Green Building Community
What you count counts
Posted by: StacySinclair // Technical writer
I hope you will check out my latest blog for USGBC-LA: http://usgbc-la.org/blog/spotlight-on-sustainability-what-we-count-counts/
Allison Friedman // Rate It Green Admin
I am so in on using data for good! I know data can be manipulated, but if we're sincere, we can do so much. I so agree with you:
"When light is shined on a complicated, wicked problem, we want to solve it. How do we solve this through green buildings?"
"The key is to find solutions that win for everyone, not just for one group."
How do we fond these win-wins together, as a community, and at a time when our politics are so "anxious" and somehow we can't agree that the environment generally and climate change are top concerns? And, when we need to solve our challenges in socially just ways?
StacySinclair // Technical writer
I believe that we can make socially just and environmentally sound decisions now, regardless of what a group of politicians think. Doing the right thing is also doing good work for our community. The outcome of better connected communities and less impact to the planet speaks to power through action. There is no barrier to making the right choices, only having someone else subsidize them. So, if the right choices are good for business, I ask, why wait?
Allison Friedman // Rate It Green Admin
There's the business case - and the human case. Both make it clear: we can't wait. So much needs to happen that it's daunting. But so much also is. I look forward to working with you to promote activity at every level that IS working already, and then also to to encourage, inspire and facilitate people to learn, engage with each other and collaborate, and to act.
I struggle with how to get information where it's needed - and for this, I know we also need more people sharing what they know, and what they wish to know. One small example - I keep reading excited little blurbs of communities boting to go 100% renewable, and sometimes there's a count - like city #24 in the US! Great - I can't even find a master list to share with people. So even when there is good information, how do we find it and make it accessible.
And your point is an excellent one about needing to think about sustainably more widely. While green building has been my focus, with encouraging products and services in mind, sustainability only works if there is health involved, and social justice as well. A community isn't truly sustainable if only some people benefit, to be sure.
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