This week, Soapbox catches up to Alan Warner who serves as the Partner-in-Charge for Sustainability for GBBN Architects in the US and in China. Alan, who lectures extensively throughout the region on issues relating to Sustainable Design, blogs here about how the Cincinnati region is quickly becoming a key national player in sustainable construction.
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SoapBlog 2 - iGreen
Posted By: Alan J. Warner, AIA, LEED AP
9/10/2008
A friend of mine has 6 or 7 podcasts stored on her iPod on ways of improving her green life. It’s all the stuff you’ve ever seen or heard, you know, the latest Top 10 easy (always easy) green lists, the latest theoretical whiz-bang technology that makes 500 mega watts of power from 11 blades of switchgrass or affordable homes made from recycled Gucci handbags. “Surely you’ve seen all of these?” she asked. I hadn’t, but after a quick scan, I knew what they were. Yes, they were all of the kinds of programs that conveniently bundle the guilt, shame, oneupsmanship, greener than thou, fear-mongering, greenwashing and the finger pointing with a little bit of the head in the sand, denial and don’t be left behind scares that are so much the rage now.
She’s bought into all of it - and still does not have a clue where to go or what to do.
She really wants to make a difference here in Cincinnati, she wants to get something or anything going, but she cannot separate the green music from the green noise. She’s not alone.
So, where do you start?
First, keep in mind a lesson from Isaac Asimov, “Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what’s right.” This ‘sense of morals’ is the cultural standards we inherit from our community. It’s a path to make sure we stay in alignment with these shared lessons of community. It’s what makes a civil society civil. Cincinnati is good at civil. We could change our name to Civilnati.
“Please, what high school did you say you went to?”
iAm
Don’t get me wrong, civil is good. Civil is necessary. But your ability to appreciate the civil starts first with your understanding of what is right. And what is right comes from your personal story. It’s both the nature and nurture of what makes you “you”. Your story makes you legitimate. It is intuitive. Being civil is rational. We are in a constant evolution of defining civility by understanding what is right. So, and most importantly, ask yourself who you are and what is important to you. Then, and only then, can you define how you should define your role relative to community, that is, how you can make Cincinnati truly green.
iCare
Those of us in the design and construction industry are inundated with countless facts on sustainability and the dramatic impacts building construction and operations have on climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, indoor air quality, energy consumption, storm water management and on and on. As the US Green Building Council tells us, in the US, some of the more dramatic include 39% of all energy consumption (more than industry at 29% or transportation at 32%), 71% of all electricity consumed, 65% of all the waste output (including 40% of all of the landfill space) and 39% of all the manmade CO2 emissions. Wow.
You may care about all of this, but face it, you cannot deal with all of this. Do not let the overwhelming issues keep you from acting. Define what is important to you, where does your personal story take you, what do you know, what can you connect to? Pick what you are good at, care about that – and do it. Get good at one thing first. Don’t fret over the other 9 of the Top 10 green list. Do not let perfection be the enemy of the good. Your story, your sense of what’s right will propel you past the hurdles. Once you get good at one thing, you then will have energy for the next one. Tell others. Celebrate. Rinse and repeat.
iMove
It is not unusual for folks to think that being green is an all or nothing proposition. That keeps them safe from having to take any action. The truth of the matter is that we all move in progressive steps. There are many shades of green. Within the building industry we can think of this path of steps much like a five rung ladder. The bottom rung is your Standard code minimum building, the next step up would be a typical Green building (but not yet achieving carbon neutrality), the third rung is a truly Sustainable building (neutral), the fourth step would be a Restorative building that does more good than harm and restores the site to a natural condition. Finally, at the top would be a Regenerative building, a building that acts like nature itself. It gathers its own water and energy, reuses its own wastes, provides oxygen and sustains multiple species.
Your one good thing might be to convince a housing tract developer to make it to step 2 on the ladder or maybe your one good thing is to get your own house to make it all of the way to the top. What’s more sustainable? You know what, it doesn’t matter, it all counts, just move.
isaac was right.
it all counts.
i count.
iGreen.