Sage Advice principal Carol Becker has been published this month in Landscape Architecture Magazine. Her story about how the Hornsby Quarry in New South Wales, Australia, moved from an accidental money pit to the best new thing Australia has to offer in the way of parkland is all about politics, geology, preservation and conservation, and the best in landscape architecture idea-making. You can read it here.
Photo courtesy of Hornsby Shire Council
Water is scarce and valuable in Australia. This country, the size of the U.S., is divided into only six states and its population is just under 23 million. One of the fastest growing states is New South Wales, where new homes are now required to have tanks for gray water, which is used for many purposes in the home, and not just watering the garden!
This is not news in South Australia, the "driest state in the driest inhabited continent on earth," says the website www.waterforgood.sa.gov.au
South Australia is "also feeling the added pressures of climate change, drought and a growing population." People here routinely haul water to fill tanks for gray water usage -- it's a generations-old practice, nothing new and nothing out of the ordinary. It's what you do when underground aquifers are non-existent and all water needs are met by the rivers, which in turn are dependent on rainfall to maintain a level that can supply the population with H2O!
The droughts on the past two years are the harbingers of this kind of change in the U.S. if we don't become better stewards fast.
It is clear to me on this first trip to Australia that folks here are used to conservation. Even before we got here we could tell. On the airplane, most paper is placed in recycle bags by passengers. Cans and bottles are recycled separately. Once on the ground we quickly learned that ALL toilets in Australia are dual flush, and at public venues, all paper products AND utensils sold at coffee shops and take out windows are compostable. Cups are always recyclable. EVERYWHERE, even street corners, we see three bins to sort trash, recycling and composting.
During the month of February, Sage Advice will be in Australia and the South Pacific. Watch this space for our travel blog -- including news about how the Aussies deal with hot dry weather!
Photos copyright Sage Advice and Watson Art Studio Website powered by Squarespace.
