By Graham Ray

It turns out that getting a blog entry done by me in time to kick off the year is about as likely as getting our family holiday card out in time for, well, the holidays! Something about twin three year olds and the demands of work just keep getting in the way.

Four years ago this month we did our first installation of the Silva Cell in Redwood City, CA. We commandeered my sister’s driveway and front sidewalk, dug the whole mess up and took the first step of our green infrastructure journey.

We spent several nights with frozen fingers trying to dig out posts to secure frames, cracked a sewer line, annoyed the neighbors and generally made enough mistakes to make us question our sanity. Yet, at the end of the process we knew we had done it – we had taken a concept, and brought it to fruition. And that moment has changed everything.

We’ve been blessed by having tremendous partners to work with, from Jim Urban who has been an inspiration to us all, to Peter MacDonagh and his ace team at the Kestrel Design Group, not to mention our design team at Innova Engineering and manufacturing partners at UPM.

Equally compelling has been the phenomenal response to our new way to integrate trees, soil and stormwater in the built environment. The response has been both inspiring and humbling, and it serves to push us to work harder, and do more, for the opportunity to make a significant positive impact in the urban environment. With your help and energy, we will continue to make a positive difference, and help lead the way to a greener, cleaner and healthier future in our cities and towns.

Happy New Year!

Graham

PS: The holiday card still awaits…