Date: June 12, 2007

Time: 5:00 - 7:00 PM

Location: Frank Erwin Center, Austin, TX

To RSVP Click Here

 

A new $200 million children's hospital rethinks hospital design and crowns the site of Austin's Mueller Airport redevelopment with a place of healing that may become the first health-care facility in the U.S. to achieve a platinum LEED rating.

Swimming was never of much interest to me growing up in rural South Dakota.  The only natural body of water anywhere near where I grew up was always green with algae caused by agricultural pesticide runoff, and there were leeches in that lake.  We had a swimming pool in my town, but kids peed in there.  Ick.  Well, somehow I eventually learned to swim, or at least managed to stay afloat by attempting the breaststroke with an awkward scissor-kick or by swimming the backstroke until I bumped into something because I couldn't see where I was going.  I can actually swim freestyle now, but I hold my breath, because I'll swallow my weight in water as I turn my head gasping for air. 

 

I'll admit that there is probably a better way to make my point, but the reason I'm sharing this bit of personal information with you is because I think many of us in the building and landscape community are attempting to overcome a similar lack of skill when it comes to delivering green building projects.  We have all most likely become quite proficient with standard practices, but we're now painfully aware of just how much impact our actions in creating the built environment have on our own well-being as well as that of the planet.   We need to learn new skills because we're in the midst of redefining how we build and what we build with.  I actually enjoy swimming now because the notion of "sink or swim" isn't a very attractive concept if you want to swim in deep water.  Similarly, we are now faced with the choice of continuing to choke the atmosphere with pollutants and greenhouse gases or transform the way we live on this earth.  That's no small undertaking, however, compared to learning how to swim.

 

So what do you do to encourage change?  First, I would like to encourage you to get active in the green building community because it is extremely rewarding.  Getting involved allows your voice to identify obstacles, ask questions, share ideas and foster collaboration.  I don't have to look any further than our current USGBC Central Texas-Balcones Chapter board of directors and committee members to see all of this occurring.  We are continually discussing how we can further influence the full range of a project's development, decision making processes, and true measure of a building's performance and how it is "valued."  We are also tackling the comprehensive evaluation of what constitutes a sustainable site.  We need your participation to enhance the quality of  discourse and to contribute expertise.

 

The second way that you can encourage change is to support local initiatives and help spread the word.  We can look to Mayor Will Wynn and the Austin Climate Protection Plan as well as San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger and its City Council with their recent passage of a green building resolution that requires LEED Silver Certification for all new city-owned buildings.  In addition, the local chapters of USGBC, ASHRAE and AIA are starting to explore how they fit into the organizational partnering occurring at a national level brought on by Architecture 2030.  We've all been exposed to Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" and have probably installed CFLs in our homes and encouraged friends and family to follow suit.  But let's not stop there.

 

Your local chapter of USGBC is much more than a collection of people who want to promote and administer the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.  We are working very hard to create a more cohesive community of sustainability practitioners that foster information sharing, educational outreach, public forums and the creation of new ideas.  We want to be seen as a resource that will help accelerate the regeneration of buildings and communities.  In addition, we want to encourage partnerships that enable individuals, organizations, local government, non-profits and private business to foster collective strength toward those ends.

 

Please participate with us in whatever way you can.  I am involved because my one year-old son expects me to be.  For him, I will learn how to be a great swimmer.  You have permission to be selfish for whatever or whomever it is you care for most.  The USGBC Central Texas-Balcones Chapter is a great outlet that will allow you to do just that.

 

Kathy Zarsky

Chair, USGBC CTBC

 

The City of San Antonio passed a Green Building Resolution

to require LEED Silver on new City-Owned buildings. The City Council unanimously passed the resolution after Councilman Chip Haas proposed adding an amendment that would require an actual certification from the USGBC at the Silver Level. The Resolution also calls for the Metropolitan Partnership for Energy to develop further criteria that will be specific to the needs of our climate and geological location....click here.

 

Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows (Contributor), Jorgen Randers (Contributor)

 

A sequel to The Limits of Growth, three of the original authors argue that Earth's environmental decline is accelerating, and outline immediate actions necessary to bring demands on material resources within natural limits. "Boldly pragmatic."

The Technical Committee is working hard to provide direction toward true synthesis and innovation to enhance the LEED process.  Read the latest report from the Technical Advisory committee and see what they have to offer you. 

Come find knowledge in the first fruit of our labors: a simple interactive web forum on Green Building in Central Texas.  Learn more...