Sustainability

Sustainability implies equilibrium in a system. A system can be a simple chemical reaction, an old growth forest, or our solar system. The inputs and outflows need to balance (be in equilibrium) in order to maintain the conditions that allow survival of the system. Equilibrium can be destroyed by too much or too little. For example, lack of food will eventually result in death for any plant or animal. On the other hand, too much CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere threatens to change climate in ways that threaten multiple species and ecosystems. The acceptance (finally!) of global warming, and to a lesser extent the acknowledgement of the political and environmental dangers of oil dependency, have led to the realization that we must think about sustainability in personal, economic, and political decisions.
It is important to look at the big picture of resource use, rather simply jumping into "green" trend. Designers will take on roles as educators and advocates in the implementation of sustainable design in built environments.
(For this entry the terms sustainable, green, eco-friendly, and such will be used interchangeably.)
Many magazines, both design and general publications, have articles pertaining to green design, green living, and green products. Natural Home, Innovative Home, and Dwell are examples of publications that focus mostly on how to make individual homes and neighborhoods eco-friendly. Natural Home covers remodels and new buildings which use sustainable design, as well as some articles on energy efficiency and living off the grid. It features many organic and sustainably produced products, from linens to flooring. Gardening articles and recipes are included in some issues.
Dwell's emphasis is on prefabricated homes, both urban and rural. The homes are generally sleek, modern structures. Most have multiple sustainable features, and most are relatively modest in size. However, these are mostly very expensive homes for early adopters of new technologies.
Innovative Home has recently changed its focus to "green building and modern design". While it is geared to the individual home and neighborhoods, it is a bit more technical than Dwell or Natural Home. The current issue has an article on transmaterials (see my entry, "2 + 1 Technologies"). Each of these three magazines is written for readers who have some basic knowledge about sustainability. Many general/home/women's interest magazines such as Better Homes and Gardens and Family Circle feature articles with more elementary information--such as recycling, using cloth bags at the grocery store, and sealing drafts from windows and doors. For all of these magazines, sustainability is a more or less personal issue limited to your house, your neighborhood.
Solar Today concentrates on solar technologies, as well as issues like water use and transportation. Most of the focus is on the use of solar design for buildings. A recent issue defines sustainability. "Buildings that address energy and environmental ... factors, we dubbed sustainable design" because they "lessen our impact on the environment".
An article in this month's popular science magazine, Discover, discusses a new prefabricated house. It is part of an exposition in San Francisco, called West Coast Green. It is the first fully manufactured iteration of Michael Kaufmann's mkLotus house. Besides using all sustainable materials, the home has a "living roof". Off site construction reduces waste by 75%, and its small, 700 sq. ft. size makes for a small carbon footprint. With a BIG cost! $294.00 which, according to the article is double the square foot cost of 93% of all new homes in the U.S.
This is an example of the downside of sustainable design. There is a perception that it is only for the rich, and that has been a mostly accurate assessment until now.
This month's UTNE Reader includes an article on sustainable design that is affordable, even in low income housing. It also has a piece on one of the pitfalls of the trendiness of "green" everything. Mick Dalrymple, creator of the PBS TV show, Build It Green, discussed the idea that living in a way that will support the health of ourselves and the planed is not about buying lots of green stuff. He argues that we must look at whole systems. That means sighting buildings to take advantage of daylight, breezes, opportunities for passive solar. And we have to take in to consideration the size of our homes. A McMansion full of sustainable products is no environmental bargain.
Plenty Magazine moves from the local scene of Natural Home, et al, and gets global. Topics in the current issue include: eco-friendly banks (who knew!), an interview with Amory Lovins on the national and global advantages of energy and resource efficiency, transportation systems, food, and wind technology. A cover story is "Function Over Form", a conversation with solar pioneer Travis Price. Price is a critic of LEEDS. Although he sees some advantages, he desires and architecture that it more than a "checklist" of insulation thicknesses and such. He thinks LEEDS makes for engineering, not architecture. He also thinks it crushes free trade and innovative thinking. For example, it galls him that architects must buy local or regional products. He says, "You can't impede bringing in Plybo0 (a sustainable, hardwood flooring) from China because it's not local. That's hippie-dippie talk." He sees two real environmental problems: suburban sprawl and the export of the American way of life to countries like China and India. He wants an architecture that arises from our deep connection to the natural world, an "architecture of the spirit" which incorporates stillness, movement, and nature. All in all he wants not just checklist sustainability, but a philosophy of design that gives rise more organically to structures that connect us to nature.
Finally, Urbanland, from the Urban Land Institute, looks at sustainability as an issue of urban planning. The philosophy is summed up by Sim Van der Ryn, president of the Ecological Design Institute in Sausalito, CA. He proposes, "Surpassibility [as a] form of ecological design that minimizes environmentally destructive impacts by integrating itself with living processes. [emphasis mine] While green building tends to focus primarily on the energy consumption of a particular structure, ecological design extends that focus to the structure's effect on the environment."
So sustainability is the buzz word right now. It has it's roots in basic biology and the idea of systems in equilibrium. I hope the idea of sustainability is not a fad and that it will become a part of our thinking and doing. Clearly, current media use the term in ways both small (recycle your paper) to large (it is involves a global paradigm shift).