The green building movement has its spurts and starts, but on the whole sustainability is still a theoretical notion, an interesting side note in the building world. While a lot of people are taking notice, very few of them are taking real steps in adopting the deep knowledge base within their own buildings. Someone told me to think about it like this-- in the tech sector, new processes change the industry every two years or so, in the automobile industry it takes maybe ten years, but in the building trade it takes fifty years to adopt new thinking. If this is true, then by the time most of today’s builders retire or go to the big building in the sky we will be ready for sustainable building. Stuff like advanced framing is still a curiosity in the profession, even though it takes fewer materials, less time to construct, and results in a much improved energy-efficient wall system. A local homes developer with million-dollar houses on the market, and a LEED platinum one to boot, will still try to save a buck on engineering by framing their projects conventionally. Whoever buys these homes is getting an inferior product, and any money saved on the engineering just gets lost on materials and labor. This is just one of many issues often neglected in the making of a building. In the end you get a failed project from the standpoint of sustainability because of a lack of commitment and foresight. Builders and developers are often willing to take great financial chances in the marketplace, but where it really counts, the building they make, they often leave us with poorly conceived projects.
This is unacceptable. These builders may have been putting together buildings for years, using the same methods that lead to the same mistakes. Building but rote, by first dollar, by fickle market demands is leaving us with million-dollar energy vampires dotting the landscape. Their little brothers and sisters are hungry too. All are sitting around waiting for their next meal.
How do we stop breeding these vampires? First take a breath. The high-flying building boom is over. Speculative development has crashed, along with its commuter-based, isolated, and resource-intensive program. This is a wonderful time to step back and examine what we are doing. This is our opportunity to redesign our mode of operation and reestablish our relationship with our buildings, our buildings with our community, and our community with the environment.
The failed approach to building up to this point, I suspect, is that we building professionals are too proud to admit when we make mistakes. As one who has constantly found a better way to do things by messing them up, I have some firsthand knowledge that too much pride can develop a bad building. I am a better consultant when my oversights are pointed out, the earlier the better. I am a better builder when those who I work with are better at it than I am. The best green building is one where those who know how to do it are the ones who are allowed to. At this point the market for green building is not met, it is made. I understand that it will take time for green building to prosper, but we must start taking it seriously now. Now is not a point in time, now is an attitude and a commitment.
I am not your competition, nor are your mine. We are conspirers in a project that is focused on birthing new approaches that solve the mess we created. That mess comes to you in the mail once a month from your local utility. That mess is a child with asthma. That mess is a billion dollar water reservoir because we are too cheap or too distracted to change out our old toilet, fix our faucet, and change our showerhead. A lot of folks don’t really give a damn, no pun intended. If you are reading this then you probably do.
Here is how we are going to collaborate in making a substantial improvement in our built environment. We share our knowledge, our passion, and our resources. We give ground, applaud great ideas, and put our money and backs into it. We demand, coax, and, if we have to, we beg. We allow each other to take chances. We enjoy each other’s company but stand our ground. We respect the deep level of knowledge each one of us brings to the table. We suspend our disbelief. We rise to the occasion and do not slip into mediocrities. We engage. We return phone calls and emails. Ask someone you respect what they think.
Van Jones, from my home town of Oakland, sums it up in his new book The Green Collar Economy. “The time has come for us to stop letting a small number of groups and leaders carry the load on environmental and energy policy. Rather than complaining about the way they do it, all of us must step forward, take responsibility, and say in our own voices: ‘This is our Earth, too. We are going to be a part of saving it.’”
This edition of the sustainable line is written in the spirit of a manifesto to all interested parties regarding the official formation of the Be Local Northern Colorado Green Builder Group. Please contact me if you would like more information.
