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About us
Projects
Collaborations and
Associates
Directions |
Working Philosophy and Its Basis:
- Earth-Centered /
Eco-Centered /Community-Centered / Life-Centered /Economy-Centered
Planetary history and the
fossil record form the basis for both human restraint and the
hope that is at the core of sustainability. All action
proceeds from the realization of life's precariousness and
preciousness, the urgency of action toward sustainability, and
the hopeful possibility that we can arrive at a sustainable
condition.
- Sustainability is a
condition that can only be realized after it has been accomplished
--- and is, therefore, the 'brass ring' of our 'Race to Save the
Planet' and ourselves, in the face of accelerating global change
- 'Eco-Existentialism'
suggests that all forms of life are equal; Humans have no mandate or
inherent right to take life needlessly, much less to destroy
ecosystems, habitats, species or one another
- 'Place,' 'Appropriate Scale'
and 'Appropriate Technology' are primary elements of the practical
understanding of each challenge to envision and implement approaches
to sustainability
- Sustainability can only be
approached by those who inhabit a specific place and time in a state
of open, inquisitive, iterative self-examination, with uninhibited
access to best achievements around the world.
- Life's variations occur as a
single, highly complex continuum
- 'Pascal's Ecological
Wager' helps us to see the magnitude of being wrong about the
several macro-scale 'bets' humanity has wagered: global
climate change, persistent chemicals proliferation, population
explosion, resource depletion, species and habitat destruction,
interference in 'grand biogeochemical cycles'
- 'Deep Ecology'
commits us to eco-egalitarian concern for, and stewardship of, all our fellow
denizens of this 'Miracle Planet', hence the eco-existential drive
toward greatest efficiency, highest expectations and most vigorous
efforts to reach the elusive state of sustainability.
'Deep Green' Methodologies:
Industrial Ecology:
- Based loosely on ecological
processes, systems and organisms, Industrial Ecology and its
primary instrument, 'Eco-Industrial Park' planning and
design, offer a powerful tool for understanding the conditions,
trends, challenges and opportunities that must be integrated into
sustainable solutions. IE's application of 'metabolism'
analysis, material and energy flows, information and knowledge
interrelationships reflects scientific ecology's recognition of
trophic levels, energy and material flows through tophic levels, and
the symbiosis among organisms, from 'primary producers' to 'top
predators.'
- The diversity, complexity
and appropriate scale of ecological relationships informs IE's
essential differences from "traditional" city planning, economic
development planning and the urban and rural administrative
structures of government --- all of which classify, segregate,
decouple and functionally fragment elements of what should be
systems, continuous in nearly all dimensions.
- Hybrid adaptations of 'The
Natural Step,' 'Ecological Footprint,' and 'Eco-Audit'
/'Environmental Audit' disciplines can augment the original
methodology that best 'fits' each client, community, place and time.
Ecological Engineering and
Landscape Restoration:
- Application of geochemistry
and biogeochemistry to challenges of contamination remediation
- Reclamation, utilizing
advanced techniques of landscape adaptation to site-specific
endpoints, including climate-appropriate plants and seed mixes,
established by best-available, most-economical planting procedures;
application of mycorrhizal inoculation to increase plant survival in
airid, chemically-hostile soils
- Soil amendment techniques,
employing available organic wastes and composting, as well as
modification of soils by inorganic means to 'engineer' topsoil
- Wetlands for water quality
improvement, especially of mining-impacted, acid/metals
sequestration through microbiological manipulation in the water
column (sulfate-reducing ponds); deep experience in constructed
wetlands design, planting and management on mined-lands sites
- Narrative and quantitative
reporting of remedial actions in regulatory processes
Green Construction and
Sustainable, Green Communities, Organizations, and Facilities:
- US Green Building Council's
'LEED' Certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)
- 'Energy Star' energy
efficiency assurance
- Custom-composed, original
environmental accounting processes for specific situations
- 'Eco-Audits' and
'Environmental Audits' crafted to fit each client, organization and
circumstance
- Holistic assessment of each
organization on its own terms, developing organizational 'ownership'
for self-evaluation --- applied to companies, communities, NGOs,
governments, households, or any other scale needed
- Planning for'New Urbanism'
and its 'old urban' precedents in city development history,
emphasizing freedom from automobile dependency through walkable
neighborhoods creation/restoration, transit-oriented development,
mixed-use development, and the full integration of Industrial
Ecology principles into economic development of sustainable towns
and neighborhoods; application of USGBC 'LEED-ND' (neighborhood
development) certification, when made available (on LEED-ND
Corresponding Committee)
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