US (LA): An open letter to Mayor of LA and the office of sustainability

Drought is hammering California. In our cities, we are swapping out water-thirsty landscaping with drought-tolerant plants. And the problem is? Here's an analogy: After your house burns down -- a house that was inadequate for your family's needs -- do you upgrade only the plumbing and rebuild the rest exactly the way it was? Or do you seize the opportunity and construct what you really need -- a house of integrated systems and sufficient scope?

The ornamental horticulture industry (OHI) is today's equivalent of 1970s Detroit. On a massive scale, the industry produces plants that are window-dressing for the landscaping we really need. Yet, many people in power are looking to the OHI plants sold in most nurseries as the landscaping solution. We can and should do better! We need our landscaping to address what's really going on: We are in drought and extinction crises of historic proportions. California's drought is the worst in 500 years. The extinction rate is 1,000 times faster than the normal background rate. At a devastating pace we are losing pollinators and other species whose ecosystem services we need for our own survival. And yet we are looking to the equivalent of old-school Detroit for a solution.

Click here to read the complete article at huffintonpost.com.