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Preface We all hear a great deal these days about climate change and its potential problems. As long as we humans have existed on Earth, we have affected the environment around us. The more we produce and consume, the more we affect the environment around us. During the last 50 years, for the first time in history we have seen clear signs that human influence affects the environment of the entire planet; we are creating environmental problems that are not only local but also global. In the past, the major need of people in this world was arable land. Man did not have to think about animate things. However, now the adverse effects on environment through over-population and the development of various chemical elements in the atmosphere have led to irregular rainfall and global warming. One of these global environmental problems is the risk of man-made climate change, also known as global warming. This global warming has brought changes in climate, including making perennial snow mountains melt, thereby adversely affecting not only human beings but also other living species. This dangerous situation is being taken very seriously by the world. Living beings and plant life on this planet also undergo change accordingly. Man’s physical structure too changes from generation to generation along with the change in climatic conditions. Because of the growth in the population, a large number of trees are cut for fuel, and to reclaim land for agricultural cultivation. This is not simply the destruction of trees but it also means harming what belongs to the earth. Similarly, the continuing decline in forests in many parts of the world, is adversely affecting the already changing global climate, thus upsetting the lives, not only of mankind, but also of all living beings. There’s a need for mitigating green house gas emissions through green energy, sustainable landscapes and gardens that seamlessly promote greenery and integrate the built environment with the natural. It makes sense and cents to apply conservation principles to landscape design whenever possible. Designing for outdoor living can spur inspiration and generate alternative ideas for functional outdoor spaces on home or commercial sites. And, people who work with greenery, landscape and urban trees have heard that can greatly reduce these problems by promoting greenery. Similarly, the harmful effect on the atmosphere brought about by chemical emissions in industrialized countries is a very dangerous sign. Although this is a new thing for us, the world is paying a lot of attention to this problem. It is the responsibility of us, who speak of the welfare of all sentient beings, to contribute towards this. Since we have a responsibility in this matter, to work for the protection of the environment and to see that the present and future generations of mankind can make use of refreshing shade and fruits of trees.

Green energy can be classified as any form of energy resource that results in zero greenhouse gas emissions and zero toxic byproducts. These constitute the alternate source of energy such as Solar, Bio, Hydrogen, Wind, Water etc. Renewable Energy is energy that is not depleted or expen- ded. Previously the pressure to reduce CO2 emissions dictated the energy sourcing. With recent findings from experimental evidence, global warming may not be attributable to CO2 emissions in relation to other over-weighing causes. However the pressures to develop renewable sources continue since the cost of Oil is increasing in many countries. It is desirable and a necessity to develop renewable non-toxic energy resources. The global economy and welfare of all earth depends on it even if CO2 is not the cause of global warming (GW). There are some factors not in the control of even the most technologically advanced society. These are solar activity such as sun spots which have huge and tremendous influence on the Earth’s climate. However we should strive not to cause any undue imbalances in the proportion matter and composition of Earth’s atmosphere. Although CO2 is a small contributor to GW in comparison to H2O, we still have responsibility to maintain the right balance of the gases in the atmosphere by not causing undue changes to the Carbon, Nitrogen and Oxygen cycles! We are far way off from a Oil-free technology. Most transportation is still petrol driven.

Sustainability has recently become an important factor in the engineering world. Landscape architecture is a discipline that attempts to improve the way humans interact with the environment. That interaction can be improved in various ways such as water conservation, energy conservation, or urban planning. landscape architecture encompasses urban design, community and regional planning, interior and exterior garden design, parks and recreation, historic site and natural area preservation, energy and water conservation, landscape restoration and management, among others. The varied list is an example of the dynamic essence of landscaping and provides insight into the many areas which can be improved by implementing sustainable practices. Sustainable development practices aim to protect the quality of life of future generations. This can only be done by understanding how the natural environment operates as well as how human interactions affect it. Sustainable Landscape Architecture focuses on enhancing the holistic knowledge of the surrounding landscapes, including the complex processes which naturally occur to maintain it. Employing this knowledge within the planning phases of development should result in the reduction of negative environmental impacts due to the same. The traditional consequences of land development can be eliminated or mitigated when developers are able to foresee the consequences of their work. Many times, replicating undeveloped conditions and/or native landscapes within the overall site design will prove very useful in achieving the goals of sustainability. All of the sustainable topics covered in this chapter involve the application of a technology that resulted from better understanding the natural environment.

3.1. SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT Solid waste management includes the transportation, processing, recycling and disposal of our waste materials. We live in a disposable world in many ways with the modernization and convenience of our world we have cluttered it with our refuse.

Green business, is enterprise that has no negative impact on the global or local environment, community, society, or economy—a business that strives to meet the triple bottom line. Often, sustainable businesses have progressive environmental and human rights policies. In general, business is described as green if it matches the following four criteria: 1. It incorporates principles of sustainability into each of its business decisions. 2. It supplies environmentally friendly products or services that replace demand for non-green products and/or services. 3. It is greener than traditional competition. 4. It has made an enduring commitment to environmental principles in its business operations. A sustainable business is any organization that participates in environmentally friendly or green activities to ensure that all processes, products, and manufacturing activities adequately address current environmental concerns while maintaining a profit. In other words, it is a business that “meets the needs of the present world without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs.” It is the process of assessing how to design products that will take advantage of the current environmental situation and how well a company’s products perform with renewable resources.

Tourism is a phenomenon, which has taken off immensely in the past three decades. It concerns us all, be it by allowing us to travel long distances as tourists, or by forcing upon us a mass of visitors to our part of the world. In the past, people did not travel half as much. Financial obstacles and responsibilities to land and animals stopped them from doing so. Only in 1845 did Thomas Cook of Leicester, England, organize the first package tour, making this experience available to people outside of the privileged classes by cutting down on expenses. By 1939, an estimated one million people were traveling abroad each year. Nowadays, the population of the Mediterranean swells to double over the summer, from 130 million resident inhabitants during the winter to 260 million in high season. There were about 698 million international tourist arrivals worldwide in 2000. All regions in the world grew, and the fastest developing region continued to be East Asia and the Pacific. Tourism has become the largest industry in the world. And just like all thriving industries, though it has a lot to give, it also takes a lot in turn. Unfortunately, the toll that we pay for it has been rising steadily. While the prospect of people traveling less in the future seems improbable, to say the least, a new idea has already sprung up: If we cannot stop tourism, let us at least travel sensibly.

Landscaping is both science and art and is an aspect of the environmental impact of a hotel that needs to be addressed. Understanding and blending the elements of both nature and construction is effective landscaping. Whether Landscaping is extensive or small consumes a large amount of water, fertilizers and herbicides and generates solid waste. Ecogreen’s Greenscaping Operation provides cost-efficient and environmentally friendly solutions for landscaping. Greenscaping operation deals with two aspects: 1. Solid Waste Management, and 2. Water Conservation

Trees are major capital assets in cities Just as streets, sidewalks, public buildings and recreational facilities are a part of a community’s infrastructure, so are publicly owned trees. Trees — and, collectively, the urban forest — are important assets that require care and maintenance the same as other public property. Trees are on the job 24 hours every day working for all of us to improve our environment and quality of life. Urban forest provides many environmental benefits to our community. Aside from the obvious aesthetic benefits, trees within our urban forest improve our air, protect our water, save energy, and improve economic sustainability. In other words, since most trees have been planted much of the tree cover is in urban areas as opposed to “natural lands”. Therefore, estimated pollutant uptake rates are higher for residential compared to natural or unmanaged lands. Possible management implications of these estimates are that air pollutant uptake benefits from tree planting may be optimized by planting in areas where air pollutant concentrations are elevated and where relatively high planting densities can be achieved thereby enhancing the health of urban dwellers.

Pollution is the term used to denote the hindrances caused to living organisms by way of contamination of their physical environment. Pollution to air, water, soil etc. is the major problem faced by the living community. Measures to control the emission of pollution into air, water or soil will certainly reduce the level of pollutants. Mitigation of pollution can be best achieved by combining nature with technology that increases the effectiveness of plants in removing pollution. Use of vegetation is an effective means of pollution control and many researchers have reported their advantages in mitigating pollution. So far, the main approach has been to dig the polluting chemicals out of the ground and transport them to a landfill. However, after a decade of research, scientists in the early twenty-first century found that hundreds of species of plants, along with the fungi and bacteria that inhabit the ecosystem around their roots, seek out and often break down chemical molecules that can harm most other life. In the mid-1980s, Dr. B.C. Wolverton and fellow researchers at NASA conducted several studies to determine whether plants could halt indoor pollution and provide a natural way to deal with the problem. It has been suggested by NASA and the Associated Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA) that plants are major pollution-absorbing devices: the common indoor plants might provide a natural way of helping combat “SICK BUILDING SYNDROME”. Common indoor plants may provide a valuable weapon in the fight against rising levels of indoor air pollution. These plants are not only decorative, but are also surprisingly useful in absorbing potentially harmful gases and cleaning the air inside modern buildings.