Green "Kum-ba-ya" to Improve YourLife

Sunday, June 21, 2009 at 5:39PM

This is a "first of its kind" blog for usat Consilience: The Blog. Thisblog edition will notprovide insights in improving your professional practice. Nor will it address a newsustainabilitymethod or idea that will make you more effective in your next project.Having said that, a few of you have already tuned out. It is a guest blog by Joseph Snider, AIA. I decided to post Joe's words because they contain a personal message and a messagethat is arguably more important than our typical topics. It is about the quality of your life. It is about how the most simple of tasks to "green" or recycle or conserve resources, can become a "life-changing experience," an experience that can impact you, your children, family and friends. [Recognize these words from the opening message of Dr. Phil?]. Some of you may say, Grant, you have gone "touchy-feely on me." Or, I know you as a pragmatic professional with an academic bent - but never as a"Kum-ba-ya" singer. Your comments would be dead on in most cases. But this piece"closed the loop" for me. What I mean is that sustainable development is all about individual actions that impact us from the personal level to thecommunity, to the region and ultimately the globe. Joe's piece is an example of how our actions come back to us - full circle. That is, how our individual actions can loop back from the individual to the global and back to the individual. Give his thoughts a try . . . and let me know what you think.
As we all know, many people are striving to live greener these days. These actions are usually inspired by a mix of goals, ranging from a personal commitment to consume fewer resources, to the realization that many conservation measures also make great economic sense. But could living a greener life go beyond our conscience and pocketbooks and enhance our lives in other ways, or conversely, could rediscovering a sense of community actually help our greening efforts?

My sister who recently visited for a few weeks made an observation that caused me to reflect on my own life and on what perhaps could be another intangible to living green. She noticed that the way my wife and I live seemed to bring us closer together. For some context, my wife and I have shared one car for over 6 years. Wherever we have lived, we have chosen to create a life around minimal driving, walking, and biking whenever possible. Courtney chose to locate her Delray Beach Acupuncture practice in downtown Delray Beach, FL, where we live. My office is on the same block, and we made a concerted effort to live close to downtown. The end result is that we commute together, and our daily lives are intrinsically linked together by our transportation habits. Due to our mutual dependence on the one vehicle, we are always conscious of the other’s schedule and needs, and we spend additional amounts of time together where we share important moments, first planning, and later reflecting upon our days. We are often amazed at how little time couples get to spend together due to the complexities of pursuing the American dream. It is not always easy and convenient, but it is very cost effective and works well with our environmental values. Throughout the day, our lives are intertwined as a direct result of our transportation decisions.

Making choices to live greener is not always easy and can often take coordination and planning, but can bring people together towards a common goal. Conserving resources often translates to sharing of resources and an understanding that more can be accomplished as a group than individually. There are many great examples: parents and children working together to conserve water and energy in their homes; community gardens bringing neighbors together to grow food; beach cleanups uniting old and young; and co-workers sharing rides to work.

It used to be that society was ordered around such community building activities out of necessity due to lack of resources. But while we certainly have gained personal freedom through the automobile, electricity, and fresh water supply to every household, one might begin to wonder if we have lost a little in community along the way. Perhaps our path to a greener world might be a little rediscovery of how we can work together to be more efficient. Maybe we can not only look forward to a healthier environment with lower electric bills or fewer visits to the pump, but we can also grow a little closer to our neighbors, and perhaps even our loved ones living under the same roof.

-------------------- Joseph Snider, AIA, LEED AP, is a green architect and founder of Building Green Generations, Inc., providing LEED and green building services, and sustainability consulting in Delray Beach, FL. He is currently serving the Palm Beach County Green Task Force, recently completed work with the Delray Beach Green Task Force, and is a past Board Member of the South Florida Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council. He can be contacted at .