12 Landscape Architect and Specifier News
c o m m e n t a r y
1 John 4:19 …
We love because he first loved us.
George Schmok
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
gschmok@landscapeonline.com
Stephen Kelly
Editor
skelly@landscapeonline.com
Michelle Medaris
Education
mmedaris@landscapeonline.com
Kyle Cavaness
Economic News
kcavaness@landscapeonline.com
Larry Shield
Product Editor
lshield@landscapeonline.com
Michelle Mabanta
Editorial Administrative Assistant
mmabanta@landscapeonline.com
Associate Editors
Ashley Calabria
Associate Editor/Digital Information
University of Georgia
calabria@uga.edu
Buck Abbey, ASLA
Associate Editor: Ordinances
Green Laws Org.
lsugreenlaws@aol.com
Russ Adsit, FASLA
Associate Editor/Erosion
Executive Director, IECA
russ@ieca.org
Janet Lennox Moyer, IALD
Associate Editor/Lighting
moyerj@rpi.edu
(In Memoriam)
Don Roberts, FASLA
Kay Tiller
Frank Manwarren
David Brian Linstrum
Lois E. Schmok
Otto Edward Schmok
Art Director
Nicole Miller
nmiller@landscapeonline.com
Graphic Designer
Matthew Medeiros
mmedeiros@landscapeonline.com
Ad Coordinator
Oliver Calonzo
ocalonzo@landscapeonline.com
Circulation / Fulfillment
Edward Cook
ecook@landscapeonline.com
Likkien Ralpho
lralpho@landscapeonline.com
Ana Linares
alinares@landscapeonline.com
IT Department
Web / Tech Manager
Jerry Short
jshort@landscapeonline.com
Chief Operations Officer C.O.O.
Mark O'Halloran
mohalloran@landscapeonline.com
Sales Administration
Cynthia McCarthy
cmccarthy@landscapeonline.com
Advertising/Marketing
714-979-LASN (5276) x113 • 714-979-3543 (Fax)
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Vince Chavira
vchavira@landscapeonline.com
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mhenderson@landscapeonline.com
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kongstad@landscapeonline.com
Trade Show Sales
Jared Lutz
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Amy Deane
Event Productions
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It always makes sense to try to make things
better, and even if it doesn't, we can't help ourselves
from trying.
You know, from candlelight to electricity, from
6-team horsepower to turbo-charged horsepower, and
from 2,000-hour light bulbs to 50,000-hour light bulbs,
change can be a good thing.
Now, I am sure that some of you who just read
that shook your heads at one or more of the above
examples because of nostalgia for the good ole days
or concerns over how much is too much. Since this
is the landscape industry, some of you were probably
thinking about the impacts on climate change or the
impact on habitats—some positively, due to the help
of the improvements, and some negatively, due to the
cost of the improvements. But change is funny that
way. Many resist it too much, and many embrace it too
often. Many complain about change as they enjoy its
benefits. Sometimes change is brought about through
sound reasoning; sometimes it just comes about because
it's time . . . Like springtime.
Yep, spring is in the air and change is in the air, too.
Last month we published a news item about the Ohio
Senate passing a bill to drop LEED v4. Now whether
or not the Ohio House also passes the bill and it gets
enacted, and whether or not other states follow, the
changes brought forth by LEED are, by-and-large,
positive. Green roofs, as just one example, may not
cool the global environment, but they can help cool the
building and they do add oxygen and environmental
filtration, while adding a business-oriented benefit for
the owners to sell to their tenants. As long as these
elements hold true, especially the last one, this one
small part of the LEED movement will continue
to flourish on its own; so will things like UV-proof
windows, pervious and permeable pavers, and LEDs.
It's really not an issue of global warming or climate
change or whatever the term of the day is . . . It just
makes sense and thus the change is made.
Some say fracking is a horrible way to extract oil.
Some also say we shouldn't use oil at all. But change
may take us to both. Because of concerns for the
environment, we may or may not pass more bills to
shape the industry, but getting more domestic oil today
is a need as much as it is a pariah. At the same time,
given that it will continue for many years, making its
extraction cleaner and more efficient can only be good
as well.
Moving forward, making Fiats that get 122 miles
per gallon is also a good thing. And making powerful
electric engines is certainly looking like a good thing.
That, of course, will depend on improvements to
the batteries and improvements to the power grid
(hopefully NOT like the wind farm that destroyed the
drive from L.A. to Palms Springs, but more like the
wind farm outside of California City on the way from
L.A. to Tahoe). But whatever is better always wins.
And whatever wins will always be competed with. And
competition always makes things better.
So as you read this issue, it's not the LEED points
that make us want to convert from incandescent to
LED, nor is it a government ban on incandescent light
bulbs. It's just hard to argue with 20,000+ hours using
1/100th of the electricity. And guess what . . . These are
not the only changes to come . . . And guess what else
. . . They'll keep getting better . . .
- God Bless
It's Time!
George Schmok, Publisher
P.S.- I heard from some of you about my father's shooting of an eagle (with an iron-sight, single-shot, bolt-
action .22, flying away, I might add). There are only four times one should shoot a gun: to practice, to eat, to
protect yourself and to protect that which you care about. In this case, the eagle was making a habit of stealing
food from a camp that needed that food to survive the winter, 900 miles north of the Canadian border in 1936.
Sometimes the eagles lose.
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12-13.indd 12 4/9/14 9:09 AM