The Desert Living Center<\/a> at the Preserve has taken that commitment a step further by using green living principles as the focus of interpretation within its Sustainability Gallery. Many museums today are finding that placing their collections within a sustainable building can yield significant energy cost savings while serving as an effective “lead by example” approach.<\/p>\nBut Desert Living Center creators hope their bottom line impacts go beyond energy savings. By imparting practical sustainability knowledge throughout the visitor experience at the Preserve, they hope to tap into a “green movement” that becomes more mainstream and more relevant each year.<\/p>\n
“It is a virtual miracle that a city like Las Vegas can exist and thrive in the middle of one of the most inhospitable and resource-poor climates in the world with an average annual rainfall of only 4.5 inches,” said Francis Beland, Springs Preserve director. “This anomaly makes the concept of sustainable living a very relevant topic for Las Vegas.”<\/p>\n
To say that Vegas is stretched well beyond its carrying capacity is an understatement — it’s a place that has traditionally thrived on wastefulness. As more people are making the city and region their home, I’m guessing there’s much more consideration of the relationship to the natural environment, as well as the threat of sprawl eating up some truly magnificent lands outside the city. The development of Springs Preserve shows me that a sea change has occurred in thinking in Vegas, and I’m happy for that. Vegas itself has a long way to go, but if sustainable thinking can take hold there, then there’s hope for all of us. I’m looking forward to hearing more about this development, and making it a “must-see” on my next trip.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Or, so says the press release I found, anyway. I will say that when I lived in Vegas (’92-’98), sustainability wasn’t anywhere on the radar screen; continued insane growth seemed [ … ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":17197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[32,33,16,34,35],"yoast_head":"\n
Las Vegas' New 'Central Park' a Model of Sustainability • Sustainablog<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n