Sustainable gardening includes the more specific sustainable landscapes, sustainable landscape design, sustainable landscaping, sustainable landscape architecture, resulting in sustainable sites. It comprises a disparate group of

horticultural Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

interests that can share the aims and objectives associated with the international post-1980s

sustainable development Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The ...

and

sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

programs developed to address that humans are now using natural biophysical resources faster than they can be replenished by nature. Included within this are those home gardeners, and members of the landscape and nursery industries, and municipal authorities, that integrate environmental, social, and economic factors to create a more sustainable future.

Sustainable Sites Initiative

The Sustainable Sites Initiative is a commercial accreditation body in USA which certifies landscapers and sites using guidelines and performance benchmarks for sustainable land design, for which their registered trademark can be earned after a fee.
American Society of Landscape Architects. ''Guidelines and performance benchmarks''. The sustainable sites initiative. Retrieved on: 2009-03-16. It was founded in 2005. Using the United Nations Brundtland Report’s definition of sustainable development as a model, it defines sustainability as:

...design, construction, operations and maintenance practices that meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

by attempting to:

...protect, restore and enhance the ability of landscapes to provide
ecosystem services Ecosystem services are the many and varied benefits to humans provided by the natural environment and healthy ecosystems. Such ecosystems include, for example, agroecosystems, forest ecosystem, grassland ecosystems, and aquatic ecosystems. ...
that benefit humans and other organisms.

There is no uniform national standard for a sustainable landscaping project in the USA. Sites are rated according to their impact on ecosystem services: The following ecosystem services have been identified: * Local climate regulation * Air and water cleansing * Water supply and regulation * Erosion and sediment control * Hazard mitigation * Pollination * Habitat functions * Waste decomposition and treatment * Global climate regulation * Human health and well-being benefits * Food and renewable non-food products * Cultural benefits INPUTS :*Fossil fuels :*Embodied energy and water :*Compost :*Mulch :*Ecology & biodiversity :*Fertilizer :*Hard landscape materials :*Equipment :*Products OUTPUTS * Energy & water * Food * Green waste * Ecology & biodiversity * Chemicals * Old hard landscape materials * Old equipment * Old products PROCESSES

Principles

Enhancement of ecosystem services is encouraged throughout the life of any site by providing clear design, construction and management criteria. Sustainability requires that environmental, social and economic demands are integrated. Guidelines supplement existing green building guidelines and include metrics (benchmarks, audits, criteria, indexes etc.) that give some measure of sustainability (a rating system) by clarifying what is sustainable or not sustainable or, more likely, what is more or less sustainable. Impacts of a site can be assessed and measured over any spatio-temporal scale. Impacts of a site may be ''direct'' by having direct measurable impacts on biodiversity and ecology at the site itself, or ''indirect'' when impacts occur away from the site.

Site principles

The following are some site principles for sustainable gardening: Saturday, 7 December 2019 * do no harm * use the precautionary principle * design with nature and culture * use a decision-making hierarchy of preservation, conservation, and regeneration * provide regenerative systems as

intergenerational equity Intergenerational equity in economic, psychological, and sociological contexts, is the idea of fairness or justice between generations. The concept can be applied to fairness in dynamics between children, youth, adults, and seniors. It can al ...

* support a living process * use a system thinking approach * use a collaborative and ethical approach * maintain integrity in leadership and research * foster environmental stewardship

Measuring site sustainability

One major feature distinguishing sustainable gardens, landscapes and sites from other similar enterprises is the quantification of site sustainability by establishing performance benchmarks. Because sustainability is such a broad concept the environmental impacts of sites can be categorised in numerous ways depending on the purpose for which the figures are required. The process can include minimising negative environmental impacts and maximising positive impacts. As currently applied the environment is usually given priority over social and economic factors which may be added in or regarded as an inevitable and integral part of the management process. A home gardener is likely to use simpler metrics than a professional landscaper. Three methods for measuring site sustainability include

BREEAM BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method), first published by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) in 1990, is the world's longest established method of assessing, rating, and certifying the sustainability of ...

developed by the BRE organisation in the UK, Leed, developed in America and the Oxford 360 degree sustainability Index used in Oxford Park and developed by the Oxford Sustainable Group in Scandinavia.

References

External links