This is no "Saturday Night Live" gag, but serious stuff. Environmentally friendly "green" honors are now being bestowed on, of all things, greenery.
Why not? If buildings and household appliances can be labeled "green" for their energy savings and reduced environmental impact, why not nature's genuinely "green" landscaping?
A nationwide environmental rating system for outdoor spaces was launched this week. It recognizes exceptional landscaping that eliminates waste of water, recycles water for other uses, provides shade in parking areas to minimize the "heat island" effect of asphalt pavement, and utilizes native plants to reduce maintenance and use of pesticides.
Highly regarded groups are behind this rating program, including the American Society of Landscape Architects, the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C., and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas-Austin.
Once again, the pace for attacking global warming and creating energy savings is being set in the private and civic sector, even as America's quarrelsome political leaders dither and debate over whether deleterious climate change is in fact impairing the planet's environment.
Some major industries also are joining the movement, including resigning their memberships in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce because of its general opposition to global warming legislation.
Here at home, businesses, developers, landscape companies and homeowners should join in the new landscaping "green project" to roll back global warming and to make the Sun Valley area a healthier place to live.
