developments - The Environment Report

Jan Spencer (pictured) removed his driveway to make room for more landscaping features. This is part of the concept behind "permaculture," the practice of using resources on-site to fulfill as many needs as possible. (Photo by Ann Dornfeld)
Spencer's next door neighbors, the Finneys (pictured) say they'd like to make their home more energy efficient. Spencer suggests closing their covered back porch with removable clear panels. (Photo by Ann Dornfeld)

The word “suburbia” conjures up sprawling developments, huge lawns and
long commutes. It’s not the most eco-friendly arrangement. Jan
Spencer lives in the suburbs and he wants to change their reputation. His
version of home improvement is making his quarter-acre property as
energy-independent as possible. As Ann
Dornfeld reports, Spencer calls the process “suburban renewal:”

Transcript

When you get to Benjamin Street, you don’t need to look at house
numbers to find Jan Spencer’s place. His is the one with a jungle of berry
vines instead of a yard. Oh, and if you drove here, you’ll need to park on
the street:

“I removed my driveway early on when I moved here because I didn’t
need space to park five cars. So I took my driveway out and I kept a lot of
my driveway to make landscaping features!”

Spencer stacked pieces of the broken driveway to line two ponds. He
collects rainwater in a huge tank out back and fills the ponds with it:

“But that’s a habitat! There’s pollywogs in there, there’s fish in there, there’s
little water skimmers.”

This is more than just funky, utopian landscaping. It’s permaculture. That’s
the practice of using natural resources found on-site to fulfill as many
needs as possible. Permaculture takes the trend of “buying local” up a
notch. You don’t just eat organic asparagus grown 20 miles away, or heat
your home with wind energy from across the state. You produce those
things yourself, at home.

Even in a vinyl-sided tract house in the suburbs, Spencer says, there are still
plenty of natural resources available:

“Soil… sunshine… and rainwater.”

And, he says, multi-purposing can make the most of the space available.
For instance, Spencer converted his carport into living quarters for
roommates. That creates a higher-density living arrangement. Next, he
plans to grow watermelon or squash on the roof.

“When you really start looking around a location with a set of
permaculture eyes, ‘How can I use this space most effectively?’ even
familiar places take on a really different kind of an appearance.”

Spencer knows not many people are willing to tear out their driveways to
have more room for raspberries, but he says there are plenty of simple
ways to harness a suburban home’s energy potential. Solar panels on his
roof heat his water for the warm half the year. Low-tech systems work, too,
like composting and watering the garden with a can instead of soaking it
with a hose or sprinkler.

To see which of Spencer’s suburban renewal methods might work for the
average family, we go next door to visit the Finneys. Dan is a firefighter.
Eden stays home with their young daughters, Peyton and Madison. The
girls like to raid Spencer’s berry patch. But the Finneys are pretty fond of
their grass lawn. Their minivan and RV are parked in the intact driveway.

Eden says the couple does want to make their home more energy-
efficient, but for different reasons.

“For him, definitely it’s cost. But for me, the environment plays a big part in
it.”

The Finneys already grow fruits, vegetables and herbs in raised beds out
back. And they installed energy-efficient windows:

“It knocked our bill down considerably this last winter. That was a good
thing to do for us.”

Spencer and I wander out to the Finneys’ covered back porch. Spencer
says the Finneys could close it in with removable clear panels to lower
their heating bill even further:

“The solar orientation here is perfect. So part of the year it’d be totally
open like this, and part of the year this place could actually be helping to
heat the house.”

“Huh. Didn’t even think about that!”

Spencer says the trick is to look at under-utilized spaces, like the
boundaries of the Finneys’ property:

“And having some kind of grapes, kiwi fruit, some type of edible vine
growing along the front of that fence.”

“We talked about doin’ that and we will do that. We’re gonna build a trellis
there. I just haven’t got around to it. As you can see, this is the project
house. And we do want to grow some kiwi. And they can grow really fast.”

Spencer’s ideas are going over pretty well, so he decides to go out on a
limb.

“Okay, I’ll just suggest something. What would you think of the idea of
having a 1600-gallon water tank up on blocks there to help water your
garden?”

“No.”

“Maybe one behind the shop, and do the same kinda thing back there
where it wouldn’t be in the middle of our yard.”

“Ah, okay, so it’s the idea of where something like that would be.”

“Probably. Yes.”

“Yeah!”

Spencer needs this kind of feedback as he gets ready to take his
suburban renewal philosophy on a speaking tour. He’ll be talking to
longtime permaculture activists as well as more mainstream suburban
residents who just want to make a dent in their utility bills.

For the Environment Report, I’m Ann Dornfeld.

Transcript

We’ve been bringing you reports from the series ‘Ten Threats to the Great Lakes.’ Our
guide in the series is Lester Graham. He says the next report looks at protecting property
and protecting nature:

Great Lakes shorelines naturally change over time. Beaches erode. Dunes shift.
Sometimes, even the rockiest bluffs collapse.

That’s OK for nature, but maybe not for a house sitting on top of it. So it’s no wonder
that landowners try to stabilize their shorelines. To do that, they sometimes build walls
of steel or concrete to block incoming waves. It’s a tricky process. If the walls are too
short, they won’t stop erosion. But if they’re too long, they trap sand that moves
naturally along the lakeshore.

When nearby beaches can’t get sand, they degrade into muddy or rocky messes.

Charles Shabica is a coastal engineer. He’s been working at the problem for decades
now.

“My dream is to see the shores of the Great Lakes ultimately stabilized, but in a good
way and not a bad way where you’re causing problems.”

Shabica takes me to a small private beach north of Chicago. He engineered it to keep the
shoreline intact. The keys to that are two piles of rock that jut out into the lake.

The piles are just the right size – big enough to protect the shore, but small enough to let
some sand pass by. There’re other elements to the design as well.

Tall, blue-green grasses line the beach’s perimeter.

“Not only do waves tend to move sand around, but wind is also really an important agent,
too. So the beach grass and dune grass tends to stabilize the sand. And what will happen
is, you can see these things are seeding now, wind will blow the seeds and pretty soon
you get that stuff growing all over the place.”

A lot of homeowners and city planners applaud Shabica’s work. But not everyone does.

Some environmental groups say, once a landowner builds a wall or rock formation,
others have to follow suit, just to preserve their own sandy shoreline.

The environmental groups’ alternative? Keep development farther away from shorelines
and allow more natural erosion.

But that hands-off approach is not likely to happen. The majority of Great Lakes
shoreline is privately owned. And in many states, landowners often prevail in court when
they try to protect their investments.

Keith Schneider of the Michigan Land Use Institute says the question isn’t whether to
build near the shore, but how to do it.

He says, in the past, landowners tried to get off cheap. They didn’t pay for quality
construction or get expert advice on local geological systems.

“If you don’t pay a lot of attention to these systems, it’s gonna cost you a lot of money.
And if you build inappropriate structures or inappropriate recreational facilities, you’re
going to either be paying a lot of money to sustain them or you’re gonna lose them.”

A lot of coastal geologists agree that, for much of the Great Lakes coast, private
shoreline protection efforts – even the bad ones – are here to stay.

In urban or suburban areas, housing developments near the shore often include a buffer or
wall.

Michael Chrzastowski is with Illinois’ Geological Survey. He says, in these cases, the
shore can look natural…

“But it’s going to be a managed, engineered facility, because wherever you are on the
shore, you’re influenced by some other construction or historical development along the
shore that’s altered the processes where you are.”

That’s definitely the case along highly-developed, urban coastlines, such as Illinois’.
Other parts of the region are catching up, though.

“What’s going to happen is, other places along the great lakes as they become more
developed and they become more urbanized, they’re going to use Illinois as a model.”

That could bring more projects like Charles Shabica’s little beach. Shabica says that’s
not necessarily a bad thing.

It’s just a way to come to terms with our presence along the lakes.

“Human beings are here to stay. It’s our responsibility I think to make our environment
better for us, but not at the expense of the biological community, and your neighbors.”

That sounds reasonable enough. But it will ultimately mean the vast, natural coastlines of
the Great Lakes will be engineered, one beach at a time.

For the GLRC, I’m Shawn Allee.

Tag: developments

Harnessing the Power of Permaculture

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Ten Threats: Protecting Crumbling Shorelines

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