The Vice President of the ASLA sent a letter yesterday to President Obama's Oil Spill Commission applauding their recent efforts. Regardless of your stance on the oil spill and the current effort put forth to clean it up, the subject of her letter is very important.

In the letter she highlighted the need for greater site remediation and offered the expertise of landscape architects and members of the Society to help address ecological problems caused by the spill. Bioremediation is something I haven't looked into much, but is something to greatly consider given the devastating spread of the current event. Dispersants have been the main method used so far, but they are chemical solutions and have other effects on the natural environment in addition to affecting the oil.

This month we have focused on alternative energy again, and we hope to shed some light on different applications of clean tech. Recent events have made it even more clear to us the need for a stronger renewable electricity standard. With the BP oil spill disaster we have been left to deal with one of the worst environmental catastrophes in history. I don't want to get too focused on that path, but do want to highlight how our dependence on fossil fuels needs a new direction. In addition to the spill, this week sees the American Wind Energy Association holding its annual conference. Both of them, while very different entities, come together to form the same conclusion.

According to a blog post I read this morning, around 20,000 people showed up for the wind event in Dallas. A record-setting number for any in-person conference to be sure. What this proves however, is that there is strong support for the growth of the clean-energy industry. It seems baffling that around half of the states we live in require renewable energy in some form or capacity, while a national requirement still eludes us. Combine this with the fact that we only receive around 3.5 percent of our electricity from renewables other than dams, and we have some work to do. What will it take for such a system to be put into place?