The Midwest Ecological Landscaping Association held  our 2007 annual conference, fifth in an ongoing series that we call MELA G-3: Getting Green Greener. This year we focused on how to strengthen the link between people, both ourselves and others, with the environment, both natural and designed. We presented the Second Annual Polaris Award to recycler Ken Dunn.

Clients want beautiful landscapes, but often they don't understand the benefits of "green friendly" landscape choices. Those choices can be more practical, ethical, and cost effective but they do require the professional to understand and to foster the human connection to the landscape.

Speakers discussed putting a "green" consciousness into action by creating a demand for green landscaping and raising awareness of environmental issues. Speakers provided information and techniques for talking to clients about the role of green landscaping in a larger campaign to live healthier lives.

As always, we welcomed both professionals and the public as we shared and celebrated green industry changes that are making our landscapes more earth-friendly.

 

Morning Sessions

Growing Greener Youth: Fostering Involvement through Service Learning and Entrepreneurship Programs
Rory Klick
How can we engage youth as future green industry supporters, or even simply as future gardeners? What major educational and outreach efforts across the country are seeking to 'green' our youth, and what specifically is happening in the Chicago region? This session featured a variety of programs that are working to provide horticultural education and experience to youth, and will discuss ways the industry can become involved.

Imagine Mr. T. hugging a Tree: Cultivating Community Advocates
Edith Makra
In keeping with the conference theme, Edith Makra recounted her experiences working with some 120 communities concerning everything from Arbor Day to zoning issues. She has led the Emerald Ash Borer Team to draft a Readiness Plan and is now helping to coordinate the response in Illinois.

ehandouts for this talk:

http://www.na.fs.fed.us/urban/treespayusback/vol1/index.html http://www.na.fs.fed.us/urban/treespayusback/vol2/index.html

Shawn (above)
and Andrew (right)

Afternoon Sessions

Preserving Mother Nature's Originals: Foods, Flowers and the Lands on which They Grow
Mayo Underwood
For three and a half years, Underwood Gardens in Woodstock fought
to save a 10-acre adjacent parcel of land from being developed by
real estate interests. The plan would have called for grading
almost 100% of the site, leaving a grand total of 46 trees from
the wooded area, and would have compromised–if not destroyed–two
fens, which are among the rarest of Illinois wetland communities.
Almost miraculously, Mayo Underwood turned this near-tragedy into
a grassroots victory for environmentalism. Having now been
instrumental in stopping developments in two different towns,
Mayo presented proven strategies available to ordinary
citizens to oppose destructive development while preserving the
character and resources of their communities.

Creating a Demand for Organic Yard Care
Jeff Lowenfels
Alaska, the land of oil and gas and "we don't care how they do it elsewhere" attitude, not to mention giant, nitrate-fed cabbages, isn't likely to come to mind when ecological landscaping is discussed. Yet all of South Central Alaska, where half the state's population resides, is rapidly making organic yard care the norm, turning its back on 50 years of chemical dependency. The man behind the move, Jeff Lowenfels, explained why and how the 49th state is speeding towards organic yards and gardens and offered suggestions for emulation elsewhere in the country.

ehandout for this talk:

The Soil Food Web Gardening Rules

3:30 pm--Final remarks

Program

8:00 am  -  Registration . . . with morning coffee!
9:00 am  -  Welcome and Introduction
Shawn Kingzette, The Care of Trees and MELA president

9:10 am - Keynote Address
Reconnecting with Nature and the Landscape: Our Challenge & Opportunity
Andrew Beath
Andrew Beath's talk explored his belief that our landscape extends outward from ourselves and our immediate families to encompass the shapes of our gardens, the crops on our farms, the wild forests in the mountains, and further realms. To Beath, this important relationship between people and the landscape appears to be in a critical state of disrepair. He argues that restoring this relationship to health presents the most important challenge of our current epoch. If challenge provides opportunity, perhaps the degradation of the landscape is the very thing that will catalyze new understandings and thereby start a healing process. If so, this awakening might show us how "mutually beneficial reciprocity" with our landscape is the most meaningful way to live our lives."

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