Re: "Green" or "Sustainable" ... or both? (Fred H Olson) | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Greg Smith (ygrecmac.com) | |
Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2007 03:47:33 -0800 (PST) |
I would like to add a next-step thought to the conversation of Green
and Sustainable. It comes from William McDonough, an architect living
in Charlottesville, VA and practicing worldwide (this is paraphrased).
He challenges us to see beyond these words as they don't describe what we really are looking for. If asked about your relationship with your partner, is 'sustainable' a good thing? Probably not! He also asks that we design our world to love all the children of all species for all time.
Let's build a world that is in true partnership with what surrounds us, not one where we can only minimize our damage.
Greg Smith Jamaica Plain Cohousing Boston, MA On Nov 6, 2007, at 6:16 AM, cohousing-l-request [at] cohousing.org wrote:
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2007 06:50:09 -0800 (PST) From: Fred H Olson <fholson [at] cohousing.org> Subject: [C-L]_ "Green" or "Sustainable" ... or both? To: -cohousing-L mailing list <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.62.0711050644110.15775 [at] farnsworth.tigertech.net> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCIIAnn Zabaldo <ann.zabaldo [at] gmail.com> is the author of the message below. It was posted by Fred the Cohousing-L list manager <fholson [at] cohousing.org>due to a problem. -------------------- FORWARDED MESSAGE FOLLOWS -------------------- Hello all --One of my partners, Meda Ling, wrote the following piece looking at the qualities of what makes something "green" and/or "sustainable." I hopeyou get as much from it as I did! Ann --begin-- As noted, "green" and "sustainable" is not the same thing. There are many shades of "green". But "green" initiatives are inherently part of the sustainability formula, as is COHOUSING. As noted in ULI-The Urban Land Institute's, Developing Sustainable Planned Communities, (2007) - the Three Pillars of Sustainability are: Environment Economy, and SOCIETY [my emphasis] TRUE "sustainability" is a holistic balance of ALL three elements. In developer parlance, cohousing is a type of planned community, unique in that the process of building cohousing places criticalimportance on "society". The cohousing movement has the potential to push the silver wave towards a more balanced approach to how we use our landresources and how the public comes to define true "community" and true sustainability. The concept of planned communities is not new. In the post war 50's & 60's (when most of the silver wave of boomers were born), there was a 'New Town' movement which sought to develop with sensitivity to the relationship between people and the environment - these pedestrian-oriented, humanely-scaled planned communities where one could work, live, and play...schools, shops, recreation & work - everything was within walking distance. Housing was clustered inneighborhoods and villages around commonly held green spaces. Planning & design professionals of the boomer generation will remember the principlesof "Designing with Nature" that was taught to us as a holistic strategy to mitigate the environmental impacts of a rapidly industrializing society. Even these principles were rooted in ancient concepts of 'common sense' land use (feng shui is among those ancient precepts). The intricate relationship between how the built environment affects people and vice versa, has long been studied. As our love affair with the automobile blossomed, the disconnect between people and the environment grew. We have literally and figuratively, "paved paradise and put up a parking lot." As a result, society has suffered along with the environment, and the economic costs of an auto-centriclifestyle grows. Witness: suburban sprawl. It is neither a sustainable,nor a "green" model for land use. We push for mass transit alternatives, yet simultaneously we continue to expand roadways to relieve traffic congestion (a politically expedient band-aid approach that has long been proven NOT to work) and the search for 'affordable' housing for the workforce in adensity-adverse society pushes residential bedroom community sprawl further and further out into the countryside so that the critical mass needed to support mass transit systems and get people to give up the convenience andnecessity of a personal automobile, cannot be accomplished. "Smart development" principles advocate putting density where densitymakes sense - at mass transit nodes, at work centers. Increased density where density makes sense is what enables "affordability"... it is whatenables "true green" by preserving precious agricultural land and sensitive habitats. Smart development enhances functional open spaceopportunities for human recreation and interaction with nature where it isneeded- at our front doors. "Smart development" provides humane and vibrant pedestrian-oriented work-live-play communities.Cohousing, is an approach to building communities from a strong foundation of society: one of the pillars of sustainability. Cohousing offers hope for sustainable community with a synergistic "green" relationship between people and environment. The potential is there. It will take persistence and deep pockets to navigate an often resistant regulatory system to buildnot just cohousing, but "smart", "green" cohousing and "sustainable" community in the truest sense of the word. Yes, cohousing can be some shade of "green" and with sufficient social equity, it can be "sustainable"... not just for the silver boomer generation, but for anyone and everyone who seeks to live more lightly on the land among reasoned society. Meda Ling Principal Partner, Cohousing Collaborative, LLC ...from dream to reality, building joyous, sustainable communities --end-- -- Ann Zabaldo Voice 202-291-7892 Fax 202-291-8594 Principal, Cohousing Collaborative, LLC Takoma Village Cohousing Washington, DC
peace, greg smith jamaica plain ma 02130
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