Expanding personal space improves environment

The impact of the trees on a lawn, or a neighbor’s landscaping, vegetation and greenery has a huge impact on the structure of the D.C. region.

The founder of Ed Ball Landscape Architecture sat down with What’s Working in Washington to explain how sustainable landscaping can have a positive effect on the greater Washington area.

“I spent a lot of time working on projects for about five or six years in the Bahamas… over that period of time, I really did see ocean levels rising,” said Ball. As a result, he began experimenting with how canopy cover and foliage work to control temperature.

“I started thinking on how to integrate with my own design work, to reduce the ambient temperature, so people want to bring the indoors outside,” he said. First focusing on single houses, Ball’s ideas quickly expanded to neighborhoods and entire communities.

“How can we change the spaces that we live in, now, today, so that they become more usable when it’s warmer?”

In the current political environment, however, Ball says he is frustrated. “You’re in the weeds, it’s molasses. I think my pitch — or my communication — to people is, we need to change our impact on the environment by doing it on our own, not just recycling or driving a hybrid vehicle. We need to look at existing principles, existing technology,” he said, to solve environmental problems.

“I think everybody wants to make a change, but they don’t know how… not everybody can afford a Tesla. Not every government allows you to recycle,” said Ball, noting that if he can teach individuals more about how to reduce their impact on the environment, then it will help the health of the area.

“We all care about how we look and present ourselves in society every day… I think we need to expand that concept a little bit,” he said. “We need to care about how our greater community looks.”

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