The Grand Staircase

The Grand Staircase is an exceptional metaphor found in nature to demonstrate the importance of linkages. Spanning over miles of dynamic topographic change and millions of years, the Grand Staircase reveals contiguous rock layers in three major National Parks: Bryce Canyon, Zion Canyon, and the Grand Canyon. Visitors typically experience each National Park separately without considering the underlying connection. A similar occurrence happens when discussing human life’s essential aspects.

The journey into understanding sustainable patterns would not be complete without the fundamental social steps which make possible the link of nature to the urban environment.

Book Proposal: Overview

To help describe some of the Human Life Project® concepts, excerpts from the book proposal will be included in this and subsequent postings.

Literary Agents and Publishers: The Human Life Project® is in the process of sending the book proposal to potential publishers. If this material interests you, let us know.

Human Life Project®: Sustainable Patterns in Our Families and Communities

Communities around the world are actively striving to be sustainable by embracing earth-friendly living practices; however, environmental stewardship alone will not save our communities. The world’s top ranked sustainable and green cities are experiencing an alarming decline in essential segments of the population that uphold the entire community. The Human Life Project® provides a more complete picture of sustainability by linking the natural and urban environment with social relationships. By returning to the roots of human sustainability, communities are designed with the foresight to support each resident from the youngest to the oldest.

Many organizations offer valuable resources encouraging the establishment of green cities or strong families, yet few combine both successfully. Jennifer Ranville’s book, Human Life Project: Sustainable Patterns in Our Families and Communities fills this critical gap by adding the social dimension to the sustainability discussion. Jennifer Ranville is an architect in the green building industry and graduate of the University of Michigan with a Master’s degree in Architecture, emphasis in environmental design. The Human Life Project® is the result of four years compiling research on the central role of the family in sustaining our communities.

Current books on the market advocate sustainable communities only through conservation of nature, green building, and urban planning strategies. Therefore, the role of the family is limited to reducing household consumption habits by merely embracing green living practices. Connecting the two spheres both challenges and reaffirms commonly held views by the green living audience.

The Human Life Project® begins with the watershed to illustrate the interconnectivity between all forms of life. The knowledge of the natural pattern of land and water working together is then applied to our communities. Jennifer Ranville’s book shows the potential for cities to welcome more people and simultaneously improve the natural surroundings. When considering essential elements to sustain our communities, nature and the family form an interlocking support structure.

The family is a pivotal component today in determining which nations and cities will endure over time. A healthy balance of children to senior adults and a strong family support network are crucial to our human sustainability. Ultimately, the quality of relationships informs the social pattern language for our families and communities. Cities with strong social patterns are positioned well to direct resources that enhance the living experience for all residents.

Soft Path/Cross Disciplinary Solutions/Locally Grown Food

Don, thank you for the link to Agriburbia (http://agriburbia.com/) in your comments on the last blog posting. This is an interesting company that helps communities and individuals implement locally grown food, thereby increasing the standard of living and making the community more sustainable.

Agriburbia also illustrates several Human Life Project® concepts.

1. Promote "soft path" solutions (http://www.rmi.org/) in which smaller, local systems (farming in this example, but could apply to water use, energy production, etc.) are used in place of larger systems. A larger system such as the Hover Dam infrastructure for storing water can have a more negative impact on the ecological system, for example, compared to a series of strategically placed smaller projects.

2. Creative cross disciplinary solutions are essential to solving complex problems such as food supply. While harder to conceptualize and get approval to implement, these solutions can have a greater positive impact on the community as a whole. (For those with engineering backgrounds, think of system engineering vs. component engineering.)

3. Many great solutions are emerging to make better use of limited resources. The Human Life Project® defines The MORE Factor as Mobilizing Ownership in Resource Effectiveness. New technologies and ideas like Agriburbia offer tangible solutions for communities to conserve on water, energy, and land. Communities that plan for future growth will experience the freedom to meet, even exceed, the challenges of providing for humanity.

Don's Original Posting:

http://humanlifeproject.blogspot.com/2010/03/urban-renewal.html#comments

Urban Renewal

Many cities have initiated a variety of steps to renew the inner city. Baltimore was able to pull off a respectable renewal of their waterfront area in the 1990s with the completion of Camden Yard and the Ravens football stadium (http://www.mdoe.org/urbanrenewinnerharb.html). The 16^th Street Mall and LoDo redevelopment in Denver is another success story. Most of these initiatives revolve around replacing or renovating buildings. Detroit's idea of urban renewal is quite radical, replacing buildings with high tech farms.

Article supporting Farming Detroit: http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/29/news/economy/farming_detroit.fortune/index.htm?cnn=yes

Article against Farming Detroit: http://www.fastcompany.com/1571975/farming-the-city-in-order-to-save-it-demolishing-density-in-detroit

Article Farming Detroit: http://www.guernicamag.com/spotlight/1182/food_among_the_ruins/

If this idea moves forward, Detroit should consider adopting the Zero Waste Zone concepts that Atlanta has implemented (Zero Waste Zone Blog Entry). In particular, the idea of composting the waste food from restaurants and using this as fertilizer for the urban farms.

What do people think about locally grown food vs. dependence on importing food from other states or internationally?

It seems like all other ideas to revitalize Detroit (for example the casinos) have failed. Do people think that farming could help bring jobs back to Detroit, bring families back to Detroit, and be beneficial to the community?

Biomarkers

http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/10/real_estate/green_homes_redlight/index.htm?hpt=T2

Here is an interesting article on green residential houses and how appraisers are undervaluing green technology. This results in banks only accepting home loans at a fraction of the construction cost. Thus, without significant money down, people cannot afford the houses. A consequence is that developers are only building with the lowest cost green options. Is this good or bad for the country as a whole?

The last paragraph, especially the last sentence, of the article is the most interesting:

"As more American homeowners green their homes, there will be more and more of a premium paid for green homes," said Ben Kaufman, GreenWork's founder. "I can imagine a miles-per-gallon type sticker on homes for sale and the marketplace will absolutely favor fuel-efficient homes."

The Human Life Project would like to indentify and promote the use of "biomarkers" within communities. Biomarkers would collect data and notify the community of healthy or unhealthy patterns. As a simple example, consider a buoy in the water with a light on top. When the light is green, the water is safe to swim in. When the light is red, the water is not safe to swim in. In the case of green homes, Kaufman's idea of a energy-efficient sticker that comes with the sale of the house offers a biomarker to alert future homeowners.

What biomarkers do people think would make good indicators for the sustainability of the community? For example, categories such as nature might include air quality and renewable energy. Harder to measure categories under social indictors might include family stability, quality of relationships, and effectiveness of community leadership.

Post by the Staff of the Human Life Project

Sliding vs. Deciding

Dr. Scott Stanley has been doing some interesting research that he calls Sliding vs. Deciding ™ (http://slidingvsdeciding.blogspot.com). The general concept is related to how one moves from a cohabitating relationship to being married. Dr. Stanley states that those that make the conscious decision to get married have a better chance of staying married. Conversely, those that "slide" into marriage are more likely to get a divorce. Thus, the longevity of the relationship is based, in part, on making the conscious decision to be in the relationship, instead of just "going with the flow".

One of the goals of the Human Life Project is to find and implement patterns that lead to building truly sustainable communities. One thought is that long term relationships translates into more stable communities.

In future postings, we will try to discuss "Commitment Levels" and the impact on relationships. For now, do readers of this blog have any thoughts on how committed long term relationships (or lack of commitment) impact the community?

Another interesting thought is applying Sliding vs. Deciding concepts to other aspects of our life. For example:
- Consciously deciding how many hours to work vs. sliding into a situation of working many hours of overtime
- Consciously deciding how much TV time the kids are allowed vs. sliding into the situation in which they watch TV many hours a day

Post by the Staff of the Human Life Project

Handprint Denver

Denver is already benefiting from two existing documents: Blueprint Denver and Greenprint Denver that outline improvements to the urban and natural environment. While not on the drawing boards yet, Handprint Denver would complement by adding the social dimension that sustains the city.

As a starting point, Denver has a number of impressive programs such as: Denver Preschool Program, Denver Health, and Building a Better Denver. Handprint Denver would be instrumental in showcasing existing programs and recommending new social initiatives.

Handprint Denver would have an overriding theme of care for every resident with a special emphasis on addressing the needs of families. The scope of Handprint Denver could encompass education, health care, provisions, safety, and culture.

Goals:
- Improve educational oppertunities for children and youth
- Increase affordable and attractive family housing
- Form neighborhood social networks

Our handprints are integral to the success of Denver and the greater metropolitan region. What additional goals do you think would be important?