Terrain.org articles in this issue:
 

One Green Thing Leads to Another: Sustainability at the Pringle Creek Community
by Jim Fitzsimons

When architect James Meyer set about to create a master plan for Pringle Creek Community, he was working off a fairly ambitious request from the property owner: design a walkable, mixed-use, sustainable development with the community-enhancing aspects of old city neighborhoods.

Saving Coral Reefs: Darwin's Second Obsession Needs to be Our First
by Rick MacPherson

If it were simply the threat from global warming, coral reefs might be able to cope with temperature fluctuations. But coral reefs are suffering a death by a thousand cuts. When you consider coastal development, unsustainable fishing, water pollution, unsustainable tourism, rising sea levels, and the effects of increased human demand on a sensitive ecosystem, it’s no surprise that nearly 50 percent of our planet’s coral reefs have been functionally destroyed.

Building and Dwelling in the Mountains: The Sage Mountain Center Story
by Kathryn Bundy

When Californians Christopher Borton and Linda Welsh found 90 acres bordering Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest near Whitehall, Montana, they parked a trailer, dug in, and began to realize their dream of building what has become Sage Mountain Center. The buildings are a combination of cordwood and straw bale, powered off-grid by the sun and wind.

Muir Woods National Monument: William Kent's Progressive Vision
Text by Tom Butler
Photography by Antonio Vizcaino

Besides being a preeminent institution for interpreting the redwood ecosystem, Muir Woods is also a useful port of entry into conservation history, for its creation included several key actors, among them naturalist John Muir, President Theodore Roosevelt, and William Kent, a forward-thinking California congressman who would later help create the National Park Service.