Landscape Sustainability: Why It Matters

Our landscapes, whether grand or intimate, have been valued for their beauty and the access they provide to nature. But there is growing appreciation for the functionality of landscapes. In fact, they provide ecosystem services* that offer an abundance of benefits upon which we depend:

  • Global climate regulation
  • Local climate regulation
  • Air and water cleansing
  • Water supply and regulation
  • Erosion and sediment control
  • Hazard mitigation
   
  • Pollination
  • Habitat functions
  • Waste decomposition and treatment
  • Human health and well-being benefits
  • Food and renewable non-food products
  • Cultural benefits

The goal of landscape sustainability is to protect, restore and enhance these ecosystem services through sustainable land development and management practices.

Our green infrastructure is just as important as the gray one.

Working With Gracefully Green

Using new strategies, you can practice landscape sustainability on the sites that you own. Gracefully Green can guide you every step of the way. We’ll look at your sites through a green lens, noting how landscape and structures impact each other and maximizing benefits while minimizing drawbacks.

But always, your site will be evaluated by someone with a designer’s eye, asking not only “does it work?” but “is it gracefully green?”

 

* Sustainable Sites Initiative. 2009.  The Case for Sustainable Landscapes. Available at http://www.sustainablesites.org/report

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