Todd Griffin started off his Veteran Lawn Treatment & Landscaping business enterprise right after serving in the U.S. Army the place he was deployed overseas in Procedure Enduring Liberty in Afghanistan.
Griffin begun the enterprise in 2014. He explained he normally experienced a enthusiasm for landscaping with practically 20 many years of working experience prior and right after retiring from the armed forces.
“It definitely is a enthusiasm of mine I appreciate it I actually adore the layout element, as a lot as the put in part and assembly with the shopper,” Griffin mentioned.
Veteran Lawn Care & Landscaping features household and commercial landscaping solutions, some of which involve lawn treatment routine maintenance, landscaping and design and style, and sod installation, which is the procedure of placing in a patch of developed grass to sustain a balanced lawn.
Griffin said he prides himself on integrity when assembly with customers.
“We’re going to quote you appropriate we’re likely to quotation you competitively we’re heading to put in properly and you know, it is a lengthy-long lasting marriage,” Griffin mentioned.
Griffin stated he enjoys the function he does at each individual action in the procedure when working on positions.
“From the beginning to the conclusion, from the tips to the set up and observing it at the completion is pretty gratifying, and 1 of the [reasons] why I continue on to do what I do is I’m pretty passionate about what I do,” Griffin claimed.
Griffin, who is from Killeen and moved to Hutto in 2008, mentioned he opened Veteran Lawn Treatment & Landscaping with the thought of bringing the values he figured out in the armed service to the community.
“I want you to have a piece of business house or residential house and have a peace of head when doing organization with me,” Griffin mentioned. “I’m bringing all those identical values from the military services and applying them in our local community.”
Griffin claimed his preferred style of landscaping is accomplishing do the job for out of doors residing regions these types of as patios.
“My favored is stonework for outdoor residing, from textures and distinction with normal stone and concrete, that total outside dwelling deal is my favourite,” Griffin mentioned.
U.S. Military veteran Todd Griffin operates his own landscaping company and gives residents suggestions for maintaining their lawns all through the tumble and winter season seasons:
1. Use a pre-emergent to reduce weeds from sprouting up in the grass.
2. Lay down mulch to help insulate lawns and plants.
3. Pressure-wash patios and stones to reduce mildew and mildew buildup.
Santa Fe-based mostly artist Oliver Polzin enjoys getting able to visit character to uncover inspiration for his art. (Courtesy of Oliver Polzin)
Oliver Polzin is a present day-day explorer.
He sets off on quests to locate inspiration for what results in being his artwork.
“It’s been gratifying discovering distinctive areas of the place,” he states. “I’m normally up for an experience and see what transpires.”
The artist has created his dwelling in Santa Fe and, right up until not long ago, was component of the innovators at Meow Wolf. He resigned right after 12 many years.
In the months that have passed, the target is nevertheless the same for Polzin – which is to build.
Polzin grew up with a pencil in his hand from a extremely youthful age.
“I was offered the tools to draw,” he states. “I feel like in a ton of methods, I was on a rapidly keep track of with art. My moms and dads divorced and bought remarried. All four of my mothers and fathers are resourceful.”
Though going to college at Arizona Point out College, Polzin was enamored by architecture.
He generally observed himself drawing for three several hours just before bed.
And he found his spot in artwork.
Currently, he creates with gouache and ballpoint pen on paper.
He says the complete Meow Wolf practical experience inspired him to believe huge.
Oliver Polzin’s work place. (Courtesy of Oliver Polzin)
“I’ve worked with mud and adobe when I very first bought to Santa Fe,” he suggests. “I’ve experimented with cardboard and comfortable sculpture. I have done a great deal of animation. At Meow Wolf, I leveled up my expertise in the latest yrs.”
Polzin, who is initially from Michigan, moved to Santa Fe just more than a decade back and was not setting up staying.
That is, until eventually he discovered Meow Wolf.
“These were being my folks and they are very enthusiastic,” he says. “They make art in their spare time. In the early days, it was not for dollars. It was about local community and shocking ourselves. I sort of fell in appreciate with Santa Fe. Aspect of it was simply because of Meow Wolf and the other component was the landscape.”
Polzin is slowly headed into a new direction with his artwork.
“I want to target on a several mediums to go further,” he claims. “I like seeing the world as a canvas. I like recycled artwork and I enjoy looking at the likely that trash and organic objects have. It is vital to have that part of my system.”
Polzin spends a large amount of time exterior and enjoys getting in the wild landscapes.
He does not perform from images and observes anything.
“When I go out into these landscapes, I change with the distinctive means the mild can solution my eye,” he suggests. “A large amount of my portray is quite layered and I get matters improper a lot of moments just before I get it appropriate. It is a quite powerful method of going back again about what does not look ideal.”
When Polzin carries on his journey in artwork, right here are a few points you didn’t know about him:
1 “I’m an amateur mycologist ( anyone who will work with fungi) .”
2 “I’m a cat individual for positive.”
3 “I adore to hike, bicycle, cross state ski, and just vibe in nature.”
4 “I play the ancient Chinese board sport, Go. I’m a 1 dan.”
5 “I see art as a devotional follow for religious advancement.”
Editor’s notice: Location In addition carries on “In Scenario You Did not Know,” a weekly aspect with enjoyment tidbits about New Mexicans and their assignments.
—Opening the Way to Financial Evaluation of Biodiversity with Publication of Nature-Positive Methodology—
OSAKA, Japan, November 30, 2021–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sekisui House, Ltd. (TOKYO:1928) has been pursuing the conservation of biodiversity since 2001 by creating green networks in urban residential districts under its Gohon no ki (“five trees”) indigenous landscaping concept. Together with the University of the Ryukyus1, the company has analyzed the outcome of the Gohon no ki Project that it has implemented with 1 million customer households2 over the space of 20 years, and has designed the world’s first mechanism for quantitatively evaluating urban biodiversity. It has published this qualitative evaluation mechanism today as a nature-positive methodology for promoting the conservation of biodiversity.
Results of quantitative evaluation analysis (1) – The number of native tree species in each region—the foundation of regional biodiversity—has increased tenfold. (Graphic: Business Wire)
The Gohon no ki Project
Since the 1970s, incessant urban development has dramatically reduced the amount of habitat available for flora and fauna in our cities. Sekisui House launched its Gohon no ki Project in 2001 as an initiative to conserve biodiversity through the eco-friendly landscaping and greening of the gardens of its customers. Based on the concept of planting five locally native trees, three for birds and two for butterflies, the Gohon no ki Project proposes greening gardens and local communities with native tree species suited to the local climate and benevolent to birds, butterflies, and other local fauna. The project takes its lead from garden landscaping modeled on traditional Japanese satoyama (which translates roughly as “village woodland”).
In the 20 years from 2001 up to 2020, more than 17 million trees have been planted under the project. The company has also promoted urban greening throughout Japan by incorporating the Gohon no ki concept into its planning of green spaces in its condominium and community development initiatives.
Quantitative evaluation of biodiversity
Sekisui House has since 2019 been working with the Kubota Laboratory, Faculty of Science, University of the Ryukyus, and Think Nature Inc. to quantitatively evaluate the contribution of this network-type greening to urban biodiversity. Based on the Japan Biodiversity Mapping Project (J-BMP)3 managed and operated by Think Nature Inc., a company established by Professor Yasuhiro Kubota, the partners have analyzed the data on tree number, species, and location accumulated over the 20 years of the Sekisui House Gohon no ki Project to quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of the project in conserving and restoring biodiversity.
This quantitative evaluation revealed the following benefits for biodiversity from planting native tree species in line with the Gohon no ki Project as opposed to planting conventional horticultural and exotic species in gardens in urban areas where biodiversity has declined significantly (Japan’s three major metropolitan areas).4
The number of native tree species in each region—the foundation of regional biodiversity—has increased tenfold.
The number of bird species that residential districts can attract has doubled.
The number of butterfly species that residential districts can attract has increased fivefold.
Biodiversity in the three metropolitan areas has recovered to 30{6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} of the level of 1977 for which the first trustworthy biodiversity related data exists.
This is the world’s first mechanism for quantitatively evaluating urban biodiversity and its application to an actual case. The disclosure of numerical data enables biodiversity to be expressed in terms of financial value, thereby providing a means for visualizing private sector contribution to biodiversity.
Nature-positive methodology
In recent years, increasing efforts are being made to conserve biodiversity. In June of this year, the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) was launched, and in October, the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) was held. In Japan too, discussion has begun in earnest on other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) for enlisting the support of the private sector to drive urban greening.
In this societal context, Sekisui House is making its 20-year biodiversity conservation initiative available to the public as a nature-positive methodology. The Gohon no ki Project’s nature-positive methodology represents a means for expressing urban biodiversity. Sekisui House is making this methodology available to the general public with the aim of raising awareness and enabling its store of knowledge and expertise to be utilized by others to promote greening and contribute to the conservation of biodiversity.
Based on joint review of available data, Sekisui House and its partners set the number of tree, bird, and butterfly species, diversity index, and number of individual trees, birds, and butterflies in 1977 as 100{6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48}, and using 2000, the year before the Gohon no ki Project was launched, as the base year, simulated change up to 2070 in Japan’s three largest metropolitan areas (Kanto, Kinki and Chukyo) that have suffered the greatest decline in biodiversity. This simulation indicated that planting native tree species that are likely to benefit local fauna (the Gohon no ki concept) compared to 2000, the year before the launch of the Gohon no ki Project, would enable biodiversity to recover to 37.4{6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} of 1977 levels by 2030 (target year for conservation of biodiversity internationally), 40.9{6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} by 2050, and 41.9{6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} by 2070.
If the Gohon no ki concept of planting native trees were applied to 30{6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} of all newly constructed properties in Japan moving forward, urban biodiversity is predicted to rise to 84.6{6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} of 1977 levels. Sekisui House believes that this indicates that if the private sector works with the general public, the decline in biodiversity can be reversed to achieve the goal of post-2020 biodiversity recovery that is the theme of COP15, and that its Gohon no ki concept can contribute to this goal.
Mr. Makoto Haraguchi, Fellow, MS & AD InterRisk Research Institute and Sustainability Section SVP for TNFD, MS & AD Insurance Group Holdings
Mr. Teppei Dohke, Executive Secretary General of the Japan Committee for the International Union for Conservation of Nature
Ms. Mariko Kawaguchi, Specially Appointed Professor, Rikkyo University / Executive Advisor to CEO, Fuji Oil Holdings Inc.
Mr. Yasuhiro Kubota, Professor, Faculty of Science, University of the Ryukyus / Representative Director, Think Nature Inc.
1. This is joint research with the Kubota Laboratory, Faculty of Science, University of the Ryukyus. 2. Cumulative number of households built from February 2001 to January 2021 is 1,001,977. 3. Japan Biodiversity Mapping Project (J-BMP) website: https://biodiversity-map.thinknature-japan.com 4. Comparison of continuing to plant conventional garden tree species with planting tree species in line with the Gohon no ki concept over the 20 years from 2001 to 2020
