Building Alive, Designing to Thrive

Since starting my new position in New York City, I've had the opportunity to read several books that have been on my book list: An American River The author details how a major river in New Jersey also became a major dumping site for the processes of the industrial revolution. She describes the enormous challenges and dangers within the Superfund sites throughout the river, but also inspires the readers with her visits to pristine and restored parts of the Passaic River where life is thriving. Ecology of Commerce Paul Hawken describes the perverse economic systems that allow corporations to write off their incalculable damage to the environment as the cost of doing business. This book is a little more of a reality check than Blessed Unrest, which I also highly recommend for a dose of inspiration about positive change. Regardless, Hawken describes systems that punish polluters and even net neutral businesses, and encourage regenerative and closed loop systems.

Well, Good Morning readers! Here is a video recording of a spoken -word poem I wrote for you! I may just be turning 26, but I believe there's a whole world ahead of us to make better. Maybe it's naive, but I have had a challenging year, and I'm still trying- here's hoping this will inspire you to do the same! (Pardon the very rough recording :))

Garbage is Beautiful. And let me tell you why. In 2010, the EPA estimated the US produced over 240 million tons of municipal solid waste. That is over four pounds of garbage, per person, per day. We travel through our day throwing things ‘away’. But where do they go? Does your trash go to a landfill, incinerator, or Waste to Energy Plant? Currently in NJ, thirteen counties have solid waste landfills and five counties have resource recovery facilities (incinerators). Of the five counties with resource recovery facilities, three also have landfills to receive waste that cannot be burnt. Eight counties have awarded waste disposal contracts and require that all waste be sent to one facility for disposal. The remaining thirteen counties have a free market system and transporters may send waste out of the county or state. The majority of us don’t know information like this, and don’t care as long as we don’t have to look at it. But if we were forced to look at the garb

Zugunruhe is a German word that describes the unsettling feeling birds have that makes them want to migrate. They can sense change and they want to move ahead of it. This is a feeling that clearly the human species does not share with our avian brother. We live in places that have started to see storms beyond our imagining, drought, heat, extreme cold,etc. And yet we do not move. We dig in our feet and our oil wells and continue to 'prosper' International panels of scientists have overwhelmingly agreed that humans are affecting climate change. So, lets STOP arguing about whether it's real or not because it was cold this winter and START discussing solutions. This sculpture is called "Politicians Discussing Climate Change".  The 2 FEET of sea level rise expected to occur by 2050 can likely not be halted. So how can we create healthy, resilient places to live, now that we know?  I love the idea of green building and living infrastru

BIKE TO WORK DAY MAY 16, 2014 Bicycle Safety (now you know!) Bicycles on the roadway are, by law, vehicles with the same rights, and responsibilities as motorized vehicles. Bicyclists should travel with traffic, in the shoulder or as far over as is safely possible. In NJ, helmets are required for anyone under 18- however if you are biking in location where there is automobile traffic, it is highly recommended to take the extra step. When riding in groups, never ride more than 2 across. On narrow roads with no shoulder or bike lane, ride single file.  Use hand signals to notify motorists and other riders when you are turning or stopping "More than half of the U.S. population lives within five miles of their workplace, making bicycling a feasible and fun way to get to work. With increased interest in healthy, sustainable and economic transportation options, it’s not surprising that, from 2000 to 2011, the number of bicycle commuters in the U.S. grew by more tha

Many of you remember I completed my Climate Ride (320 miles from NYC to DC in 5 days by bike) about 6 months ago. I was remembering some of the opposition to my fundraising efforts- one guy actually said "I wish you were riding for something important, like cancer research". Of course this beyond frustrated me- I'll ride for what I support. And you ride for what you want to. Well that was my first reaction. Then, I crafted a message that described the reasons our causes were not so different. Since most cancers are results of environmental conditions, i.e. exposure to air, water, and land pollutions- we ARE in fact, on the same side. However, in raising money for a cure- you are not acknowledging the need for change at the source. The United States National Cancer Institute (NCI) has an annual budget of about 4.8 billion dollars. Imagine if even 25% of that went to environmental protection (and therefore, prevention). We are looking for a cure to a disease we as a spe

MSDS stands for: Material Safety Data Sheet It is intended to provide workers with all vital information about a product they are handling: melting point, boiling point, toxicity, first aid, etc. Most final products (like a refrigerator) do not require an MSDS. Chemicals and products in liquid form usually do. A safety data sheet is not intended for the final consumer - more for the person installing or working with the product in an occupational setting. Every country has different standards for what must be explored and declared on an MSDS. The EU, for example requires more ecotoxicity information than the US. And Canada considers different chemicals mandatory for listing. Of course all nations permit proprietary withholding to protect a company’s recipe. In the US, OSHA oversees MSDS creation and so it is OSHA I pick a fight with now. In pursuing the Living Building Challenge, every product that we put in our structure needs to be vetted to ensure it incl

Thinking beyond the tap requires a wide scope and deep understanding of our current use of water, our past use, and the values which surround it. This book was a gift, and to be honest I didn't think there would be information I didn't already know on some level. But Prud'homme relates what I see in my daily work to statistics, trends , and data in an easy to understand way. We are a species made of 90% water, yet we don't think about the connection we have to all water. Everything we put in our bodies affects everything else that depends on water; which is EVERYTHING. Are you grasping yet how big this concept is?? For Example, in the 1950's, America used about 150 Billion gallons of water per day. In 2005, we used 410 Billion gallons per day. So we put on efficient showerheads and move on- right? No, almost all (90%) of that water use is from commercial, industrial, and agricultural practices. Yes, there is something fundamentally wrong with the people