BSLA Fieldbook BSLA 2015 Spring Fieldbook | Page 33

NOW / BSLA LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT-ELECT CHERI RUANE, ASLA Happy World Landscape Architecture Month! What a great time to be a landscape architect in New England: • We are witnessing a surge in our society’s local awareness and willingness to take action as it relates to impending climate change, sea level rise and storm surge potential; • Sustainability is now a baseline rather than a buzzword; • Our educational institutions are perched high on lists of great landscape architecture schools; • Civic leaders are demanding design excellence in public and private developments alike; • Boston is in the running to host the 2024 Olympics; • Public transportation and multimodal alternatives are actively expanding in the region. These are exciting developments for our profession, and we must leverage this momentum into something more— something of great public value. The word value is defined in many ways. For this application, consider value as meaning: “the worth, importance, or usefulness of something to somebody.” Isn’t that what it’s all about? We each choose how we spend our own resources (time, money, health, happiness), and often we make those decisions based on the perceived value that we expect to get back. How has what you value most informed your choices as you make your way through life? We’ve all arrived at this point in our careers from different starting points, taken different routes, and we continue to evolve as professionals in our own unique ways. This issue of Fieldbook captures many of these stories which begin to portray the magnitude of our collective value as landscape architects in this region, this country and across the globe. We do important work that is now, more than ever, a headline rather than a footnote in society and in our day-to-day lives. Nationally over the past year, the American Society of Landscape Architects has worked to promote our value amongst allied professionals, clients, communities, and the public at large. Locally, the Boston Society of Landscape Architects, as our professional organization and through our committed and passionate member volunteers, has also been hard at work to enhance your personal membership experience and provide great value to each of you. BSLA again will promote April as World Landscape Architecture Month and will continue to champion this great profession all year long. We ask you to consider taking action yourself. Consider the opportunity to provide value back to your profession: raise awareness, run for office, serve on your town’s design review committee, or participate in Park(ing) Day. Get out there and make something happen! Do what resonates and provides worth, importance, and usefulness to you. President-Elect Boston Society of Landscape Architects Fieldbook 31