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Landscape architecture is green in more ways than one

Landscape architecture is a lot more than keeping the lawn looking nice and planting a few shade trees. You can hire a landscaper for that. Landscape architects are professionals who call on numerous disciplines to make spaces more conducive to healthier people, a healthier planet — and healthier profits, too. There’s a real value in making an outdoor space look and function a certain way. And as World Landscape Architecture Month continues, it pays to look at just how we can get that done. Work to improve the campus of Cape Coral Hospital, which EnSite has been a part of, demonstrates the impact landscape engineering can have on a for-profit institution with high public visibility. The way the hospital was originally designed presents a host of challenges. It’s obvious to anyone driving past it on Del Prado Boulevard that it was built with the car in mind. That’s great if you’re speeding past it or just there to pick someone up or drop someone off, but it’s not so fantastic for anyone who has to be there for any length of time. It’s difficult for patients to envision themselves becoming healthier if all they see when they look out their windows is concrete. A drab, gray landscape doesn’t do much for visitors who are already concerned for their loved ones receiving treatment. And it’s tough for doctors, nurses and staff to draw much inspiration from pavement. So the goal we had in mind in 2015 when we prepared a conceptual site plan for Lee Health was to change all that. We wanted to create a destination to serve as a beacon for the community where people could come to engage and restore their health and well-being. Some landscaping architectural elements — including a wellness education park, a garden, a pond, pedestrian connections, and a renovated courtyard to serve as the new employee entrance — were already put into motion as part of the Pathway to Discovery Plan developed in 2014. The site plan we helped develop went several steps further. In essence, the idea is to create a privately owned public park. It includes a playground for children, many of whom are dealing with unimaginable trauma. It also incorporates an outdoor learning area, a pedestrian trail, an orchard and solar panels. Instead of story after story of gray, the parking garages would be revitalized with green roofs — in other words, they’d have plants and vegetation growing on top of them to help lower the temperature, since plants deflect heat in ways concrete doesn’t, and to provide an oasis where people dealing with the stress of a family health crisis can seek refuge. The ultimate goal is to help Lee Health improve the community, foster their position as community stewards and further distinguish themselves as the top destination in the market for health care. Landscape architecture is a win-win.

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Throw shade on your energy bills through landscape architecture

April is World Landscape Architecture Month. Aren’t you excited?! OK, maybe you’re not. But what if we called it World Saving Your Money Month? We bet you’d be willing to celebrate that. And saving your money is exactly what landscape architecture can do. Properly placed plants can reduce a home’s heating and cooling costs by 20-30 percent, according to University of Florida Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences research available via the Lee County Electric Cooperative. Much of it has to do with tree cover. It’s no secret that trees provide shade, but they also cool the air around buildings by a process called evapotranspiration. That’s a fancy way to say that leaves absorb heat. A lot of trees means a lot of leaves, and they can make the air around them as much as 9 degrees cooler, the same research says. It’s important to know where to put those trees. In the summer, walls facing east and west receive twice as much sunshine as ones facing north and south. So, trees that can absorb the rays along the east and west are more valuable commodities. And while some vegetation can go right up against the wall, other types should be much farther away to maximize shade cover, according to the University of Florida research. You’ll want trees that will grow at least 10 feet taller than your windows, a FirstEnergy Corp. study shows. And while it pays to keep your air conditioner shaded, make sure there is at least 3 feet between the air conditioner and any vegetation. Landscaping is also useful in creating wind breaks that shield homes and businesses during the winter. It’s not nearly as much of a concern in Southwest Florida as it is up north, but since it can cost as much as three times more to heat a home than it does to cool it, according to Florida Power & Light, it makes sense to avoid having to turn on the heat whenever possible. There are plenty of minor adjustments that can produce major energy savings. That’s why an experienced team that knows the tricks of the landscape architecture trade is valuable for anyone who wants to get the most of their property — and their bank account.

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Low impact development has high impact on community

Florida has never really embraced the idea of “everything in moderation.” Everyone here seems to drive either really fast or really slow. Season brings more tourists and snowbirds than we can handle, but many places around here look deserted by August. It gets so dry this time of year that we catch on fire. And then in the summer, the rains come. And boy, do they come. We don’t just have thunderstorms in Florida. We have massive, booming, sky-ripping tempests that convince the uninitiated that the Apocalypse must surely be nigh. The rain that falls from these storms piles up in a hurry. That’s what makes low impact development so important. Low impact development is an engineering term for building practices that foster natural drainage and help keep water out of ditches and storm drains, which often overflow. One of the key problems we face as our community grows is that the more ground we cover with roads, parking lots and structures, the higher our risk for floods — unless we take steps to mitigate that. It’s a common misconception that low impact development isn’t worth the effort in a place where rain falls in such a hurry. Features like bioretention areas, bioswales, stormwater planters and the like can’t take all the rain either, and it’s a waste of time and money to engineer those features when they’re just going to get flooded anyway — or so the thinking goes. But that’s not the case. Sure, they’re not going to soak up everything. But the rain they do capture and send back into the ground is valuable in keeping water out of streams, rivers and old-fashioned drainage systems. It’s not an all-or-nothing proposition. Some of these low impact development features are simply common sense. Tree-lined streets, like McGregor Boulevard in Fort Myers, make driving more pleasant. Rainwater has a much tougher time draining through the street itself than the soil surrounding the trees. So, if the curbs are cut to allow water to rush off the street and into the area of the trees, we can reduce the flooding risk. Simple, yes. But little things like that often escape planners whose main priority is to work as quickly and as cheaply as possible. The effect of doing a project the right way is like a ripple in water — or in floodwater, to fit the theme. Development doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It affects everyone around it, near and far. The better we build, the better off all of us will

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Smart design can help Florida beat the heat

It’s coming. It creeps up on you, starting with a single bead of sweat on your neck. Then there’s another. And another. Soon, you’re drenched, and you’ve only gone halfway on the walk from your front door to your car. Yes, the hot, steamy, sticky Florida summertime is right around the corner. And it’s only getting worse with each passing year. As Southwest Florida grows, so too does its susceptibility to the heat island effect — in other words, our cities are getting hotter than their surroundings. Put a million people together in a city, and it can be as much as 22 degrees hotter at night than it is in the country around it. So much for that pleasant evening stroll. We aren’t there quite yet; Cape Coral has close to 180,000 people and Fort Myers has upward of 77,000. But we’re getting there. Those numbers were 76,000 and 45,000, respectively, in 1990. That means the collective population of the two neighboring cities more than doubled in less than 30 years. But the way we grow can make the heat island effect less profound. Placing buildings in random clusters rather than ordinary grids helps cities stay cooler, according to a recently released study by researchers from MIT and the University of California, Irvine. The reason has to do with heat that radiates between buildings that face each other. Fewer structures right in front of each other means less heat bouncing around, the researchers determined. Take one look at a map of Cape Coral, and all its neat rectangles and squares, and you can almost feel the heat starting to build. But we can use this innovative science to influence how we build the Cape Coral and Fort Myers of the future. Grid-like canals present a challenge, but it doesn’t mean homes and businesses can’t be built at angles on the lots. Similarly, as we build eastward from Fort Myers, we can create neighborhoods and office parks with more bends and turns. You know how it goes — we’ll be begging for every degree of difference we can get on those sweltering midsummer days. But the right planning and design can help us cling to our chill.

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Long-range planning plays role in avoiding catastrophe

The horror is unimaginable. The March 16 collapse of the pedestrian bridge at Florida International University was one of the darkest moments in recent memory for so many, including the engineering community. Our hearts go out to the victims, their families and everyone connected to the tragedy. Specific answers to the immediate questions of why, how and who’s to blame are unlikely to come soon, if they come at all. But that doesn’t mean we can’t examine broader issues at play. Many have pointed to the way it was put in place. The technique known as Accelerated Bridge Construction, or ABC, sounds experimental — build a bridge off-site and use special vehicles to haul them into place — but it’s been going on for years as a means to limit traffic disruption. A Federal Highway Administration presentation cited in a piece on Wired.com mentions that ABC was used for more than 800 federally funded bridges between 2010 and June 2012 alone. Others have wondered about the decision to build the bridge’s main concrete segment over a busy road before building its main support tower. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating why the road stayed open while workers adjusted the tension in two rods threaded through diagonal trusses on the north side of the bridge — work that was going on when the bridge collapsed. But maybe the more important question is why the bridge and the road were there in the first place. The impetus for bridge construction was, in essence, the growth of the university and the growth of the road. More and more students were having to cross more and more lanes and dodge more and more cars. The idea was to take the students out of harm’s way, not put them into it. That’s hard to do for a student population that’s grown as rapidly as FIU’s has. Founded in 1965, its student body has stunningly become the fourth-largest in the U.S. The 55,000 FIU students are more than the number at the University of Florida and just behind long-established schools Ohio State and Texas A&M. The largest student body in the U.S. belongs to the University of Central Florida, which is just two years older than FIU, and it underscores a key point: Growth all around Florida in the past half-century has been enormous. And it has perhaps been much too fast. Let it not go unnoticed that the road the bridge was placed atop is part of U.S. 41. Southwest Florida is growing quickly, too. We have to plan ahead and resist the temptation to rush. The stakes are incredibly high, as we saw this month. Growth and change may be inevitable, but the worst of the problems associated with them are not.

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A driverless future, the effects stretch beyond the road

If you honk your car horn and there’s no one around to hear it, does it make a sound? We may have an answer to that question within our lifetimes. Driverless cars are nothing new — and thus far, they’re nothing popular, either. We’re at least a decade away from them becoming widely used, according to Daniel Sperling, a distinguished professor of civil engineering and environmental science and policy at the University of California at Davis. But when glancing over at the next car and seeing no one behind the wheel becomes a ho-hum moment instead of a shocking sight, it will signal a shift not just in transportation but in the way our transportation systems are built. Imagine if, instead of spending your commute in the driver’s seat, you could sit in the backseat and get work done instead. The 15, 30 or 60 minutes lost to traffic could be regained. That might make you more willing to live in Naples if your job is in Fort Myers, especially if more cars shift to lower-cost electric power. Communities deemed too far away won’t be anymore. As nice as that sounds, it comes with consequences. More sprawl, and more cars on the road for a greater length of time, would only exacerbate growing congestion problems. So we return to the age-old questions of how to build an effective mass transportation system and how to encourage people to use it. But perhaps the key challenge is to incentivize living and working in close proximity. That goes back to how we build not just roads but structures. And that requires vision and a willingness not just to do what’s always been done. Stepping into a car without a driver will be a bold move, just a stepping into a car in the first place was for people in the early 1900s. We’ll need to take more bold moves like that to get to where we’re really going.

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Bold, creative thinking gets results

The best is, by definition, different from all the rest. So, you have to be different to be the best. We embrace that idea at EnSite. So does engineering student Tinashe Chipako, who took home the top prize in a recent contest for emerging engineers in South Africa. His research exploring the use of urine as fertilizer and waterless urinals to offset drought embodies the spark of ingenuity and the willingness to look past the obvious. He found that seven tons of fertilizer could be made from urine collected on his school’s campus each year, far exceeding the four tons of fertilizer the school buys. That represents a potential savings of thousands of dollars. Stanford engineering professor Tina Seelig encourages others to take similar roads less traveled in her 2015 book, “Insight Out: Get Ideas Out of Your Head And Into the World.” She points to Cirque de Soleil and Southwest Airlines as examples of companies that took well-known but often maligned frameworks — the circus and commercial air transportation — and put their own, successful spins on them by reimagining what they are. No elephants in the circus? Everyone can just sit in whatever seat they want on an airplane? Exactly. The Danish engineering firm COWI came up with an unusual solution to the challenge of building a bridge over the strait between Denmark and Sweden: Stop the bridge right in the middle. If it were a full bridge, it would either be too low to let ships to cross underneath or too high to allow air traffic from the nearby Copenhagen Airport pass overhead. So the engineers made part of it a bridge and the other part a tunnel, with a manmade island to connect them. Maybe a similar solution exists to the problems facing Southwest Florida. Perhaps there’s a way to deal with agricultural runoff around Lake Okeechobee in a way that won’t pollute the Caloosahatchee River and doesn’t threaten farming jobs around the lake. Maybe the solution to our traffic problems isn’t bigger highways with more lanes. The solutions won’t always be conventional. Neither should our approach to finding them.

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Old buildings, new insight: We can learn from demolitions

The end is just the beginning. Buildings that have been condemned usually don’t appear to be of much use. These dilapidated structures are usually just taking up space at best, and blighted eyesores at worst. But for civil engineers, they’re golden wellsprings of potential solutions. A team of civil engineers at the University of Nebraska recently mined nearly a terabyte of data from the demolition of two dormitories. They set up almost 4 miles of wires to collect information about the teardown that can help improve the buildings that go in their place. The data shows how the structures respond to different types of stress, including the sort of battering that severe weather can dish out. Here in Southwest Florida, where half the year is spent under the daily threat of storms and the looming threat of hurricanes, it’s vital to have buildings that can withstand Mother Nature’s worst. That’s not just for the sake of the building and its occupants. If the wind blows apart the building next door, it’s a problem for everyone in the neighborhood. We’ve learned so much in the past few decades about how to build to withstand hurricanes, as each major storm imparts a new set of lessons. But we don’t have to wait for the next Irma, Wilma or Charley to better prepare ourselves against the elements. We have opportunities to study buildings every time one is cleared to make way for another — an occurrence almost as common in these times of economic recovery as summer thunderstorms. At EnSite, we’re constantly looking for ways to make Southwest Florida more sustainable. Sometimes that means looking in places that won’t sustain much longer.

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Talk it out: Communication helps foster sustainability

It should be easy to avoid, but we’ve all done it. We work diligently on a project for hours, only to find out that our co-worker down the hall has been doing the very same work. That means one of us has just wasted our time, and we curse our lack of communication and collaboration. An occasional foul-up like this might be impossible to avoid, but the less of them, the better. Newly released research from Concordia University’s Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering shows how municipal governments can save money by taking an analytical approach to reduce wasted effort. Lifecycle costs could be cut by 33 percent and user costs cut in half, according to the researchers, who looked at ways to increase efficiency in the road and water networks of a town in British Columbia. The researchers compiled a database that inventoried road and water networks, and they came up with models to measure the impact of intervention and an algorithm that simulates thousands of scenarios to come up with an optimal work schedule. The study asks, “Why fix a road today if it’s slated to be ripped up for new sewers next summer?” One of the answers they come up with is departments within municipalities tend to work separately and come up with their own plans rather than make plans that dovetail with each other. Efficiency is a core principle of sustainability. It’s impossible to come up with a sustainable way to pave roads, to use the researchers’ example, if the pavement has to be torn up so soon after it’s laid down. Better to tear down the walls between departments than to tear up the pavement. Communication is the key to efficiency. That’s why we place such an emphasis on communication at EnSite. Our plans are coordinated, streamlined and designed to eliminate overlapping and conflicting goals. That’s how we achieve quicker, budget conscious and ultimately more sustainable results.

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Water mains provide opportunity to engineer sustainability upgrades

The average person uses about 80 to 100 gallons of water a day. Imagine trying to find room for 80 to 100 gallon jugs of milk in your refrigerator. So when running water stops or is compromised because of a water main break, it can result in a major problem. With aging infrastructure, we encounter these problems on a regular basis. There are 240,000 water main breaks every year in the U.S., according to White House estimates. Southwest Florida is no stranger to them. A break in Port Charlotte shot water into the air like a cannon on a chilly January day. Another break forced the shutdown of Pine Ridge Road between U.S. 41 and Goodlette-Frank Road — one of the busiest stretches in Collier County —two days before Christmas. Some 20 water mains broke over the span of a few January days in Tampa, closing several streets and intersections. Some breaks are unavoidable, but widespread issues represent a failure to create a sustainable system. The Environmental Protection Agency put together a guidebook for owners, managers and operators of public water systems, local officials, technical assistance providers, and state personnel that lays out best practices for managing those systems. The guidebook encourages managers to analyze consumer demand and satisfaction and to understand current and future regulatory requirements — two avenues in which the public can influence water policy. There has been much discussion at the federal level to focus on infrastructural improvements as a goal for the next decade, and the fact that there is plenty of data highlighting the number of public utility breakdowns suggests water managers will soon have to meet higher standards and a new set of demands. That’s why taking steps now to foster the sustainability of water systems is so vital. EnSite can help planners design and implement changes that are built to last and keep the water flowing long into the future. From drivers to builders to anyone who turns on a faucet, we all have a stake in creating a water system that works. Call us at 239-226-0024 to learn more about how our civil engineering services make an impact on our region.

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Green is far from the only color on the spectrum.

So it shouldn’t be the only aspect of sustainability. What makes our planet truly special is its inhabitants. True sustainability involves not just the environment but the society and the economy as well. Accordingly, each of those aspects needs more than one leg to stand on. Concentrate only on soil but neglect water, and the soil starts to have problems. Concentrate only on children but neglect parents, and the children start to have problems. Concentrate an economy only on construction and tourism — sound familiar, Southwest Florida? — and those who depend on construction and tourism will start to have problems. The economy is strong now, but as the Dow’s recent 1,100-point tumble in a single day reminds us, turbulence always lurks. That’s why a sustainable economy — locally, nationally and abroad — is so important. It’s critical to have somewhere to turn when times are tough. EnSite turned toward the community during the last economic downturn, redoubling its efforts to make Southwest Florida a better place to live. The company is dedicated to working with local schools and encouraging students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math that can lead directly to improvement and change for the better within the community. Urban and land planning is meaningless, after all, unless there are future generations who understand the plans and know how to put them into action. There’s no such thing as a truly linear process — there are always bumps in the road. Acknowledging that and building a sustainable plan that accounts for those bumps is critical. Better to set aside money for the inevitable car repair than to scramble for cash when you’re broken down on the side of the road. The key is to keep on rolling and sustain momentum. And that’s what Ensite is all about.

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Valentine’s Day doesn’t always mean love is here to stay

Red-and-pink decorations have replaced the red-and-green ones of a few weeks ago — yes, Valentine’s Day is coming soon! Hallmark and the like have mastered the art of telling you how to put love in your life for Feb. 14. But for true romance to flourish for more than a day, you need to know the basics of a sustainable relationship. Check out a few expert tips:

1. Expecting perfection is the best way to end up with a broken heart. Fairy tales don’t tell you what really goes on during the “happily ever after” part. The only reasonable commitment your partner can make is to be with you as you endure whatever life throws your way, no matter how challenging that may be. Approach the relationship as one between two equal adults, and embrace the change necessary to transition the passion of a new relationship into the true intimacy of a long-term bond, Randi Gunther says in Psychology Today.


2. It’s not you, it’s me. Or maybe it is you. The more growth as a person you experience because of your partner, the more committed and satisfying the relationship is, according to multiple studies highlighted in The New York Times. Chances are, you won’t be the same person at 60 years old that you were at 30. A lifelong partner is someone who helps you become the person you want to be.


3. Is this really what you want? Some love the thrill of the chase, and brain chemistry is a big part of that, as Damon L. Jacobs, author of “Rational Relating: The Smart Way to Stay Sane in the Crazy World of Love,” told women’s health. Sustainable relationships involve commitments that some just aren’t willing to make. That could be you, or that could be your partner. Find out before you dive too deep.

  The flowers, candy and restaurant reservations come on Feb. 14, but real love begins Feb. 15.

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Ideas to get traffic flowing again

Season in Southwest Florida means gridlock on the roads. Precious time ticks away while you sit in a stationary car stuck behind hundreds if not thousands of others on U.S. 41, Interstate 75 or one of many jammed east-west corridors. And relief might not be coming anytime soon. Counties charge impact fees to new businesses to, in part, offset the effects of the extra traffic coming to and from the development. That money goes to build new roads and expand existing ones. Those impact fees went down in Lee and Collier counties during the most recent recession. But as the economy has rebounded, the fees have yet to rise back to the levels seen before the bust, as a recent Gulfshore Business story highlighted. So that means less money for relieving congestion. But more and better roads aren’t necessarily the only solution. The idea of a commuter rail system is on the radar of municipal governments in Bonita Springs, Estero and Fort Myers, as Gulfshore Business details. Still, that’s likely more than a decade away, at least, from coming to fruition. No easy solution to congestion exists, but the Los Angeles Times — which covers an area with traffic so crippling it makes Colonial Boulevard at 5 p.m. look like a desolate highway — suggests four possible fixes: 1. Eliminating gas taxes and replacing the revenue with tolls that go up at peak times, thus discouraging rush hour traffic. 2. Giving tax incentives to companies that stagger start times or let employees work from home. 3. Turning carpool lanes into truck-only lanes. 4. Making it easier for kids to walk or bike to school. Which idea is your favorite? Head to our social media pages to let us know.

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Don’t get burned: Use fire-resistant gardening and landscaping

It’s a simple word that evokes danger, fear and panic. Fire! And in Florida, California and other states ravaged by wildfire in the past year, it brings up painful memories. But fire is a natural – and necessary – part of life. The Florida Forest Service regularly conducts prescribed burns in the Everglades to, in essence, fight fire with fire. Burn vegetation in a controlled environment, the thinking goes, so it’s not there when an out-of-control wildfire sweeps through. There is no such thing as a fire-resistant plant, but fire-resistant landscaping is possible, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. That involves high-moisture plans that grow close to the ground and have a low sap or resin content, and fire-retardant plant species like rockrose, ice plant and aloe. Avoid plants that drop needles, leaves and other detritus that can dry up, research from CNN and “This Old House” says. Gravel and stone pathways can help fire from spreading. Basic landscaping maintenance plays a major role in wildfire prevention, according to these tips from the National Fire Protection Association:

• Remove dead vegetation and other items from under your deck or porch, and within 10 feet of the house.
• Screen or box-in areas below patios and decks with wire mesh to prevent debris and combustible materials from accumulating.
• Don’t let debris and lawn cuttings linger. Dispose of these items quickly to reduce fuel for fire.

The threat will never truly go away, but proper design can help create sustainable homes and communities built to withstand wildfires.

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Take the work out of your workout

The new year has only just begun, and already, millions of Americans are already trudging through their runs, hanging clothes on their elliptical machines and trying to find ways to trick their Fitbits. About half as many people who begin new exercise programs drop out within six months, according to scientific research. One of the keys to sticking to a workout is doing one that doesn’t feel like work at all. Find exercise that’s fun for you, and you’ll be more likely to keep doing it, says University of Utah psychologist Nathaniel Lambert, Ph.D. There might be more efficient ways to burn calories than the one you choose, Lambert points out, but none are more effective than the exercise you’ll keep at day after day, week after week and month after month. Walking is the most popular form of exercise, Fitbit research shows. You might think you’ll need to invest too much time walking to see much of a benefit, but life expectancy can increase by two hours for every hour you walk, according to the American Heart Association – so walking can make twice as much time as it takes. Other ideas include dancing, fantasy sports camps, and using music and audiobooks to distract your mind from the workout, as WebMD suggests. Getting discouraged is common for anyone who starts a new exercise routine – that’s why finding a way to encourage yourself is so important.

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Think green? How about think big!

When someone mentions the word sustainability, you might picture recycling and eco-friendly efforts. Here at En-site, however, we think that the environmental component is just an ingredient of the sustainability pie.  Mmm, did somebody say pie? Thinking about the environmental impact of a project is a great starting point but that narrow focus causes so many projects to miss the mark. True sustainability requires consideration of not only environmental impact but also the impact on society and economics. Like a master baker measuring ingredients, we carefully consider all three components on all of our projects. Doing this requires some big thinking on the part of our team. But when we look at a project we tend to agree with Albert Einstein when he said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Just as Einstein viewed the world around him differently, we encourage you to think big and look at sustainability differently. After all, a pie just isn’t the same without one of the key ingredients.

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Chasing the unicorn – work-life balance

Work-life balance is often seen as something of a unicorn. It’s not a mythical creature here at EnSite, though, but an integral component of our organizational structure. Our team is the key to our success and creating a positive workplace that supports a balance between work life and home life is paramount to our ability to continue to grow. This type of environment isn’t created out of thin air. There are a few things an organization can do to better align its staff in succeeding with the balancing act.

1. Create a quiet space for employees.
   1. This space does not have to be a whole office or contain over the top features like Zen gardens or soundproofing. It just needs to be an area where employees can step away from work and take a moment. Having an area where your employees can take a much-needed break can be immensely beneficial.

2. Allow schedule flexibility
   1. This can be the hardest tip to implement but can be a game changer for retaining quality team members who engage at a higher level. We understand that not all businesses are well-suited for working remotely, but building in flexibility where possible is critical to helping employees balance their home life with their work life. Little things like allowing weekend makeup time or providing flex time options let your employees know you see them as people not just a means to an end.

3. Hear your employees
   1. Every workplace is different with no cut and dry solution for each one. Asking your employees what they need in order to better balance their life opens up the conversation and lets them know you are aware a balance is needed. This is something we do often our company continues to expand.

Balancing life and work will always be a challenge both individually and as a business. But if you’re anything like our team at EnSite, you see challenges as opportunities.  Now, who’s up for a little unicorn chasing?

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Collaboration as our greatest sustainability tool

We're big on collaboration. None of our projects exist in a vacuum. Many are in fact metaphorical expressions of our love of working with communities to design a better future. McGregor Boulevard Veterinary Clinic, for instance, invites passersby to interact with the space, incorporating the sidewalk and even a public park as integral design elements. Similar features are essential to the Cape Coral Hospital and Alliance for the Arts campus enrichment projects. You also may know we're big on emphasizing sustainability as a multi-component perspective that informs everything we do. Environmental stewardship is critically important, but so are the economic development and social equity considerations that we treat with equal seriousness. We were pleased this morning to discover a roundup from The Nature Conservancy highlighting some standout stories about sustainability successes earned in collaboration with global partners to achieve measurable gains to advance all three sustainability components. As we approach the end of a somewhat chaotic year, it's encouraging to count gains being made around the world by leveraging strategic partnerships in: 1. Conserving the Landscapes that Supply Our Water 2. Planting Trees for Healthier Cities 3. Smarter Farming for a Healthier Planet 4. Innovating Our Way to a Sustainable Future 5. Nature’s Role in Responding to Climate Change 6. Making Smart Investments in Coral Reefs 7. Communities Lead on the Path to Climate Progress Even more impressive than this dynamic overview, plus some gorgeous photos and an infographic that make us jealous, is the combination of partners at play in these advances, from economists, farmers and community leaders to NGOs, tech companies, tourism companies and governments.

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Remembering Marjory - a for-Everglades friend

In Greek myth, Cassandra was blessed with the power of prophecy. Her curse was that upon foretelling the doom of Troy, no one believed her. The southern part of Florida's peninsula had its own Cassandra. Is it too late to listen? Many - but too few - have listened and many more are rediscovering the simple power of her words. In honor of the Everglades National Park's 70th birthday, next week, we revisit the wisdom and strength embodied in Marjory Stoneman Douglas - journalist, feminist, environmentalist and tireless champion of the Everglades. Everglades National Park will likely get to her contribution in its upcoming Facebook posts highlighting its history, but we'll get the ball rolling because we can't afford to let her legacy fade away in the popular imagination. Douglas published her book, "The Everglades: River of Grass," in 1947. That same year, Everglades National Park was established. She helped people understand the importance of the flow from Lake Okeechobee and the Kissimmee River. In the 1950s, Douglas warned that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ canals, levees and dams could destroy the delicate balance of our wetlands. What would our region look like if her warning had been heeded? We contend that there are still areas where prescience - and preventative action - could do better than hindsight. In 1970 Douglas formed the Friends of the Everglades, giving her a pretty big microphone. Florida Governor Lawton Chiles said, "Marjory was the first voice to really wake a lot of us up to what we were doing to our quality of life. She was not just a pioneer of the environmental movement, she was a prophet, calling out to us to save the environment for our children and our grandchildren." Douglas lived to the age of 108, which her biographer said was the only thing that could "shut her up." He added: "The silence is terrible." Today, we can choose to hear her voice. Her beloved River of Grass has enjoyed great longevity, but it's too early to call it the "For-Everglades." As Douglas said, "There is always the need to carry on."

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Lead or follow, but get out of your own way

The holidays are a time for introspection - one of the most important activities for a business leader. Whether you are a leader or part of a team that's being led, there's no better reward than knowing your work is backed by integrity. It's a character trait that's always in demand! Leaders are not infallible, and are often limited by the culture of their organization. But there are some common pitfalls to avoid. So we were happy to see an article at Forbes delineating five common mistakes that leaders make. Chances are, you've seen some of these in action. Are you guilty of them yourself? There's no shame in taking a personal inventory and deciding to do better. You can (and should) read the whole article here. But here's a quick roundup: 1. Most Leaders Confuse Control With Delegation 2. Most Leaders Care More About The Title Than The Job Requirements 3. Most Leaders Want To Take Credit For The Wins, And Shift Blame For The Losses 4. Most Leaders Work Less Than Everyone Else, And Expect More Than Everyone Else 5. Most Leaders Treat Others The Way They Were Treated Did any of the five make you say "Ouch?" Congratulations - you're human and your self-reflection muscles are working better than most. We all have areas we can improve upon. New year's resolution time is coming, people!