Corporate Social Responsibility in the Landscape Industry - 1.0 PDH (LA CES/HSW)

How Manufacturers (That We Specify and End Users Rely On) Find Balance between People, Planet, and Profit to Achieve Sustainability

Landscape architecture strives to design an outdoor experience for the end-user while implementing sustainable measures to reduce or eliminate resource consumption. The more we study, implement, and validate sustainable design, the more we realize the interconnectivity of these elements not only within the site, but with society and the world around us.

Water conservation in irrigation has always been a tenet of sustainability, but it also plays an integral role in heat island reduction, stormwater management, carbon sequestration, and equitable spaces. However, the impacts of manufactured products that we as practitioners specify are often overlooked and influence sustainability beyond the project boundaries as much as the design does within.

Through the context of landscape irrigation, we present an inside look at how a major landscape product manufacturer (Hunter Industries) uses their metric of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the production of irrigation infrastructure and why it matters to specifiers and end-users. We conclude our presentation with a major water purveyor in a drought-stricken region (Southern Nevada Water Authority) discussing why water conservation, sustainability, and CSR in irrigation are important to them.

Hosted by ASLA's Water Conservation Professional Practice Network (PPN)

Learning objectives:

• Understand the interconnectivity of water conservation with other landscape architecture and sustainable design principles.
• Learn from a leading water conservation industry manufacturer on how they view Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) through energy efficiency, material use, and waste management to help you make sustainable choices in specifications and design.
• Think of questions for future projects to ask manufacturers such as community outreach, charitable contribution, and corporate culture when considering water conservation and other sustainable design goals.