Greening the White House

Recent history

On Earth Day of 1993 President Clinton announced his intention to turn the White House into a "model for efficiency and waste reduction" and a "world-class environmental showcase." He ordered up a Report on Greening the White House, performed by the Rocky Mountain Institute and Department of Energy. The topics covered are energy, technology, "environmental responsibility and sustainable design," but it makes little mention of the "18-acre botanic garden" around the White House. According to the report, the National Park Service -- the agency responsible for the property -- will study ways to "protect the historic nature of the site while making its operations more sustainable." Whether that was ever done, the only change in land use I've seen reported is the switch to a lawn sprinkler system that turns off when it's raining. In other words, not much.

Now 15 years later, the White House's website describes the gardens thusly: "On tours at the White House, one can see flowers such as tulips, hyacinths and chrysanthemums in the East Garden. Plants that can be seen in the Rose Garden include magnolia trees, Katherine crab apple trees and a variety of roses." And photos show thousands of bedding plants like spring bulbs and annuals. Typical institutional gardening. Asked what changes the Bushes have made to the White House grounds, grounds superintendent Dale Haney responds that seven commemorative trees have been added. (Any wonder that didn't make the evening news?) He also reveals that there's no on-site composting, and that the 8-hour job of mowing the lawn is performed twice a week.

Now just imagine what that website could say, as soon as a year from now, about the grounds and gardens:

• The tons of herbicide and petroleum-based fertilizer previously dumped on the turfgrass have been replaced with a yearly application of compost and two applications of compost tea. Another benefit from this switch to organic lawn care is the increased drought-tolerance of the lawn, which has saved thousands of gallons of water previously used to keep it green all summer.

• The use of pesticides in the White House gardens has been examined and drastically reduced. Plants that required frequent spraying have been replaced with more sustainable substitutes. (Why not a Rose Garden filled with no-spray varieties?)

• Dozens of native plants have been added to the White House gardens, which now include a Butterfly Garden and an educational Habitat Garden, all enjoyed by the Obama family and visiting school groups. Bird and bat houses adorn many trees on the property.

• All yard waste from the White House is composted at the District of Columbia's new composting facility, long sought by its residents. The city's compostable yard waste is no longer sent to landfills.

• Steps have been taken to stop runoff of rainwater into the city's already overwhelmed stormwater management system that rushes pollutants to the highly degraded Chesapeake Bay.

• And members of the Obama family are often seen tending their favorite White House garden, the newly installed vegetable garden. Produce from this "Victory Garden" is used in the White House kitchen.

Is this a total fantasy? I THINK NOT. It's all doable, popular, and noncontroversial. And unlike the greening of the building itself, with its efficiency ratings and endless tech-talk, these outdoor greening projects are fun, photogenic, and filled with human interest. Lots of ways for the world to see a family interacting in positive ways with the land around them.

Spreading the word

To help bring more attention to this comprehensive vision for greening the White House grounds, I've spread the word to green groups in the D.C. area, all of which stand ready to help in any way they can to make the transformation a big success. And eager to report on these exciting changes are the national food, gardening, nature and environmental media -- what a platform for changing public attitudes!

Governors have views, too

While we're dreaming of the White House having an environmentally responsible landscape, what about asking governors to similarly get their acts together, landscape-wise? Their residences are also high-profile sites that could be showcases for these much smarter (and far more beautiful) practices. Roger Doiron tells me the governors of Maine and New York are eating from gardens planted at their official residences and that Governor Blanco of Louisiana had a kitchen garden, too.

On a local note, did you know that the grounds of the Maryland governor's mansion have been certified as Bay-Wise? It happened because one of the local Master Gardeners had a connection with the head horticulturist there. But no persuasion was needed at all. According to the Bay-Wise certifier, "He was already implementing best practices management of the landscape, so it was a win-win for both of us. We verified they were doing things 'right,' gave them several signs to display on the property saying so to public, and they got whatever political capital they chose to use. It served as a demo landscape for others that doing the right thing doesn't mean one has an unkempt, messy landscape." Did I mention that this was under Bob Erhlich's administration? Goes to show how mainstream -- and bipartisan -- environmental responsibility has become.

Mayors, too

Denver Mayor John Hickenhooper competed in lawnmower races last summer to promote the nonpolluting Neuton mower, and told a reporter that he and his wife intend to switch part of their huge lawn to a veg garden. And in a very prominent show of support for locally grown food, San Francisco's Mayor Gavin Newsom partnered with Slow Food Nation to create a demonstration Victory Garden in front of City Hall. Sure, it was only temporary, but it resulted in over 1,000 pounds of food being donated to the city's food bank, and a whole lot of publicity for the cause.

Call to action

I've called on greens of the plant world -- gardeners of all types -- to speak up about the improvements we know are possible -- at the White House, at governors' mansions, and in the backyards and frontyards of America. In future columns I'll update readers on progress both here in D.C. and nationally.

For more information, see EatTheView.org, KitchenGardeners.org., and SafeLawns.org.

Susan Harris is a columnist with the Takoma Voice and Silver Spring Voice. She is a garden writer, blogger, activist and coach (See TheGardeningCoach.com). Read more at Sustainable-Gardening.com, SustainableGardeningBlog.com and GardenRant.com.