Reply To: To What Extent Should Ethics and Environemtnal Issues Drive Landscape Architects in their Projects

[Roland Beinert]

Andrew,
Do you think developers and others see no practical side to environmentally minded solutions? Do you think they really only see it as some sort of new religion? Look at how you phrased one of your own statements: “using water and other stressed resources in an irresponsible manner is shameful and unethical”. I’d say it’s also impractical. I think most of us see it thatway, but no one ever talks about it that way. Instead they talk about ethics. So everyone else just sort of assumes that’s all there is to it, and that we are all crazy activists, whose only goal in life is to save cute, fuzzy bunnies. I like cute, fuzzy bunnies, too, but my main goal is to apply the science of ecology to my work in order to get around problems.
Is there something really messed up in the way we debate this sort of thing? It’s so full of faulty assumptions and political views and stereotypes from the sixties. Essentially we are debating the ethics of whether we should poison ourselves and deplete all the resources we depend on. Isn’t that somewhat ridiculous? Shouldn’t we be talking about ways not to poison ourselves and deplete all our resources in a realistic way instead? Isn’t the fact that Bob assumes it’s all about ethics a warning sign? Yet, when I asked him about saving his client money with environmentally-friendly technology he said he’d gladly do so.