ASLA In-District Lobby Day to Focus on Climate Change, Historic Landscapes
The advocacy effort coincides with the adoption of the ASLA Statement on Climate Change.

On February 15, ASLA adopted a Statement on Climate Change that enumerates several key strategies to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate the impacts of global warming. The statement highlights several techniques that landscape architects use for sustainable design and how those practices can translate into effective public policy:

• Encourage sustainable site planning for new communities and buildings of all types.
• Require open space and parkland preservation as a component of all public and private development, from small site-specific projects to regional land-use plans.
• Encourage the research and use of native and adapted vegetation in the built environment to take full advantage of the most appropriate plants to increase air quality, conserve water resources, and sequester carbon dioxide.
• Encourage the use of sustainable stormwater management practices that enhance the treatment and increase the infiltration of stormwater.
• Encourage the use of green roofs on public and private buildings of all types.
• Require comprehensive transportation and utility planning as a component of land-use planning, matching infrastructure capacity with current and proposed land uses.
• Encourage the development of smart-growth communities.
• Enact policies that support design of safe transportation routes for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, and those who use wheelchairs.

This week, landscape architects are meeting with their members of Congress back home in their communities to discuss climate change and historic landscapes. ASLA is urging legislators to pass comprehensive climate change legislation during the 110th Congress, supporting the two major vehicles currently under consideration in the House and Senate: The Safe Climate Act of 2007 (H.R. 1590), sponsored by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) in the House, and America’s Climate Security Act of 2007 (S. 2191), sponsored by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Sen. John Warner (R-VA) in the Senate.

Through ASLA In-District Lobby Day, landscape architects will discuss several key points for these two bills:

Reduction of Carbon Emissions. ASLA supports the Safe Climate Act’s target to eliminate 80 percent of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States by the year 2050. Although the Senate bill also makes strides to reduce carbon emissions, we urge senators to amend the America’s Climate Security Act so it also meets the 80 percent goal (as currently written, it is expected to provide a 63 percent reduction). ASLA is pleased that the House measure establishes a cap on carbon dioxide emissions for most industries and sectors throughout the United States. On the Senate side, S. 2191 encourages the development of new building codes for commercial and residential buildings that will lead to substantial decreases in energy use. In the building sector, landscape architects use a variety of techniques that contribute to more energy-efficient buildings, including effective site-planning techniques, designing green roofs and other green infrastructure, and planning smart-growth communities.

ASLA particularly supports the provisions in H.R. 1590 that encourage reduced carbon emissions and enhanced carbon sequestration activities in the forest and agricultural sectors. ASLA promotes the use of native and adaptive vegetation in the built environment to take advantage of the most appropriate plants to increase air quality and sequester carbon dioxide.

Motor vehicles. H.R. 1590 also sets standards that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles. ASLA recognizes that the most powerful way to reduce motor vehicle emissions is to reduce vehicle use altogether. ASLA supports policies that will make Americans less reliant on personal vehicles and encourages comprehensive transportation planning and multimodal transportation corridors for all users including pedestrians, bicyclists, and those who use wheelchairs.

Natural Resources. The Senate measure provides “adaptation funds” to the Departments of Interior and Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and other land management entities to assist national forests, grasslands, freshwater and estuary ecosystems, and other essential natural resources adapt to the impacts of climate change that are already unavoidable. Many landscape architects working on private projects and with our federal agencies have witnessed firsthand the degradation and destruction of these precious natural resources and are working to protect them from the damages of climate change.

In addition to the climate change legislation, ASLA is also urging Congress to provide the National Park Service with funding necessary to effectively implement the Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) and to support local efforts to document nationally significant landscapes. ASLA is requesting $800,000 in the Fiscal Year 2009 Interior Appropriations bill to fund HALS. ASLA is honored to have the support of Representative Russ Carnahan (D-MO) in this effort, who is requesting that members of Congress sign on to a letter to the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee that requests this funding for HALS.

The purpose of HALS is to document historic landscapes in the United States and its territories through measured and interpretive drawings, written histories, and photographs. Historic landscapes are fragile and are increasingly at risk from development, neglect, and many other threats. Documentation is an important tool for the preservation of these significant sites.