With summer approaching, myriad outdoor home maintenance and infrastructure projects grab our attention, including driveways. Go Permeable!
Sealants, pavement, concrete:
- Have enormous carbon footprints.
- Are ecological nightmares. Stormwater pollutes groundwater, nearby environment.
- Sealant and pavement are made from asphalt, oil, bituminous materials, acrylics, and other toxins. Using these “bottom-of-the-barrel” materials further supports the fossil-fuel industry.
- Block rainwater, ice/snow-melt from filtering into the ground below, creating a poisonous drench for nearby plants, soil, and creatures above and below the ground.
- Absorb the sun’s strength, creating heat islands.
Solutions include:
- Local crushed gravel, rock, beach shells, cobblestones, salvaged brick, pea stone.
- Softer on bare feet: clover and grass.
- Hempcrete.
- Recycled concrete – buy crushed and spread.
- Ribbon driveways made of the above materials or permeable pavers or plastic grids– less-bad.
Remember: Maintaining what you have is always the best option.
Planetarily,
Laura & Gil
Our friends Laura & Gil Richardson are, in their own words, “imperfect” but they are much further down this Planetarian path than anyone I know. They are a treasure trove of sustainable living inspiration and we’ve asked them to share one simple swap per week that they’ve made (and the products they love) in hopes it might inspire you to make them, too.
