The first time I saw William McDonough speak on a DVD called “Powershift”, I had a V-8 moment: a smack on the side of the head. “How many designers can go out and design a building that makes oxygen, sequesters carbon, fixes nitrogen, distills water, provides habitat for hundreds of species, accrues solar energy as fuel, makes complex sugars and food, changes colors with the seasons and self-replicates?”, he asked. To answer his own question, he designed a building for Oberlin College like a tree: it makes oxygen, sequesters carbon, purifies its own sewage, produces more energy than it needs to operate and provides a healthy and happy environmental for all species: indoor and out.
Utterly fascinated, I vowed to meet McDonough in person and later that year, I got my chance at the U S Green Building Council’s (USGBC) 2006 5th Greenbuild Convention in Denver, Colorado. Granted, I am neither a builder nor an architect- I went to learn about “Building a Bright Green Future”-and meet McDonough. In fact, I found myself surrounded by 18,000 passionate Green people from all professions and a mind blowing array of world renown speakers. David Suzuki, a brilliant Canadian scientist & environmentalist opened the conference, William McDonough “Mr. Cradle-to Cradle (C2C)” gave the keynote speech and Jeffery Sachs, Economist from the Earth Institute, closed! I felt like I was at the Green Oscars and came out primed & pumped to make my world Green by thinking smarter.
Unfortunately, I could not attend Greenbuild’s 2007 Convention in Chicago (which was swamped by 22,283 attendees). However, due to the USGBC’s generous ongoing education program, everyone can now go into their website (www.greenbuild365.org) and watch their archived videos for free. Last year, Bill Clinton gave the keynote speech where he announced his $3 Billion Clinton Climate Initiative to retrofit schools. While the video is rather long (2 hrs.!), it does introduce you to some fabulous people, including Jerome Ringo of the Apollo Alliance (Green Collar Jobs) and George Watsky of Youth Speaks (moving performance art). Another fascinating (and shorter) clip is of Paul Hawkens, author of “Blessed Unrest: How the Greatest Movement came into being and nobody saw it coming”. (watch videos of each on youtube!) This year’s 2008 Greenbuild Convention is in Boston,-Nov. 19-22- with Desmond Tutu as the Keynote speaker. The tipping point has happened.
Since then, I’ve became hooked on webinars, and signed in with Focus the Nation to watch the “Face IT” webcast (www.architecture2030.org/faceit/webcast.php) aired live to 1,500 campuses, faith and civic organizations and in all 50 states on Jan. 31, 2008 (but still online to watch when you want). Sponsored by the USGBC, it was produced by Architecture 2030 (another non-profit established to fight global-warming by architect Edward Mazria in 2002). 2030’s Challenge is that all new buildings, developments and major renovations (and an equal amount of existing buildings) be designed or renovated to meet a fossil fuel, GHG-emitting, energy consumption performance standard of 50% and that the fossil fuel reduction standard for all new buildings be increased to 60% in 2010, 70% in 2015, 80% in 2020, 90% in 2025 until Carbon-neutral in 2030 (using no fossil fuel GHG emitting energy to operate).
Challenge 2030’s targets require implementing innovative sustainable design strategies, generating on-site renewable power and/or purchasing (20% maximum) renewable energy and/or certified renewable energy credits. The 2030 Challenge was issued in January 2006, and since then, numerous groups have signed on to implement its targets, including the US Conference of Mayors (also signed by the Majors of Aguadilla, Camuy and Yauco in Puerto Rico!), American Institute of Architects (AIA), US Green Building Council (USGBC), Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA/Target Finder), Royal Architecture Institute of Canada (RAIC), International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), Union Internationale des Architectes (UIA), and more. Even President Bush signed a bill with The 2030 Challenge. After being passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives, the Energy Independence and Security Act became law with the President’s signature in December 2007. Section 433 of this bill requires that all federal buildings meet the energy performance standards of The 2030 Challenge.
The most fun about watching the FACE IT webcast was to follow up with the winners of the Reverberate Competitions, divided into graphic design and video for $40,000 in prize money. Qualifying students had 24 hours to come up with a painted face or body part; in either black & white or color and a week to make a video. “The Future is a Verb. Spread the Word” was the competition’s tagline. Check out the winners great entries. Watch their Videos. http://www.architecture2030.org/faceit/faceit_index.php?most_recent_video=1 And, think.
