Sustainable Design - an oxymoron?

Sustainable Path filled Town Hall's downstairs meeting room September 14th with the Seeking Sustainable Systems speaker series. Ash Awad from McKinstry (a very very big design, build and operate company) and Daniel Friedman, PhD from the UW's College of Built Environment

McKinstry's revenues are upwards of $400 million, Sustainability services are a significant an growing portion of that revenues, and have been before and after the economy crashed. Ash tell us that at McKinstry: "Sustainability is about efficiency." Here is their approach:
1. Efficiency
2. Systems efficiency
3. Move the energy - efficient district energy
4. Renewable systems
Remember Natural Capital by Hawken and pa & da Lovins? Ash rolled off the numbers - the inefficient of buildings, homes, blocks, neighborhoods and cities. Aaargh!

So- why efficiency? Ash states:
"I don't think there is such a thing about sustainable design, sustainable build, sustainable operations- its about integrated outcomes." He listed the reasons:

• Fragmentation
  
• First Cost are the hurdles. In the IT field total cost of ownership is used. Not so in our built environment.
  

We need to Drive Demand - We need laws, regulations - check out Referendum 52 (a bill to authorize bonds to finance construction and repair projects increasing energy efficiency in public schools and higher education buildings, and continue the sales tax on bottled water) and the BETC in Oregon, the business energy tax credit, We need new Energy Codes - components are efficient, but they are not used efficiently. Check the box does not make for a sustainable building (sorry LEED -you took us far but we need to go further) or buying the tool does not mean it is used. Energy rates are too low. This is kind of like driving demand. We don't need to build new stuff, we need work on what we have. We need job creation on new technology for efficiency in our current built environment- from power plants to buildings, homes etc.

Daniel is the Dean of the College of Built Environment. He talked about traffic - keeping it real. Really- what is a better example of sustainability in our built environment than traffic? There you are in your car, burning up dinosaurs, emitting GHGs, and wishing like hell you could be on a bus or lightrail that would take you where you want to go in a reasonable amount of time. He talked about how committees are a form of passive aggression. I love this man! But really- Daniel explained the importance of the College of Built Environment: The UW got this one right: an educational institution that gets the interlinked nature of sustainability. $1.3 billion dollars of research comes out of the UW, and more and more of it is focusing on efficiency.

So what the heck is the college of the built environment? Architecture, construction management, landscape architecture, and urban design and planning.

Daniel's equations:
Architecture - Construction = Less than zero. Archi means chief, the first the order of authority & primitive: Command and commence. Tech means crafter, doer. Now the chicken and egg question, what comes first? Architecture, construction management, landscape architecture, or urban design & planning. The answer is none do: they are all interlinked, integrated.

What is missing from the built environment's system? Public health: Sprawl, obesity, hypertension and lifelong habits are linked. We need to look broadly. Our behavior: Only 20% of Americans are college educated. Marketing- advertising is changing how we behave. How do we drive less, consume less, become more self aware. We could eliminate air conditioning if we changed our attitudes towards perspiration. Work habits, expectations, how we use the time in our day, driving- what did we do before we had electricity, cars, refrigerator. Measurable integration of technologies: so architects, builders, designers & planners are forced to work together.

So what's it all about: Changing behavior.
What changes behavior: Education? sometimes. Positive feedback? sometimes, Negative feedback? sometimes. Real time information served up right? Money, Altruism, Logic, Laws ? yeah, sometimes....

What can you do?

Keep it real and keep it meaningful. You can turn off the light- changing the light bulb is not enough. Get engaged, get educated and spread the word, spread the action by taking action.

And let's not forget social justice. What happens if sustainability is the pleasure of the rich and those who never have gone without? It's too easy to focus on buildings, too easy to focus on design, too easy to check the box for a silver, gold or platinum star. You and I are part of the problem and part of the solution. The actions we need to take are not known, and we will only know them if we try.

Notes from Seattle Foundation Town Hall meeting – the rich get richer even in the nonprofit sector

Sustainable Seattle followed a face book invitation to The Seattle Foundation’s (SF) town hall meeting tonight. The foundation’s goals include doubling the amount given two fold by 2013, to expand the audience, and to share their knowledge. SF funds organizations, not projects. If you missed the meeting tonight, there are 3 workshops coming up- just check The Seattle Foundation website. But if you are small, new and have diverse funding- well the news is not so good.

Here are some of the changes: the grant making program changes include: reviewing applications by element with annual guidelines for each element; there are now staff element (one staff member for each of the 7 elements of the community framework- check the new website for who) with element committees (filled first by donors), no more 2 year eligibility rule, the review timeline is now longer, and the way SF works with donors and the types of grant- collaborative work, work that supports sectors.

What is not changing: the Healthy Community Framework created in 2006, addressing disparities, and guidance by the 7 elements and 3 strategies within each element.

Low priority grants include capital campaigns, emerging organizations (looking to tapping into what is already happening), small organizations with diverse revenue streams.

Really? This seems pretty outrageous that an organization with the objective of Healthy Communities will favor large single-source nonprofits. Are they looking to create the Coke and Pepsi of non-profits? Is this really healthy? Is this really funding for creating and sustaining community?

Race: The Power of Illusion – Part Three

We began with “popcorn:” participants bringing up their feelings and thoughts from the last two sessions. Feelings of guilt, responsibility, imprisonment, hope, lightness, heaviness came up. Thoughts about the work that has been done, that needs to be done- for organizations, systems and individuals. We watched part three: a story of our imprisonment by the illusion of race.

We talked about what we can do in our lives and work to shift our system out of institutional racism. Crossroads Ministry’s Continuum on Becoming an Anti-Racist Multicultural Institution was handed out, This is a document that lays out six ways that an organization behaves: Exclusive, Passive, Symbolic Change, Identity Change, Structural Change, Fully Inclusive. We talked about taking action, and getting more training: People’s Institute Northwest is one resource. Using basic principles to guide us is another: one must have multi-racial group working on this. While people can’t be in charge of the community organizing. Reciprocity – it has to be a partnership. Identify small steps, celebrate successes but make sure you are looking on the horizon for the next step.

Sustainable Seattle in the News

Sustainable Seattle has been recognized as a world leader in sustainability indicators for many years and in February the Tampa Bay Business Journal, using some of the indicators from Sustainable Seattle and other organizations, awarded businesses certificates of recognition for excellence. The following is a reprint of the article from the Tampa Bay Business Journal and all rights remain with them.

(For the original article click here).

Thursday, February 18, 2010, 1:09pm EST | Modified: Thursday, February 18, 2010, 1:10pm

Walker, Pender, DLA among sustainable companies to be honored

Tampa Bay Business Journal

Eighteen Tampa Bay companies will be recognized Friday at Earth Charter U.S.’s second annual Sustainable Business Awards luncheon. A partnership with the University of Tampa’s Center for Ethics, the event will be held at UT’s Vaughn Center.

The honorees were selected out of a pool of 32 companies nominated by graduate students of Jan Roberts, founder of Earth Charter and an adjunct instructor at UT, a release said.

The students, guided by Roberts and Dr. Daniel Verreault, co-director of the Center for Ethics, developed the award criteria using sources such as Global Reporting Initiatives, Sustainable Seattle, Sustainable Florida and the U.N. Global Compact.

“These companies are setting the standards for Tampa Bay area sustainability practices,” Verreault said in the release. “They are taking a people, profit, planet approach to company policies and also realizing significant cost-savings in their operations.”

Case studies were performed on a single honoree in each of the three categories, based on number of employees, to assess the sustainable measures the companies have put in place.

The law firm DLA Piper in Tampa, the leader in the large company category, put in place its Climate Change Project that aims to provide subsistence farmers in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda with the means to reduce the effects of deforestation, drought and famine using the sale of greenhouse gas credits to create long-term revenue. DLA Piper attorneys have donated $300,000 to the relief efforts and will continue to invest in the rebuilding of Haiti, the release said.

DLA Piper also offers a hybrid vehicle reimbursement policy and an alternative commuting incentive program for employees who use public transportation, carpool or bicycle for at least 60 consecutive days.

In the medium business category, Pender Newkirk & Co. in Tampa reinvested half its profits in 2005 in software programs aimed at becoming a more paperless company, the release said. Employees can now store files electronically, receive faxes via e-mail, employ electronic payroll and scan documents instead of making paper copies. The office also uses all recycled computers.

Walker Brands, a branding agency in Tampa, is among the honorees in the small business category.

The company is the first privately funded company with a building certified Gold by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, the release said. It includes heat flow reduction features, native landscape with less irrigation required, motion-sensored lighting, reclaimed heart pine wood flooring and more than 75 percent exposure to natural light.

As a result, the building’s design has reduced energy consumption by 30 percent and water consumption by more than 40 percent.

The complete list of honorees includes:

Large Business Category, 251 or more employees:Xerox

Progress Energy

McNichols Co.

DLA Piper

Sandpearl Resort

Medium Business Category, 51 to 250 employees:Pender Newkirk & Co.

Infinity Business Systems

Creative Recycling Systems

Creative Contractors

Rev1 Power Services

Coastal Caisson

Small Business Category, 50 or fewer employees:Rising Force Construction

IT Authorities

Nvirotect Services

Walker Brands

Bay Tech Label

Happy Feet Plus

Special Award for Innovation:K.B. Industries Inc.

Tom Garrett, assistant professor of communications at UT, will have his students film the award presentation and conduct interviews with the honorees on their sustainability efforts. The footage will appear on Earth Charter’s Web site.

Based in Tampa, Earth Charter U.S. is a nonprofit organization that aims to provide an ethical framework to building a more sustainable global society.