Are you green? Words can mean different things to different people. The word "green" seems to be based upon a genuine concern for health; your health, the health of those around you (both near and far) and the health of the planet. This simple concept is a great foundation for your own embellishments if you desire to be green. You might express that concern by recycling, or buying and consuming healthy food. Of course, merely focusing on health can be somewhat nebulous and open to a good deal of interpretation. If your taxes contribute to the deaths of innocent people half way around the world can you call yourself green? How much trash would you have to recycle to make up for the death of small child in Afghanistan? Maybe those questions aren't in good taste. If you need a happy face on everything find another blogger.
From this architect's point of view it seems more and more fashionable, marketable, and finally cost effective in terms of building life cycle to build green. I joined the United States Green Building Council (USGBC)a few years back and quit after I found out that they had recently approved some products made of plastic. Somehow that didn't quite fit into my definition of green. Maybe I was wrong in thinking that we should be more concerned with our carbon footprint. Maybe my studies in homestead sustainability from 35 years ago got in the way. Maybe I was just wrong and uninformed. Anyway, my middle ground was joining the Florida Green Building Coalition (FGBC). It was more local, I like that about an organization in which I am a member.
This article appears in Apr 22-28, 2009.