Landscaping - 'THE' Sustainable Industry in the United Kingdom

The following post was first published by Cornwall Landscaping on the Landscape Juice Network but I thought you might be interested in in being reproduced here.

We are restructuring CSL and in doing so one factor keeps cropping up - how do we continue to advertise our sustainable credentials effectively. One route was to start utilising the words 'Traditional and 'Heritage' to header the work we do, writes Pip Howard.

The reality is that no new wording is required, indeed for us to use 'sustainable' as a selling header is in itself a little daft. 'Green-space companies are under increasing pressure to demonstrate..., was the subtitle for a recent Hortweek article. which on further reading left me a little deflated in that many in the 'self proclaimed' echelons of the industry and obviously the media base of the industry also, have gone so far down the wrong route that it is further disjointing the whole industry and confusing potential clients.

We are now surrounded by Environmental operatives, Environmental enhancement specialists, Nature and Conservation engineers. Once confined to governmental remits such titles are now broadly in use often as a way to distance certain people from being termed 'landscapers'. And rightly so when, the landscaping industry, dragging horticulture behind it appears to continue to head into an alleyway of being a secondary industry, the poorly paid cousin of the construction industry, by the public. Yet many new landscapers come from a 'environmental science' background.

As the traditional subjects related to the industry take a tumble in applying students, universities and higher education establishments more than 20 years ago started to adopt 'Environmental and Conservation' issues into their existing curriculum's and to create more and more courses based just on these studies. Resulting in an influx of students into the landscaping industry due a lack of specific jobs in this newly devised sector, as was the case from agricultural, horticultural, forestry and construction courses before. And after a while these practitioners realise that the perceptions of the industry are false and are often glad to start to classify themselves as landscapers and proud to be a landscaper.

This further blends into the fact that landscaping is THE green industry, it is by default sustainable and always has been. It is widely acknowledged that a well kept garden is rich in biodiversity, it also will assist in localised CO2 sequestration, slowing run off, preventing erosion, and allowing for the social benefits green spaces are known to enhance. The only real issues are the products used, many of which haven't changed since before their harmful effects were realised or for latter products because of a growing void between practitioners and the industry chiefs.

The media is running around looking a little confused; 'gardeners world' for example appears to not know which way to head in as its majority 'grey headed' market are split with many feeling dubious about the whole sustainable angle, (often as a result of the word being so often misused). Newspaper and Magazine articles still use 'sustainable' as a buzzword - something quirky and contemporary, which it isn't.

Reading the now antiquated books for the industry the information on sustainable practice is there within every practical skill, (ignoring the chemical usage sections). And if re worded onto a new glossy font will be as relevant today as it was when it was written before someone somewhere tried to redefine 'the landscaping industry' into a just another service industry.

Reading through almost all the threads on the LJN it is very apparent that the vast majority of the members, if not all, are by their nature and their chosen profession sustainable.