Almost every house has a driveway - a piece of the earth paved
over with asphalt or concrete. Lifeless, hot in the summer, and
totally impermeable to any type of precipitation. I haven't checked
with the Driveway Council of America, but it's safe to say that
a sizable chunk of the United States has been forever entombed so
that cars can travel the milliions of short distances from roads
to houses. In the country, long driveways are usually sterile ribbons
of gravel. In the picture below, you will see a driveway I designed
using gravel as a base structure covered by a thin layer of soil
and grass. Thus, it is made totally permeable and alive.
This is just one of many designs I have developed to make driveways
and parking lots more environmentally friendly - able to absorb
more rain, filter pollution out of waterways, cool temperatures,
provide shade and more. The designs are applicable to residential
and commercial sites and are of course crafted in a mix most appropriate
for each situation.
