putting in AC for all 750 public schools greenwashing, green scare, or impractical?

Chicago’s deputy commissioner of Department of Environment, Aaron Dumbaugh, has told the US Press many times that “cities adapt or they go away” to justify the Windy City’s green dream: to be the greenest city on the planet.

Steve Mouzon from Miami thinks about sustainability at the community level. It’s about “building sustainable places, so that it then makes sense to build sustainable buildings within them,” he says. “Sustainable places should be nourishable, accessible, serviceable, and securable. Sustainable buildings should be lovable, durable, flexible, and frugal.”

“Today, most discussions on sustainability focus on gizmo green, which is the proposition that we can achieve sustainability simply by using better equipment and better materials,” Mouzon says. “We do need better equipment and better materials, but this is only a small part of the whole equation. Focusing on gizmo green misses the big picture entirely.”

Designing with nature (think, Ian McHard, 1969, Design with Nature) might also be a salient point here, as ornithologists and amateurs alike know the common sparrow is in great decline in Europe. Maybe Canadian artist Myfanwy MacLeod gets greenwashing best through her artwork: “Locating this artwork in an urban plaza not only highlights what has become the ‘natural’ environment of the sparrow, it also reinforces the ‘small’ problem of introducing a foreign species and the subsequent havoc wreaked upon our ecosystems.”

Green Cities and Green Washing Sources
http://www.chicagoclimateaction.org/
http://ourgreencities.co
http://www.siemens.com/entry/cc/en/greencityindex.htm
http://www.originalgreen.org/OG/Home.html
http://vancouver.ca/greenestcity/
http://rmc.sierraclub.org/energy/library/sustainablecities.pdf
http://coolcitiesde.us/about.html
http://www.monocle.com/specials/35_cities/
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/08/11/the_global_cities_index_2010
http://ourblocks.net/neighborhood-based-community-building-handbooks-recommended-by-jim-diers/
http://home.comcast.net/~jimdiers/
http://www.naturalstep.org/
http://www.naturalstepusa.org/
http://www.citiesforpeople.net/cities/curitiba.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRD3l3rlMpofeature=related
http://sustainablecitiescollective.com/mothincarnate/24900/how-greenwashing-really-can-make-difference
http://www.greenwashingindex.com/index.php
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/smart-takes/greenwashings-toll-americans-get-green-fatigue/13392
http://www.pewclimate.org/
http://www.greenerchoices.org/eco-labels/eco-home.cfm
http://blog.terrachoice.com/2010/03/18/what-does-all-natural-really-mean/
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=greenwashing-green-energy-hoffman
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=greenwashing-environmental-marketing

Paul K. Haeder lives in Seattle, after having worked as a communications, language, composition, writing instructor of the freeway flier variety in El Paso for the University of Texas, the El Paso Community College, many language institutes, Park College, the US Army, La Tuna Federal Correctional Institute, Packard Electric in Juarez, New Mexico State University, and several cities in Mexico. In Washington State, he taught at Gonzaga University, Spokane Community College, Spokane Falls Community College. He’s back on the job market, looking for something in the Vancouver-Portland “area.” He can be reached at: haederpaul@gmail.com. Read other articles by Paul.

This article was posted on Friday, May 11th, 2012 at 8:01am and is filed under Environment.

Back in January, I wrote about the start of the process to put together our first economic development plan for Foster City, dubbed Sustainable Foster City. In this article I would like to begin to share some of my ideas and hopefully solicit some ideas from you.

By way of background, last year our City turned 40 and along with the fact that just about all of our developable land is or will likely soon be sold, we are no longer in a growth mode. As a result we need to take a fresh look at our City and find ways to grow and still maintain the hometown feel that most of us love.

The economics of the City are such that most of our revenue comes from property taxes. It is also a fact that most of the residential property in Foster City is part of a Homeowners’ Association (HOA). Thus, it is crucial to sustainable economics in Foster City that properties are well maintained, improvements are encouraged, and that we look at public/private partnerships, perhaps starting with the HOAs, for ways we can work together and create win-win scenarios.

At the same time a group is forming, bringing together many of the HOA boards to see where they can create synergies and help one another. I believe that the City can be an enormous help to and great partner with that group. We have been talking with the leaders on an informal basis and are looking for a project to get this started. The possibility that is currently being explored is in the area of water and wastewater.

Some of our multi-family developments do not separately meter landscaping water from domestic water and others do not separately meter water service to the individual units. Without any ability to have direct feedback in the form of a water bill, these multi-family developments are lagging behind in their conservation efforts. This is not because they do not care to conserve, it is just because it is harder to know whether you are conserving or not, when you do not know how much water you are using because you do not get that information. Thus, we thought this might be a great start-up project to look at how and in what ways the City could help the HOAs get better at water conservation. We did make a loan to the Admiralty to help them separate the landscaping water from the domestic water, so we know that there is at least one way the City can help, but I think there are other things we can do and, importantly, should do to help in this area.

There are other issues that I think the HOAs and the City can work on together. Streamlining the permitting process, pre-approving material types for those HOAs who do not already have that, increase rebates for green construction and green products, low interest loans to make improvements, I am sure that there are many others as well. The key is to work together and to approach things as partners. Well maintained, high quality homes, condos and apartments are highly desired and help both the residents and the City by maintaining and even increasing property values. Increased property values in turn increase revenue to the City when the properties are sold. It is truly a win-win way to grow from within without having any adverse impact on the quality of life in our City.

Working with the HOAs and other residents is just one of many facets of a sustainable economic plan and in the months ahead I hope to share more of my ideas with you. I also hope that when you have ideas you will share them with me as we work together to keep our City strong and a beautiful place to live and work. Share your ideas with me by email at cbronitsky@fostercity.org or call me at (650) 286-3504.

About this column: Council Corner features weekly opinion letters from rotating members of the City Council.

For more news about Foster City and surrounding areas, follow us on Twitter (@FosterCityPatch) and “like” us on Facebook. Sign up for our daily newsletter here. Want to blog for us? Click here.

Before you open the wallet, think about what household projects are likely to provide the best return on your investment, say specialists in this field.

“There are a myriad of outdoor home improvements, but some provide better resale value for your home than others,” says Carla Bouchard, a broker with Royal LePage Metro in Moncton, N.B. “Be sure to invest your time, money and resources in a project that is going pay back when it comes time to sell your home.” Bouchard recommends these top three outdoor home improvements:

1. Build a deck or patio

This project not only adds visual interest to the exterior of your home, it also gives you a chance to enjoy your outdoor living space to the fullest. During the spring and summer, patios are spaces for entertaining guests, barbecuing, and leisure time. Whatever your motivation, building a deck or patio will encourage you and your family to get outside and enjoy summer.

2. Install a sprinkler system.

On average, homeowners use 50 per cent more water than necessary on their lawns. This increases hydro bills and causes flooding. Automatic lawn sprinkler systems are designed with busy homeowner lifestyles in mind.

Installing a sprinkler system allows proper irrigation through timing and even water distribution. Although initial installation can be pricey, you may end up saving money in the long-term.

3. Landscape your yard.

Landscaping is the simplest way to add visual interest to your outdoor living space. Whether through gardening, building a pond, or installing a fence, landscaping is a sure way to create a return on your investment.

However, you should always elicit the guidance of a trained professional before tackling a landscaping project.

If you are looking to sell your home or simply enjoy it more, use the summer to make exterior improvements. More summer home improvement ideas can be found online at www.royallepage.ca.

– www.newscanada.com

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GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — Talk about your double duty! Mark Armstead from Linder’s showed KARE 11 Today the best native plants that will not only add beauty to your yard but will also attract all sorts of wildlife as well.

For more gardening ideas and Mother’s Day gift ideas, visit Linder’s at 270 West Larpenteur Ave. in St. Paul. For more information, call (651) 488-1927 or visit linders.com.

(Copyright 2012 by KARE. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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May 9th , 2012 10:42 am

By Jason R. Mullins

Nearly 40 students at Hampton High School have taken part in a special project designed to beautify the exterior of their school. HHS Agriculture Teacher Gary Keith has been working with the students to complete the project in time for graduation.

Photo by Jason Mullins – Nearly 40 students at Hampton High School have taken part in a special landscaping project around the school. Agriculture teacher Gary Keith, who is completing his first year at HHS, has helped students in selecting plants and potential designs for the improvement project. Carter County Board of Education Chairman Kelly Crain said, “I’ve never seen the outside of the school look as nice as it does now.” Several of the individuals who took part in the project include (from left): Nick Edwards, Agriculture Teacher Gary Keith, Thomas Brown, Dannie McKinney and Chris Hardin.

Keith, who is completing his first year at Hampton, said the student response to the landscaping project had been overwhelmingly positive. Keith has been an educator in Carter County for the last 30 years. He has spent most of that time at Cloudland High School before taking the job at Hampton at the start of the school year.

The veteran educator commented, “I would like for people to say this is the most beautiful campus in Carter County. That’s what I talked to my landscaping students about when we first discussed this idea. We worked up a plan and then we talked to (Hampton High School Principal Jeff Bradley) about it. We then approached (School Board Chairman Kelly Crain) about getting the necessary funds to make it happen,” said Keith.

Crain was able to obtain approximately $1,800 in funding from the Carter County Board of Education to purchase the necessary items to start the landscaping project at Hampton. Keith’s 6th period landscaping class was initially responsible for working on the project. “At first, I had that class handling all the work, but then I had other students ask to help us work on it. It wasn’t just the people who directly worked on the landscaping who have assisted us. We also had some others who volunteered to watch the greenhouse while we took care of the project,” he said.

A number of different types of flower bushes have been placed around the school. The flower beds are located along a large portion of the school. The students in Keith’s landscaping and agriculture classes have spent many hours planting flowers, laying mulch and placing edging along the sidewalks.

Keith has also worked on the storm water drains running on the walls of the school. The pipes now run underneath the flower beds, providing water for the plants.

In the coming years, Keith said he plans to continue to work with students on additional projects at Hampton High School. Some of those ideas include the construction of a gazebo and a gathering space with an area for staff and student picnics. “We have even talked about the possibility of adding a fire pit outside the school,” Keith said.

Both Crain and Bradley had high praise for the initiative shown by Keith and his students. “I really appreciate the addition of Mr. Keith to our staff at Hampton,” said Crain. “He has some wonderful ideas. The kids have really bought into what he’s doing and they’ve taken a great deal of pride in their school. To be perfectly honest, I can’t remember when the school has been as pretty as it is now. This is the best that Hampton High School has ever looked.”

“All we had to do was provide him with the tools he needed. He got the job done,” Bradley said. “I know the kids really enjoyed getting to do this. I can’t say enough for the work that Mr. Keith and the students have done this year.”

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“Landscaping can improve a home’s value by up to 12%.”

Richmond, VA (PRWEB) May 05, 2012

PlanWorx℠is a new concept in residential landscape design that gives homeowner and investor in the United States and Canada a variety of options to tackle their outdoor living project that fit their budget and time frame. Delivered by registered landscape architects, the virtual landscape design services are at a fraction of the cost compared to most custom designed projects delivered by the same professionals. Homeowners and real estate investors can reduce labor costs by up to 40% by buying the materials should they choose a do-it-yourself approach by handling the installation themselves. In addition to creating a custom landscape design that gives them guidance to plan their project, PlanWorx℠ helps the people avoid the common mistakes that occur during do-it-yourself projects that cause delay and waste valuable dollars. KDG will also provide homeowners with scheduling options to help phase various parts of the project over time due to life events and budget constraints.

“With the recession, many homeowners are not in the best financial situations when it comes to the values of their homes. Times are tough, and people need to find innovative and efficient ways to add beauty and value to their backyard, without breaking feeling like it isn’t worth the effort. We want to help restore the pride of homeownership that seems to have disappeared in the past few years,” says Robert Knäak, principal and founder of Knäak Design Group. “Landscaping is one home improvement that actually appreciates over time. Depending on the location of the home, high-quality landscaping can add from 5 to 12 percent to your home’s selling price.”

About Knäak Design Group, LLC

Knäak Design Group is a nationally recognized landscape architecture and planning firm, providing professional services to architects, engineers, builders, and homeowners looking for unique design solutions in the United States and Canada. To learn more about Knaak Design Group’s professional design services, please visit http://www.knaakdesigngroup.com or call 1-800-560-8361.

Knäak Design Group has offices in Texas, Arizona, and Florida and provides services to clients throughout the United States and Canada. For more information about our online landscape design services contact Madison McClain or visit our website at http://www.onlinelandscapedesign.com.

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