The Human Environment

Every decision we make when designing and creating our home or planning a city affects the quality of the human environment.  When we disregard the loss of biodiversity and pollinators, and design without consideration of the long-term need for supplemental resources like fertilizers and water, we fail to create a sustainable world, and even more importantly, we miss the opportunity to create environments that move beyond sustainability and begin to regenerate the important functions that natural and created landscapes provide for us – clean air, clean water, aesthetic quality, or a sense of place and community.  And we fail to provide areas that can help mitigate the effects of a rapidly changing climate – things like heat island effects, the capture and storage of carbon dioxide, the release of methane, and the contribution of landscape maintenance practices of other greenhouse gases.

The HDHC approach is to increase awareness of environmental issues with planners, landscape architects, contractors, city and state officials, and others involved in the design and construction of urban, rural, and natural areas.  We’re also developing measurable standards and a system for monitoring success rates for municipalities, parks, and protected natural areas.  And we continue to document the economic and environmental benefits of “alternative” approaches to landscape design and construction.  The need is to educate landscape professionals in theory and design of environmentally responsible landscapes, and develop a workforce trained to maintain the ecological function and environmental characteristics of regenerative landscapes. This is what we do.