Building Alive, Designing to Thrive

Working in the sustainability field has been turned on its head during the Coronavirus pandemic. I went on a short hiatus to become a Mom (Elliott was born in March of 2020 only a few days before lockdown in NJ), and when I resurfaced, our approach needed to be different, here are some examples: Typically, the balance between ample fresh air within a building and energy use would result in driving the building toward lower energy use. Now, the ability to increase the outdoor air is desirable and is carrying more importance as a design consideration. We almost always pursued green cleaning operations and maintenance plans with our projects, however the Green Seal certified (or other healthy for people) cleaning products do not disinfect to the level desired for Covid- forcing teams to decide between abandoning their healthy cleaning policies and safety. Everything is packaged and sealed, and wrapped again. Cafes stopped allowing refillable coffee cups, towns that had plastic ba

Chicago Cultural Center's Tiffany Dome My first trip to the Windy City did not disappoint; I was pleased overall with session content and have some takeaways from each below. Teslas vs: Duck Curve This session touched on something that we in the New York City Living Building Challenge Collaborative have been discussing . In California, high energy efficiency and solar PV requirements have lead to high renewables production mid day to the grid, and an exponentially higher demand on the grid towards late afternoon hours when everyone is heading home. At the same time, Electric vehicles could potentially charge mid day while people are at work, and 'sell' some of their battery charge to the grid in the early evening when people are home and won't need their full remaining capacity. The grid here on the east coast isn't well suited to accept power, I am curious to see this theory grow. Building the First LEED Platinum City Washington DC announced last year

Hello peers! Yes, I realize this is super late- but better than never! This year, I participated in Plastic Free July  with about a dozen people from my former office. I made a pledge to do my best to reduce the amount of single-use plastics I used throughout the entire month. July snuck up on me, but I made a few immediate changes : Get a bigger purse- It may feel like you're saving space to have a compact bag where nothing else fits, but having a larger purse allowed me to refuse a plastic bag and place things directly in my handbag like: fruit, convenience store groceries, etc. Carry a reusable tote-You'd be surprised how many times people use a plastic bag because they forgot their bags at home. Best way to avoid that? Carry one in your now larger purse, leave a couple in the car, an one in your work desk- voila! You've always remembered now! Carry a reusable straw- I am very excited about my Final Straw (image below) that I ordered- but they won't be f

...Not that you asked Because there are so many wonderful people and projects to celebrate, no one was able to share any thanks or wisdom at the big bang dinner- but in case you were wondering, here's mine :) In 2010, I suggested to Mark Biedron, co founder of The Willow School, that he could use my help in creating his vision, a building that would act like a tree. For the next four years, I served as consultant, coordinator, educator, construction manager, and site police woman to guide the Health, Wellness, and Nutrition Center towards its goal of Living Building Challenge certification. In 2013, Paul Hawken spoke at Living Future and said, "Are these (climate change) things happening to us, or for us? If to us, we are victims. If for us, they are a catalyst for change". I believe this project is another enzyme in the series of catalyzing events that spurs us forward. I believe my hill to climb has gotten just a little bit lower, and will continue to wear

January 20, 2017 People continue remarking how Historic today is. Historic seems like a big word, and yet- it's totally neutral. Barack Obama as the first African-American President, historic. Hitler's genocide on the Jewish and minority peoples of Europe- also historic. I believe it's historic for many reasons, but the most notable to me are: A man who lost the election got elected. By a difference of over 2 million votes!!! 1 of the least qualified people EVER to run has been elected to the most powerful position in the free world An open campaign of hatred, bigotry, assault, misogyny, sexism, and racism (to name a few) is what got that under-qualified candidate elected. And it has impassioned a sect of America we had swept under the carpet for many years. The American people are engaged. Perhaps our mistake was resting on the laurels of our successes and growth in justice and equality. But the election of Donald Trump proves how little progress we have reall

💜 I apologize for reading in this video, but I had a bunch of points to make and if I go off book the list may have grown too long. xo, Casey