6
LC DBM
Landscape Contractor Design Build Maintain and/or the publisher is a member of or
financially supports the following associations: APA, CLCA, The Library of Congress
Association, IAAPA, ASLA, NRPA, National Wildlife Association, IES, IALD, IA, ISA, IECA, BPA,
APLD, National Parks and Conservation Association, IRLA, TPI, National Trust for Historic
Preservation, LAF/CLASS Fund, American Rivers and the American Institute of Architects.
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
George Schmok
gschmok@landscapeonline.com
Editor
Mike Dahl
mdahl@landscapeonline.com
Assistant Editor/Education
Michelle Medaris
mmedaris@landscapeonline.com
Assitant Editor/Economic News
Kyle Cavaness
kcavaness@landscapeonline.com
Product Editor
Larry Shield
lshield@landscapeonline.com
Editorial Administrative Assistant
Michelle Mabanta
mmabanta@landscapeonline.com
Editorial Contributors
Patrick Cheatham, Creative Nightscapes; Matt Carli, Moonlighting
Landscape Lighting Systems; Andrew J Coleman, McKay
Landscape Lighting; Nick Williams, Tree Williams, Donna Peet Otte,
Nick Williams and Associates; Jeff Cook, Coverall Stone Inc.; Julie
Smith-Taylor, Taylor PR Inc.; Doug Scott, Pavestone LLC; Corey
Hague, Flexground LLC
Associate Editors
Arboriculture/Horticulture
Assistant CE Specialist, University of California Riverside
Deborah Mathews, PhD
Erosion
Executive Director, IECA
Russ Adsit, FASLA
Pesticides
Business Manager, Target-Specialty Products
Will Harrison
Water Resources
Program Specialist, Texas A&M; University
Dotty Woodson, PhD
(In Memoriam)
David Linstrum
"Otto" Edward Schmok
Art Director
Nicole Miller
nmiller@landscapeonline.com
Graphic Designer
Matthew Medeiros
mmedeiros@landscapeonline.com
Ad Coordinator
Oliver Calonzo
ocalonzo@landscapeonline.com
Circulation / Fulfillment
Edward Cook
ecook@landscapeonline.com
Ana Linares
alinares@landscapeonline.com
Likkien Ralpho
lralpho@landscapeonline.com
IT Department
Web / Tech Manager
Jerry Short
jshort@landscapeonline.com
Chief Operations Officer C.O.O.
Mark O'Halloran
moholloran@landscapeonline.com
Sales Administration
Cynthia McCarthy
cmccarthy@landscapeonline.com
Advertising/Marketing
714-979-LASN (5276) x113 • 714-979-3543 (Fax)
Print Advertising Sales
Vince Chavira
vchavira@landscapeonline.com
Matt Henderson
mhenderson@landscapeonline.com
Kip Ongstad
kongstad@landscapeonline.com
Trade Show Sales
Jared Lutz
jlutz@landscapeonline.com
Event Productions
Amy Deane
adeane@landscapeonline.com
D E S I G N • B U I L D • M A I N T A I N • S U P P L Y
Equipping Landscape
Professionals for Success
w w w.LandscapeOnline.com
Volume 17, No. 4 • www.landscapeonline.com
1 John 4:19 … We love because he first loved us.
LC DBM
Commentary
It always makes sense to try to make things bet-
ter, and even if it doesn't, we can't help ourselves
from trying.
You know, from candlelight to electricity, from
6-team horsepower to turbo-charged horsepower,
and from 2,000-hour light bulbs to 50,000-hour
light bulbs, change can be a good thing.
Now, I am sure that some of you who just read
that shook your heads at one or more of the above
examples because of nostalgia for the good ole
days or concerns over how much is too much.
Since this is the landscape industry, some of you
were probably thinking about the impacts on cli-
mate change or the impact on habitats—some
positively, due to the help of the improvements,
and some negatively, due to the cost of the im-
provements. But change is funny that way. Many
resist it too much, and many embrace it too of-
ten. Many complain about change as they enjoy
its benefits. Sometimes change is brought about
through sound reasoning; sometimes it just comes
about because it's time . . . Like springtime.
Yep, spring is in the air and change is in the air,
too. Last month we published a news item about
the Ohio Senate passing a bill to drop LEED v4.
Now whether or not the Ohio House also passes
the bill and it gets enacted, and whether or not
other states follow, the changes brought forth by
LEED are, by-and-large, positive. Green roofs, as
just one example, may not cool the global envi-
ronment, but they can help cool the building and
they do add oxygen and environmental filtration,
while adding a business-oriented benefit for the
owners to sell to their tenants. As long as these
elements hold true, especially the last one, this
one small part of the LEED movement will con-
tinue to flourish on its own; so will things like UV-
proof windows, pervious and permeable pavers,
and LEDs.
It's really not an issue of global warming or cli-
mate change or whatever the term of the day is
. . . It just makes sense and thus the change
is made.
Some say fracking is a horrible way to extract
oil. Some also say we shouldn't use oil at all. But
change may take us to both. Because of concerns
for the environment, we may or may not pass
more bills to shape the industry, but getting more
domestic oil today is a need as much as it is a pa-
riah. At the same time, given that it will continue
for many years, making its extraction cleaner and
more efficient can only be good as well.
Moving forward, making Fiats that get 122
miles per gallon is also a good thing. And mak-
ing powerful electric engines is certainly looking
like a good thing. That, of course, will depend on
improvements to the batteries and improvements
to the power grid (hopefully NOT like the wind
farm that destroyed the drive from L.A. to Palms
Springs, but more like the wind farm outside of
California City on the way from L.A. to Tahoe).
But whatever is better always wins. And whatever
wins will always be competed with. And competi-
tion always makes things better.
So as you read this issue, it's not the LEED
points that make us want to convert from incan-
descent to LED, nor is it a government ban on in-
candescent light bulbs. It's just hard to argue with
20,000+ hours using 1/100th of the electricity.
And guess what . . . These are not the only changes
to come . . . And guess what else . . . They'll keep
getting better . . .
- God Bless
It's Time!
George Schmok, Publisher
DBM
LC
P.S.- I heard from some of you about my father's shooting of an eagle (with an iron-sight, single-
shot, bolt-action .22, flying away, I might add). There are only four times one should shoot a gun: to
practice, to eat, to protect yourself and to protect that which you care about. In this case, the eagle was
making a habit of stealing food from a camp that needed that food to survive the winter, 900 miles
north of the Canadian border in 1936. Sometimes the eagles lose.
Find Us Online:
@LandscapeComm @landscapeonline
@LandscapeOnline.com
006-007.indd 6 3/31/14 9:34 AM