Sustainable Land Development Today - March 2008 - (Page 43) choice, etc. Likewise, the same small percentage of green leadership is seen with participation rates in leading voluntary environmental programs across industry sectors. So, it would seem that the participation in eco-design and development developers and builders, while small, is on par with the rest of the world, professions, and business sectors across the board. The fact is, the bulk of the development and design profession, like so many other business sectors, is riding the well-publicized, but small-in-number coattails of the leaders and models in the game—the 10-15 percent of “greenhearted” eco-champions. For example, the current estimated value of new buildings participating U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED programs for green buildings—the poster child for the eco-building movement— is over $7 billion. Yet, this represents a mere one percent of total construction in the United States. It is a blip on the radar screen—a green blip, but a blip nonetheless. Audubon International’s own Audubon Signature Programs, launched 15 years ago, serves as another example. This voluntary education and certification program was created to facilitate green siting, design, construction, and management of new developments with an emphasis on both the landscape and the promotion of existing green building efforts. While participation by the development community has increased over the years and especially in the last two to three years, the actual number of members in this eco-certification program pales in comparison with the number of new developments built each year. Again, a blip. Clearly, land development, and decisions related to where and how to build, has significant impacts on the nature of our communities. As population and our human footprint continues to grow, so too will our need to develop the land with nature in mind. Yet, with all the forward progress, we seem to be stuck in “blip” mode. What we need is a way to make environmental stewardship, sustainable resource management, and ultimately, the fostering of more sustainability communities, the norm, rather than the exception, and developers in communities around the country and across the globe have a weighty role to play in this journey. One recently-released attempt at developing land use siting and design guidelines and standards—the Sustainable Sites Initiative—is another indication of interest. Yet, the groups represented at the table of decision-making are not representative of the real actors in the play— existing nonprofits, developers, land owners, etc., who are living out the economics of sustainable land use, design, and development. Without these actors, the play will end with terrible reviews. Unfortunately, if one focuses on the science and seriousness of climate change, we do not have time to waste. According to the latest reports from the Introducing Mud Mats A NEW revolutionary product to keep you out of the mud! EASY TO DEPLOY ALTERNATIVE TO ROCK ENTRANCES PROTECTING TURF SITE ACCESS For more information about Mud Mats please email us at: MudMats@brockwhite.com www.brockwhite.com Circle 199 • or www.SLDTonline.com/webcard www.SLDTonline.com 43 http://www.brockwhite.com http://www.brockwhite.com http://www.SLDTonline.com/webcard http://www.SLDTonline.com
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