Sustainability can be worked into the urban system in numerous ways. Small and large scale,

Imagine buildings that operate as efficiently as a flower.  Good prose but how do you do it.

they all make a difference. However, what if entire cities were made to be holistically and systematically sustainable from the root up? Living Building Challenge is an organization that seeks to do just that: create resilient urban systems. "Imagine a building designed and constructed to function as elegantly and efficiently as a flower: a building informed by its bioregion's characteristics, that generates all of its own energy with renewable resources, captures and treats all of its water, and that operates efficiently and for maximum beauty. Imagine a city block or a college campus sharing resources from building to building, growing food, and functioning without a dependency on fossil fuel-based transportation. Imagine true sustainability in our homes, workplaces, neighborhoods, villages, towns and cities- Socially Just, Culturally Rich and Ecologically Restorative." Such

 adaptable living built environments could enhance livability, decrease the amount of pollution and create a formidable opponent to combat climate change and detrimental natural hazards. Such innovations could pave the way for communities to not only design buildings, but create living, resilient, and adaptable built environments. 

It was almost three years to the day that Hurricane Sandy swept through the Northeast and became part of America's history books, incurring 70 million dollars in damages and affecting entire communities and families.  Ready to face the systematic issue, The Rising Tides Summit, comprised of 35 Republican and Democratic officials, met to discuss the issues associated w ith sea level rise/nuisance flooding and

coastal climatic maladies. Eighteen of the twenty-three coastal states in the U.S. attended including representatives from South Carolina.   Mayor Billy Keyserling (Beaufort) and Representative Robert Brown (District 116, parts of Charleston and Colleton Counties) attended.
Attendees recognize the issues that come with putting 123 million people and almost half of America's GDP at risk, and call for a nationwide strategic plan.   With more Republicans than Democrats present at the summit, it is apparent that the issues associated with coastal flooding are no longer a matter of bipartisan opinion.  "The water that's coming in your neighbor's door does not care if you're a Republican or a Democrat," said  Chris Stolle.  "This is not just an economic issue, it's not just a public safety issue, it's not just a risk to life and property, it's a strategic issue. I represent Hampton Roads, home of the world's largest naval base. It's not just the infrastructure of our military bases that are at risk in these coastal areas, it's also the ability of our sailors, our marines, our soldiers and our airmen to get to those facilities to defend the nation. It's time we stop discussing what we need to do and start taking action to protect our local communities. We as state and local governments need more assistance in doing that from the federal government."  The officials call for a comprehensive approach that increases federal aid to build seawalls, green space, and similar structures that would help in assuaging such problems. The hope is that despite the financial cost, help will be given to communities now, instead of after a natural disaster hits and affects the entire nation.