The over emphasis of LEED in the profession...

LEED...a test which proves ones ability to read and regurgitate rules and regulations created by a green building industry machine...nothing really to do with health safety and welfare of design. I find most LEED goals are really just BMP of Landscape Architecture in general when dealing with everything outside the building itself of course.

The reason I am pondering leed in this way is that I am finding the industry (employers) is starting to put more importance of LEED after ones name than RLA. Is making sure that the health safety and welfare of a design becoming less important than using paint with low VOC?

Anyone else find LEED to be more than a little irritating? I busted my tail to get my RLA yet I feel I must get LEED to get a job when the economy turns...

Any joker off the street can be LEED AP...not everyone is RLA. I'll probably get LEED ND, I'm just holding out for an employer to pay for it! Its expensive to prove I can memorize where to look up rules in a book.

Don't get me wrong, designing with a "green" bend is important, but isn't that what we do as landscape architects anyway?

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Permalink Reply by Michael Weber on January 22, 2011 at 6:27am

I agree, it seems like people love to become LEED to say that they are, although it is easier than becoming a RLA. I debated which licensure I wanted to obtain first. I chose RLA since that is what matters in running your own practice and actually practicing landscape architecture. The funny thing is that I bet the LARE has more questions on green design and practice for site design than LEED does for site design. I am interested to see what the trend will be once SITES is fully functional, I hope this will be a distinction for LAs from all others who have a general LEED.

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Permalink Reply by Gary Caraway on January 22, 2011 at 8:26am

I agree with you whole heartedly. I am both RLA and a LEED AP at this point. Several years ago I became a LEED AP while I was in the process of taking the various sections of the LARE. I saw it as a great opportunity to gain some credentials without really having to "pay any dues". Like you said anyone can take the exam. No special degree or work experience is required.

The most frustrating thing to me, however; is this trend of various certifications/organizations requiring CEU's. To maintain your LEED AP you have to get CEU's now as is if is a professional license. Georgia DOT is starting to do this as well. Professionals have to pass classes to be qualified to work on a GDOT project. Next it will be required for SITES, Green Roof Professioanls, etc. Why do we need all of these seperate designations? Why can't ones resume of professional experience stand on it's own? The way it is now, a client would expect that a LEED AP who just graduated college last month knows more about green site design than a RLA who has been practicing for 30 years. It's just wrong.

To be honest, my current employment is probably, to at least some extent, due to my LEED AP. I have has the opportunity to work on some really cool projects as well. So I do think it has been a great thing for my career personally. I just hope we can stop with all the seperate designations. And please stop requiring CEU's for anything other than a Professional License!

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Permalink Reply by henry cohen on January 22, 2011 at 10:08am

LEED is a wonderful cash cow. Wish I had thought of it, I'd be sitting on a beach in the Caribbean now.

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Permalink Reply by Alan Ray, RLA on January 21, 2012 at 3:59pm

yeah, henry, you and alGore would be having a big party on his yacht.....

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Permalink Reply by Chris on January 22, 2011 at 10:15am

Glad to hear I'm not the only one....!

Henry.... Completely agree!!

I kinda wish I was in high school now...I would get my LEED AP and just whore myself out to companies doing leed projects for a lot more money than I would bagging groceries. oh well.

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Garulay, RLA on January 22, 2011 at 4:03pm

I think that Henry is saying that the big winners are the guys doing the certifying and not those getting certified. I'm not sure how much of a iving you'd make whoring yoourself out based on a LEED cert.

Harp music please:

It reminds me of the story where the guy comes home and finds his wife packing her bags.He says "where are you going?". She said that she heard call girls were making a thousand dollars an hour in Vegas and she was heading to Vegas. He starts packing his bags annd she says "where are you going?" He says "I'm going to Vegas to see how you are going to live on two thousand dollars a year".

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Permalink Reply by Chris on January 23, 2011 at 12:02pm

I understood Henry...I wish I had thought of it too!!

and I was being facetious on making money whoring myself out as a high school student doing LEED projects...subtle point being anyone can be LEED AP with no professional prerequisite.

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Permalink Reply by Kerri A on January 22, 2011 at 10:39am

I agree with you. I'm not sure why land designers are in such a pantytwist to throw their money on this bandwagon.

I think land architects/designers should look to and focus efforts on SSI instead if looking for guidelines, as well as to stay abreast of the green curve. Aside from the inordinate expense, LEED is simply object-oriented to begin with whereas SSI is performance/results-oriented and much more meaningful and useful to the practice of land design.

http://www.sustainablesites.org/

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Permalink Reply by Gary Caraway on January 23, 2011 at 11:02am

I don't think that we should look to jump on the SSI bandwagon either. I don't think we need anymore "labels" or "guidelines" to follow. As professional landscape architects, we should be able to study a site and apply the principles that we know to best utilize the sites potential. Why do we need anymore guides to trach us what we should already be practicing?

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Permalink Reply by Kerri A on January 23, 2011 at 11:21am

Ideally, sure. How many firms actually follow those guidelines and educate/push on them with a client?

If a report card or points earned (or whatever rating system it will employ) for meeting the standards holds more feet to the fire (including clients). . . might be worthwhile in that regard.

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Permalink Reply by earthworker on January 22, 2011 at 12:32pm

Gonna have to agree with this one. Many put LEED after their names because, quite frankly, they can't or haven't been able to get their RLA title. Any shmo can study and pass the LEED. Can't say that about licensure. I do think 'green' practices are a great idea but often I have found that their initial cost for installation can be off-putting to many clients. Right now they are just trying to figure out how to get financing for their projects.

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Permalink Reply by Jason T. Radice on January 22, 2011 at 4:26pm

As a LEED-AP, I tend to agree with how it has been very commercialized. I got my RLA first then moved to LEED while all you needed was to take the exam. While the exam wasn't cake (as some have suggested), you used to really need to study the test itself, not necessarily how it all works together.

I got LEED-AP as the architecture firm I was working for at the time had a bit of a push, and as the only LA to take the exam there, it still had some credibility. A colleague of mine also pushed for me to do it. Although I really haven't had too much to do with it professionally since then, I still feel it was worth the money and the trouble to study. I has opened some doors. Unfortunately, LEED really has left much of LA behind. While we can handle much of the sustainable site credits, so can just about every other profession (civ,. arch, etc.) The only area where we can get a foothold is with water efficiency with regards to landscape. If you have no irrigation, you don't need an LA. I would have liked to see more LA invovlement required on the part of LEED.

I also lecture to and jury a class of architecture students in a LEED class with regards to water efficient landscape, trying to play-up its benefits and how to "think outside the box" with regards to using this credit. I pust the SSI as well. Now that USGBC has made it a bit tougher to get LEED credentials, it has helped garner some more credibility. As well, local municipalities have adopted LEED into code for commercial buildings (let alone government) meaning that a LEED credentialed LA does have some meaning now to even be considered for the project team.