Initiatives
In 2010, MELA will pursue three new program initiatives, all designed to provide opportunities to learn more about and practice sustainable design, installation and maintenance. We look forward to enlisting members in these projects!
MELA is in the process of creating an online, interactive guide, designed to help our members use sustainable practices in the design, installation and maintenance of landscapes in the greater Chicago area. The interactive tool will be a companion to official guidelines for the landscape industry, published in Nov 09 by the Sustainable Sites Initiative (www.sustainablesites.org).
The tool will provide access to information about sustainability in the five categories defined by SSI: soils, vegetation, hydrology, materials, and human health. In each category, we will provide background, importance of sustainability, and specific activities to help our members practice sustainability in that arena. Links to other resources will also be provided for those who want to know more. Our project will go beyond simple information by also asking each member/visitor to the site to “take the pledge” to implement a wide variety of sustainable activities.
It’s all hands on deck for our site restoration projects in 2010. There’s no better way to demonstrate sustainability in the built landscape.
We are currently working on a project at 26th and Federal, a city lot that the City of Chicago would like to see restored to a park for the neighborhood. This project is a cooperative effort by Metropolitan Planning Council, Openlands, NeighborSpace and MELA. We are currently seeking funding to support our portion of this project, which includes the design and oversight of the installation. Following SSI guidelines, this project will move forward if a community group emerges to manage it. We’re hopeful this happens soon!
We are also looking at other sites and hope to collaborate with NeighborSpace and other agencies to provide our members with opportunities to design and build sustainable demonstration landscapes.
MELA is in the early stages of building a collaborative with member companies who employ interns interested in learning about sustainability. We hope to provide resources so that your intern, if you have one, can document what your company is doing to practice Sustainability in Action. Watch for more information about this project!
Those are the three initiatives we have in mind right now. In each of the three areas, we hope that this will start a dialogue about that particular issue. We hope you'll all take a minute and drop us a line about one of these initiatives.
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