Nick Brown's defining and explaining role of sustainability in our culture the quote of the day on The Iconoclast Web log

Nick Brown defines real sustainability

Sometimes I am accused of being Jonah Tebbetts, the name used by the authors or author of The Iconoclast Web log. I am flattered by that, but others point the short-comings of my Web logs because they don't go into the depth of analysis that "Jonah" does.

Today, I skimmed the newspapers and was about to consider making a photo from last night's local activities the centerpiece of this blog today. I spotted Nick's piece in the Times and got excited, because Nick once again says what I like to say better than I can say it.
Before getting around to posting comments on Nick's work, I went to see what The Iconoclast had to say.
There was the quote from Nick Brown. Nice to have been beaten to the punch once again by Jonah!
When a message is extremely important, as Nick's is, it can't be shared too often.

My personal contribution to the dialogue that Brown's letter should inspire is more than "amen." It is actually an ongoing dialogue that I have been involved in all my life.

For example, one big, basic concern missed in the local talk of "sustainability" is the preservation of the fertile soil in our Northwest Arkansas valleys and prairies. Anything that reduces the ability of living things (including people) to survive on locally produced food is wrong.
That means that developments of all kinds must be much more carefully planned and supervised if they are to protect the choices of how to live and the very ability to live "sustainably" in our area. Soil-conservation must not be ignored. Truly progressive methods of building must not only consider the ways to make buildings energy efficient but also consider ways to avoid changing the ground on which those buildings are placed.
If the original soil is displaced or buried and inaccessible by a project, that project is not "sustainable."
One of the good things started this year in Northwest Arkansas is the Fayetteville' Natural Heritage Association's "Green Infrastructure group" with its emphasis on planning connected green corridors through the cities. This means protecting existing land that serves that purpose now because, once the soil is gone, the green corridors that exist now can never be replaced.
NIck Brown, in his position with the university, has a chance to guide construction on the campus to follow a truly "sustainable" model in the future.
I would hope he will look at ways to prevent soil erosion downstream from the university to protect three branches of the Town Branch that flow from the campus.
Those three branches also are very much a part of our Town Branch Neighborhood. Uncontrolled stormwater from the campus contributes to flooding on the western arm of the Town Branch, which mainly flows from southeast from the front of the Wal-Mart on Sixth Street/Martin Luther King Boulevard and from the hills east and west of Interstate 540 to join the Cato Springs Branch (which brings stormwater from the proposed Southpass development.
The part that affects our neighborhood the most is the part named Town Branch on the oldest existing maps. It flows from the east side of Markham Hill and the athletic facilites such as the Football Stadium and the westside of the main campus hill.
The part that affects the northeastern corner of our neighborhood drains stormwater from what we know as "downtown Dickson Street and the Square" as well as the southeastern parts of the main UA campus.
The way to protect this watershed is to keep all the vegetation growing naturally and add to it. Digging deep detention ponds might help but keeping the absorbent soil in place and avoiding construction methods that remove the trees from the slopes is the most economical and effective way to protect that stream, known as Tangle Branch. Tanglewood Branch is the one that, in part, flows through the new culvert under Center Street.
Getting the University of Arkansas to consider watershed concerns in future planning is extremely important. I trust that Nick Brown can help other university officials realize the importance of this effort.
Next, of course, will be finding someone involved with the city school system who can work to see that the "building of a 21st century high school" on the existing campus site will not further contribute to the damage done downstream on the Town Branch.
The school board needs to recognize that need as they select a new superintendent. If that person understands that all factors involved in designing the new school are important to the community, then it can be done with relatively little harm.