VANCOUVER -- A colleague suggested to me that eco-friendly backyard tips would be a smart choice for a column. There's just one problem: those tips don't exist.
They're like eco-friendly European holidays, eco-friendly cars, or eco-friendly Christmas gifts -- when consumption of resources and expense of energy goes into them, they're of dubious friendliness to the ecology.
I don't claim to be an eco-friendly designer, and, believe me, I'll be glad when "green is the new black" has gone the way of "trip the light fandango" and other overripe slogans. But I do believe in a few fundamental principles that, taken together, comprise something I'd prefer to call "conscious" design. They are: plan well, build for longevity and make informed decisions about what you buy and where it came from.
So, as summer approaches and the outdoor-living trend gains traction, it's timely to consider these ideals and some simple choices that can help us reduce impact on the world around us. I have three suggestions for you.
Vacation in your yard
Outside of design, travel is my passion, so it's with gritted teeth that I write this. It's hard to argue that the best solution for you this summer is staying in the back-40 when you could be jetting away to a Greek island or Indonesian beach.
I'll save you the rap about how air travel is a major contributor to global warming. (I'd only be cribbing it off Wikipedia, anyway.) But I think the base principle is a worthy one. When I say "backyard," I mean it in the sense of Epicurus, who felt that the final, satisfied life was one spent in the garden, with your friends and the food you've grown.
Your home and yard can be an oasis if you observe simplicity and elegance in designing and appointing them. And when you're content, you find that you don't need much else. Likewise, if your home is a space of ease and repose, you're less inclined to comb the globe looking to relax.
Eco-friendly fences, decks
As the weather warms, a lot of you will no doubt be out there pounding planks in your yards. One way to make sure that ecology is more than a passing concern is to use FSC-certified lumber or composite lumber.
A word on each: the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an outfit that monitors international sustainable forestry standards. A wood product marked with the FSC stamp is a product that comes from, as they say on their website, "responsibly managed forests and verified recycled sources." For outdoor applications, cedar is your best bet because it contains natural pesticides and it endures the elements with ease.
Composite lumber is a combination of post-industrial wood products and recycled polyurethane. The ecological benefit is that you can deck your yard in something that would otherwise be waste. The Virginia-based company Trex, for example, manufactures decking from recycled shopping bags and sawdust. It's much better than it sounds: their decking lasts ages, it's anti-skid, and, because it's already coloured, you don't have to stain it.
Native plants
If you're like me, when you walk into a nursery, your senses are assaulted by the beautiful, exotic plants. One key to making sure that you walk away with the right ones is choosing plants that are indigenous to your geography and ones that thrive naturally in it.
Selecting plants this way means that you won't ever have to over-fertilize or over-water them.
The other option? Integrate edible plants in your outdoor scheme -- there's nothing more satisfying than a meal picked fresh from your own garden or rooftop terrace.
I'll admit, the above is an incomplete list, but it's a start. If we keep a notion of durability and responsibility alongside our often quixotic notions of sustainability, we'll all be better off. And, in the end, that means we might be somewhere near OK.
-- Canwest News Service
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