“I urge impatience,” boomed Dr. Mitch Thomashow, President of Unity College in Unity, Maine. This gregarious man who filled the stage with importance and compassion delivered what I thought was the most compelling presentation in the three days of GreenBuild. He urged the audience of Green architects, builders, designers, remodelers, and city officials to move ahead quickly and without further delay as climate change is the number one threat to a quality future.
He talked about AASHE – The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education and the thousands of members that are committed to “…a prosperous, equitable, and ecologically healthy world” where “…. higher education plays a vital role in ensuring that people have an understanding of the interdependencies between environmental, social, and economic forces and the skills and abilities to meet sustainability challenges.”
(You might be surprised to see what schools have committed to the AASHE challenge: Notre Dame (my alma mater), U of MN, Century College (another alma mater), Augsburg College, Dakota County Technical College, Hamline U, Gustavus Adolphus, Macalester, UW-River Falls, UW-Stout…and many too numerous to mention http://www.aashe.org/membership/members/institutional_members
Dr. Thomashow talked about the 9 elements of a sustainable culture to which Unity adheres (with “governance” being the most influential element of change). He also showed pictures of the 1,900 square foot Green home where he and his wife live that was designed to doubles as an environmental teaching lab. He is teaching the Unity Board of Directors what it means to truly be an environmental liberal arts college. He is teaching them to walk the talk all the while urging impatience.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
GreenBuild Means Money for Business and Community Leaders
Each November marks a significant milestone in the march towards a sustainable human existence. While the majority of the American population continues to avoid addressing truly committed sustainability issues, a notable population of professionals will be gathering for the world’s largest conference on Green building. Over 28,000 contractors, architects, designers, landscape designers, engineers, city planners, developers, non-profits, lawyers, realtors, manufacturers, retailers, hospital officials, government employees, military personnel, school planners…are expected to attend the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) GreenBuild conference in Phoenix.
If 28,000 people can’t convince you that sustainability matters, ask the 150,000 LEED APs what they think. USGBC introduced a rigorous testing process to measure a person’s knowledge and ability to apply Green building strategies to buildings and community development. Successful passing of the test awarded a professional the “LEED AP” (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design Accredited Professional) designation. When I became a LEED AP in 2005, the pass rate was less than 60%. There were only 4,000 individuals accredited at the time. In four years, the test rigor has increased to a pass rate of only 20% while the number of LEED APs grown to over 150,000!
Why has interest in a LEED AP designation grown given the obstacles to achieve success? The moral side of me wishes we were all committed to Green for quality of life issues, yet the main fact stands that LEED AP means you know something about Green buildings and Green buildings mean money.
Why GreenBuild? You can attend workshops to prepare you for the LEED AP test. You can listen to keynote speakers such as Al Gore, business leaders like Arthur Rubinfeld of Starbucks, and Steve Thomas – host of Renovation Nation. But mostly it is the annual November destination for business and community leaders to gather strategies to improve return on investment and preserve quality of life.
If 28,000 people can’t convince you that sustainability matters, ask the 150,000 LEED APs what they think. USGBC introduced a rigorous testing process to measure a person’s knowledge and ability to apply Green building strategies to buildings and community development. Successful passing of the test awarded a professional the “LEED AP” (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design Accredited Professional) designation. When I became a LEED AP in 2005, the pass rate was less than 60%. There were only 4,000 individuals accredited at the time. In four years, the test rigor has increased to a pass rate of only 20% while the number of LEED APs grown to over 150,000!
Why has interest in a LEED AP designation grown given the obstacles to achieve success? The moral side of me wishes we were all committed to Green for quality of life issues, yet the main fact stands that LEED AP means you know something about Green buildings and Green buildings mean money.
Why GreenBuild? You can attend workshops to prepare you for the LEED AP test. You can listen to keynote speakers such as Al Gore, business leaders like Arthur Rubinfeld of Starbucks, and Steve Thomas – host of Renovation Nation. But mostly it is the annual November destination for business and community leaders to gather strategies to improve return on investment and preserve quality of life.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Where's Your Fire Extinguisher?
I was going through my notes today after a great week in Indianapolis at the Remodeling Show. Amongst my scribbling, I found two bold words – FIRE EXTINGUISHER.
In all my formal and professional education I have never heard any kitchen designer, teacher, or Green professional talk about fire extinguishers. Once, I listened to a discussion on whole house sprinklers at another professional show. The threat of sprinklers becoming part of the new building code produced ample grumbling but no discussion on point source extinguishers. As the daughter of an insurance agent, I have two in our house – kitchen and mechanical room. But, I have never thought to include one in a design for a client.
Besides the obvious life saving benefit, an extinguisher used early in a fire can reduce the damage, cost of repair, and ensuing length of household disruption. The presenter, Paul Lesieur of Silvertree Construction, discussed fire extinguishers as part of his talk on “Hot” kitchen trends. While kitchen fires are not “trendy”, there is data from FEMA on kitchen fire trends: “There were an estimated 156,500 kitchen fires in 2002, yielding 331 fatalities, 4,914 injuries, and $876 million in property loss. On average, kitchen fires caused less property loss and were less fatal than structure fires in general, but resulted in more injuries.” http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/pdf/tfrs/v4i4.pdf
Paul was able to get his fire under control but lost the cabinetry and paint on one side of the kitchen, but at least he didn’t lose the house.
A fire extinguisher is a good, cheap sustainable strategy – it sustains life, and it can sustain resources.
In all my formal and professional education I have never heard any kitchen designer, teacher, or Green professional talk about fire extinguishers. Once, I listened to a discussion on whole house sprinklers at another professional show. The threat of sprinklers becoming part of the new building code produced ample grumbling but no discussion on point source extinguishers. As the daughter of an insurance agent, I have two in our house – kitchen and mechanical room. But, I have never thought to include one in a design for a client.
Besides the obvious life saving benefit, an extinguisher used early in a fire can reduce the damage, cost of repair, and ensuing length of household disruption. The presenter, Paul Lesieur of Silvertree Construction, discussed fire extinguishers as part of his talk on “Hot” kitchen trends. While kitchen fires are not “trendy”, there is data from FEMA on kitchen fire trends: “There were an estimated 156,500 kitchen fires in 2002, yielding 331 fatalities, 4,914 injuries, and $876 million in property loss. On average, kitchen fires caused less property loss and were less fatal than structure fires in general, but resulted in more injuries.” http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/pdf/tfrs/v4i4.pdf
Paul was able to get his fire under control but lost the cabinetry and paint on one side of the kitchen, but at least he didn’t lose the house.
A fire extinguisher is a good, cheap sustainable strategy – it sustains life, and it can sustain resources.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Do or Do Not. There is No Try.
If you are old enough to remember "Star Wars" or you are a new groupie, you are probably familiar with this now famous quote from the fictitious Yoda. I thought of it when I heard a remodeler at the national Remodeling Show in Indianapolis tell me yesterday that he won’t go Green because everyone expects “Greenies” to do everything right (truthfully, I would rather be called a tree hugger). He didn’t feel he could go Green small steps at a time. At first I shrugged this off as another excuse for not trying. But, I imagine there is a truth to it.
Green is still so foreign even though it lives in the vernacular of our culture. Confusion abounds on how to make more sustainable choices. The fear of wasting time or money on the wrong choice, or one that doesn’t really make an impact, keeps people from making no choice at all.
When I presented my seminar on life cycle analysis at the Remodeling Show, I had to begin the presentation with the caveat that the science of LCA is still emerging. An LCA does not exist for every product on the market. But there is a rapidly growing body of data for use now. At the end of my presentation, I encouraged the audience to use what is available and then promote the system and the results. Teach others the process. The more dialog in our culture, the greater the conversation will grow. If we fail to take action because the science isn’t complete, we will wallow in the past and not move forward.
If we do what is “safe” and build/remodel to current standards, our homes won’t compete favorably against those homes that are built to better, Green standards. If we continue to choose products that harm our health, we won’t get healthier. If we fail to engage energy strategies because we think cost is a hurdle, we will continue to pay high energy bills every month and end up paying more for energy than the upgrade.
When it comes to sustainability, don’t listen to Yoda. It’s not about do or do not. It is about trying. What have you tried lately that has worked for you?
Green is still so foreign even though it lives in the vernacular of our culture. Confusion abounds on how to make more sustainable choices. The fear of wasting time or money on the wrong choice, or one that doesn’t really make an impact, keeps people from making no choice at all.
When I presented my seminar on life cycle analysis at the Remodeling Show, I had to begin the presentation with the caveat that the science of LCA is still emerging. An LCA does not exist for every product on the market. But there is a rapidly growing body of data for use now. At the end of my presentation, I encouraged the audience to use what is available and then promote the system and the results. Teach others the process. The more dialog in our culture, the greater the conversation will grow. If we fail to take action because the science isn’t complete, we will wallow in the past and not move forward.
If we do what is “safe” and build/remodel to current standards, our homes won’t compete favorably against those homes that are built to better, Green standards. If we continue to choose products that harm our health, we won’t get healthier. If we fail to engage energy strategies because we think cost is a hurdle, we will continue to pay high energy bills every month and end up paying more for energy than the upgrade.
When it comes to sustainability, don’t listen to Yoda. It’s not about do or do not. It is about trying. What have you tried lately that has worked for you?
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