Building Alive, Designing to Thrive

"Life creates situations conducive to life…we must strive to do that" -Paul Hawken I've discussed this before, but I think it's worth addressing again; what ever happened to the precautionary principle? Why doesn't it apply to building science?   Imagine a world where it is harder to create a building or product that hurts the Earth than one that heals it- I believe that was the original intention of Building codes, Material Safety Data Sheets, and EPA regulation. But instead, it has provided opportunity for companies to say their products are safe because no one can prove they are dangerous!   Modern humans spend about 90% of their time in buildings- but still we construct them and finish them off with products that aren't healthy to breathe, touch, or make.   An article was published early last week about the long term negative health effects of 9/11 victims , rescuers, and so on. This year, dozens have died from cancers that can'...

  A CSO in Brooklyn Source: Dontflush.me     The NYC+NJ Living Building Challenge Collaborative recently completed its first firm draft of a feasibility review on achieving Net Positive Water in New York City. Before I get into a NYC specific discussion, some of you may need a little background- PETAL INTENT (from the Living Future Institute) The intent of the Water Petal is to realign how people use water and to redefine ‘waste’ in the built environment, so that water is respected as a precious resource. Scarcity of potable water is quickly becoming a serious issue as many countries around the world face severe shortages and compromised water quality. Even regions that have avoided the majority of these problems to date due to a historical presence of abundant fresh water are at risk: the impacts of climate change, highly unsustainable water use patterns, and the continued drawdown of major aquifers portend significant problems ahead. IDEAL CO...

Can we review the headlines in the news over the past week?   Houston- 8" of rain in 1 hour India- Heatwaves 120 degrees Fahrenheit kill over 1,000 Galapagos- Volcano erupts, threatening to wipe out fragile species that helped Darwin develop the theory of evolution Worldwide- increase of allergies globally as warmer seasons spread ragweed and other pollens- increased C02 will feed them. California- Santa Barbra oil spill over 100,000 gallons of crude oil last week.   And you want to sit there and tell me Climate Change isn't real?   And/ OR that humans have nothing to do with it? Then this is you my friend (insert pic)     The fact is, it's real and it's happening. So you can stick your head in the sand or you can be a part of the solution. And believe it or not, the solution doesn't even require you to give up something. You just need to get it a different way.   Energy is our Achilles heel, but also ou...

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...