Old & Green Final Paper

Old & Green

Final Paper

Anthony DelRosario

Old & Green: Where Historic Preservation and

Evironmental Conservation Overlap

Professor Barry Stiefel

Master in Preservation Studies

Tulane School of Architecture

1 CSAR-2600 - Old & Green – Professor Barry Stiefel – August 5, 2008

Anthony DelRosario – Master in Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

Introduction

Prior to taking this class, I had not considered the connections and overlap of

historic preservation and environmental conservation. On first thought without a

thorough background of each, one might think that these two areas of thought are

mutually exclusive. However, from learning the history of these practices one is

enlightened to the interconnectedness, the reliance, and the symbiosis of the two. Our

midterm papers on the Antiquities Act took a look at how legislation used mostly for

nature conservation eventually led to legislation for historic preservation such as the

Historic Sites Act of 1935 and the National Historic Preservation Act. Our class readings

and discussions covered in detail contemporary thoughts on preservation and

conservation. I believe that the readings and discussions opened the eyes of everyone

in the class and made us think about how these concepts play a role in our day to day

lives and about the role that each of us have within these concepts. Historic

preservation and environmental conservation could not exist without the efforts of

people. As the world’s resources become strained, people will not be able to exist

without continued historic preservation and environmental conservation. Ecological

footprint analysis is one way to see how we fit into the big picture.

Knowledge Gained

I learned quite a bit from reading The Antiquities Act : A Century of American

Archaeology, Historic Preservation, and Nature Conservation. The background of the

Antiquities Act shows how deeply interconnected historic preservation and

environmental conservation are – the concept of preserving not only the prehistoric



structures that were in danger but also preserving sufficient land around the structures

in order to save the complete scientific and cultural importance of an area. Also, I had

not realized just how much power was given to the President by way of the Antiquities

Act. However, I am intrigued by the fact only one Republican president since

Eisenhower in 1961, Gerald Ford (who was a former national park ranger), has applied

the executive power provided in the Antiquities Act.

The readings from the first week of class introduced me to a mind opening

concept, embodied energy. Donovan D. Rypkema’s speech Economics, Sustainability,

and Historic Preservation taught me the definition of embodied energy, “total

expenditure of energy involved in the creation of the building and its constituent

materials.” (4) His statement that “you’re a fool or a fraud if you claim to be an

environmentalist and yet you throw away historic buildings, and their components” laid

the groundwork for the subject the readings of several other weeks. (5) The week in

which we discussed smart growth, green building, and adaptive reuse had the most

impact from the concept of embodied energy. Adaptive reuse and embodied energy go

hand in hand with one another. My case study paper about Big Charity discussed

historic preservation in coordination with these two concepts.

Easements and transfer of development rights are two more concepts that were

new to me. Transfer of development rights is superb tool to help with smart growth

such as increasing population density which if done correctly can help with

environmental conservation. For example, development rights from rural or agricultural

areas can be transferred to an urban area. This transfer can increase the compactness

of the community which can in turn reduce the ecological footprint of the community by



allowing more people to live closer to their workplaces. This closeness can improve

commuting time and reduce commuting costs in terms of both money and natural

resources used.

Environmental justice is another concept that I had not thought about much. In

“Urban Treasures or Urban Nightmares?” Patricia Gay discusses the use of historic

preservation in addition to poverty programs to revitalize declining neighborhoods which

will improve the lives of the members of the community. In Our Ecological Footprint:

Reducing Human Impact on the Earth, Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees argue

that sustainability is a necessary but not sufficient condition for environmental justice as

well as social equity and that the two goals are interconnected. They “believe that the

first step toward a more sustainable world is to accept ecological reality and the

socioeconomic challenges it implies.” (3)

Historic Preservation and Ecological Footprint Analysis

Wackernagel and Rees introduce the idea of ecological footprint analysis as way

to determine human impact on the earth via concepts such as sustainability, carrying

capacity, disposal of wastes and consumption of resources. Another concept that we

can add to this list is historic preservation. One’s ecological footprint is impacted by

historic preservation in several ways. One concept of historic preservation that has a

direct impact is adaptive reuse. If an old building can be saved and recycled with a new

use, a large amount of resources can conserved and much less waste is created. One

way to measure the impact is with embodied energy. Other concepts of historic

preservation that have positive results on ecological footprints are easements and



transfer of development rights. As I stated above, transfer of development rights can

improve the compactness of an urban community. Easements can preserve land that is

used for agriculture or, more importantly, land that is untouched such as virgin forests

which help absorb CO2. Green building can also have a large effect on ecological

footprint. Energy efficient buildings consume less as well as produce less waste. On

the opposite end of the spectrum are brownfields. These areas of former industrial or

commercial use have a great negative effect on an ecological footprint. Not only do

brownfields take land out of productive use but also often are contaminated with

hazardous waste or pollution. Non-Western ideas preservation influence ecological

footprints. According to Wackernagel and Rees, the goal of sustainability is to lessen

ecological deterioration while maintaining and, for some people, increasing

socioeconomic health. Sometimes in non-Western societies, the ideas of preservation,

conservation, and economic health are in conflict. In “Rescuing Cairo's Lost Heritage.”

Rose Aslan describes how conservation efforts in historic Cairo have neglected the

needs of area residents. Thus, several concepts of historic preservation affect the

ecological footprint of a community.

Historic Preservation and Environmental Conservation

The two overarching themes covered in our class, historic preservation and

environmental conservation, are most certainly interconnected. In my midterm paper, I

showed that these two concepts have been closely connected for over one hundred

years through various acts of legislation. We have also seen how historic preservation

influences ecological footprints. Without historic preservation, man will build without

constraints and use limited resources at an escalating pace. We can steal a



contemporary slogan to easily sum up – reduce, reuse, recycle. Historic preservation

can combine these three directives to lessen our footprint which in turn helps conserve

the environment. Thinking in the other direction, there is a less tangible effect of

environmental conservation on historic preservation. Without the idea of environmental

conservation, man would probably just build new and bigger without the thought of the

cultural significance of historic preservation.

Thinking Locally

Historic preservation in New Orleans has been an important concept for over a

century beginning with Allison Owen successfully saving the Cabildo from demolition to

the cultural renaissance of the 1920s to the 1936 legislation that formed the Vieux Carré

Commission. However, environmental conservation has not been equally regarded in

New Orleans. In recent years, a few efforts such as Save Our Lake and Save Our

Coast have focused on environmental concerns. Since the effects of Hurricane Katrina

occurred in 2005, attention has been focused more on the environment. A new

organization MRGO Must Go has been formed. They are a coalition that wants the

closure of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet in order to preserve the wetlands that were

once a storm barrier. Also, in light of thousands of homes being destroyed, renovation

and new construction in the area could be focused on green building. There are many

opportunities which historic preservation and environmental conservation can be

combined in this unique time of New Orleans.



Payoff

I have gained unique insight on several subjects from the past twelve weeks of

class. I will continue to look at things with these new perspectives. On Monday August

4, I received my acceptance letter to the Master’s of Preservation Program here at

Tulane’s School of Architecture. I hope to use what I have learned in my studies.

i CSAR-2600 - Old & Green – Professor Barry Stiefel – August 5, 2008


Sources

Aslan, Rose. “Rescuing Cairo's Lost Heritage.” Islamica 15 (2006): 81-87.

Gay, Patricia. "Urban Treasures or Urban Nightmares?" Cultural Resources

Management 20.6 (1996): 39-41.

Harmon, David, Francis P. McManamon, and Dwight T. Pitcaithley. The Antiquities Act:

A Century of American Archaeology, Historic Preservation, and Nature

Conservation. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2007.

Rypkema, Donovan D. Economics, Sustainability, and Historic Preservation. 2005.

Vieux Carré Commission. “Vieux Carré Commission History.”

<http://www.nola.gov/RESIDENTS/Vieux-Carre-Commission/History-and-News>

Wackernagel, Mathis and William Rees. Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human

Impact on the Earth. British Columbia, Canada: New Society Publishers, 1996.

Old & Green Final Paper

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Transcript of Old & Green Final Paper