Archive for the ‘Sustainable Development’ Category
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What is a Green Roof and What are the Benefits? [ John Cornacchia ]
John Cornacchia at Globacorp Developments International writes: A green roof system is an extension of the existing roof which involves a high quality water proofing and root repellant system, a drainage system, filter cloth, a lightweight growing medium, and grasses / plants. Green roof systems may be modular, with drainage layers, filter cloth, growing medium, and plants already prepared in movable interlocking grids, or each component of the system may be installed separately on site. Green roof development involves the creation of “contained” green space on top of a man-made structure. This green […]
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Our Need and Obligation to Reduce Impervious Cover [ John Cornacchia ]
John Cornacchia at Globacorp Developments International writes: Aquifer Diagram Impervious cover, also known as impervious surface, refers to any surface that water cannot easily penetrate. Ranging from roads, parking lots, driveways, patios, walkways, curbing, building rooftops, public buildings, and commercial structures, impervious cover prevents moisture, rain, and snow from soaking into the earth’s surface, thereby generating harmful stormwater runoff. Stormwater runoff carries organic matter, fertilizers, pesticides, grease, oil, and other contaminants into our ponds and streams, and more importantly, our precious aquifers. In addition to changing the quality of the water running into our water bodies, impervious […]
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Impervious Surfaces… Paving Our Paradise [ John Cornacchia ]
John Cornacchia at Globacorp Developments International writes: The process of urbanization is a dramatic transformation of land from a natural, agricultural, or rural state, into a built environment of human habitat. In a rapidly urbanizing country such as the Republic of Panama, the combined impact of hundreds of independent development projects occurring over the course of a decade can have ecosystem-wide implications greater than the usual site-level impacts that are reasonably managed under local land use regulations. Characterizing, quantifying and modeling ecosystem-wide impacts of urbanization can prove extremely challenging to incorporate into land management policies. Nonetheless, […]
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Facilitating Sustainable Development in the Developing World – Paper [ John Cornacchia ]
John Cornacchia at Globacorp Developments International writes: I encourage you to read this clear and concise paper which emphasises that a meaningful concept of sustainable development necessarily must be holistic in nature as the economic, environmental and social aspects of human behaviour and quality of life are closely linked. Therefore, sustainable development essentially involves inclusive growth that is also environmentally sustainable. The subject paper critically reviews the literature on sustainable development concepts that explicitly recognise this important linkage and uses this review as well as the recent development experience of India and China to […]
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Sustainable Development Visions and Visionaries [ John Cornacchia ]
John Cornacchia at Globacorp Developments International writes: Similar to most creatively new ideas, nearly all sustainable real estate development begins with inspiration or a vision. This is not necessarily a vision of what the finished development will look like, but rather what it will be, the overall relationship to the environment, the interaction with the community, the impact it will have on the world, and the general qualities and features it will possess. The vision is the first occurrence or idea that inspires and excites a developer, an architect, a corporation, or a […]
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What is Sustainable Development? [ John Cornacchia ]
John Cornacchia at Globacorp Developments International writes: Do those living today owe anything to the future? If answered, “Yes”, then we must now determine what and how much we owe future generations, since continuing our present course unabated too far into the twenty-first century, will inevitably destroy many options for generations that follow. In times past, the survivors of dying communities could simply move themselves to less populated, more fertile areas. Today however, there are no such places left to move to. Unquestionably, communities face enormous challenges as their social, economic, and environmental […]