Surely everyone now knows that we are dealing with bigger problems than pollution and conservation. The popularity of the concept of sustainability has become a catchphrase in countless articles, although there is still some confusion on the subject. There are health issues related to indoor air quality that aren’t quite sustainable, but fall into the green realm for life. Pollution issues are also well known and are all but brushed aside with secondary concerns about the rainforest, the whale population, polar bear habitat, and the receding ice sheet. However, the need for a green building has become the hot topic of the business community and various government bodies. This, I’m afraid, is a good idea that has gone too far.
The construction or renovation of buildings is meritorious and certainly is part of the great response to the environmental problems of our day. It seems that our constant search for better, brighter and more powerful products has neglected to ask other questions about the health and safety of the living things that inhabit this world, including the much criticized human species. Although man has been a problem at times, he has also been the cure for problems that require more than nature’s supplies. More on the subject at hand, do green buildings faithfully address the environmental problems we face in the most appropriate way? To answer the question, let’s take the illustration to a hyperbole. Could a non-green, anti-green or agnosti-green business operate in what would be a green built facility? Sure it could, although I’m sure the architects of the Green facility would place restrictions on tenants. Thus, we have the challenge of behavior versus environment. Can a tenant spread pesticides after carelessly allowing food to be left out? Could purchasing equipment after leasing a facility alter the building owner’s best practices? Can a company be extremely negligent in the use of paper and packaging material? Could this fishing company not recycle, waste resources, and carelessly buy from non-green suppliers?
Green practices are the proverbial “other side of the coin” that I’m sure you are expected to hold to a higher standard. But therein lies the problem. After all that has been done to create a green building, how much do tenants really know about the green practices that should be associated with green operation? We have seen low-income housing enter areas that were intended to give the people of that community a better life, but without stereotyping anyone, were there families that did not take care of those houses? If the premises were not cleaned, maintained and protected from abuse; they would eventually fall into disrepair despite the best intentions of the people who built those houses.
I want to make the point that we are not educating the tenants and associates who will be moving into the newly built green buildings. Although well-intentioned and positively oriented towards environmental issues, the depth of environmental understanding of the average worker in the resident business will negate a considerable part of the good that needs to be done. I advocate a green management training program for all businesses, large or small, delivered by a certified green consultant capable of addressing the myriad of issues contained within the broader scope of environmental concerns. Do workers know what VOCs are, where they come from, and what they need to know about the dozens and dozens of sources of VOCs? HEPA is a half-understood word often heard around vacuum cleaners? What are the many ways to reduce water consumption besides refusing to wash your hands after using the bathroom? Has the company’s sales force gotten into the “big picture” of tools that improve performance and reduce travel? There are many of these precious important ideas that could and should be shared, but they must come from a much better source than a handout picked up at the last seminar.
Green businesses may rent, lease, or own their facilities. The operation or business practices can literally function within some otherwise non-green buildings. If pushed into action with routine improvement, almost any business can reduce energy and water use without noticeable interference with normal operations. Why not require that the concierge service be Green certified and use only Green cleaning products? Should decisions like buying furniture, painting walls, and replacing carpets allow input from a certified green consultant even if your building is not LEED certified? Once again, the answer is a resounding “Yes.”
Constructing a new building or renovating an existing building to a green certification standard can cost millions of thousands of dollars above the costs of a typical building program. There is no effort to criticize that level of commitment to the cause. Yet what I see routinely belies the obvious good intentions of green buildings and draws my attention to the daily operation and labor practices of companies that don’t think about or realize the impact of the myriad actions millions take every day. of people. business There is a desperate and universal need for Green educators, trained as professional and certified Green Consultants, to go to work in every city and town. Companies, which previously required sensitivity training among their workers, now need to educate their workers about something that hurts us all.
Our country abounds in companies that are small, medium and large. We shouldn’t build buildings that are great in concept but are inhabited by people who are just environmentally entertaining. Green training and management processes are as critical to overall success as solar panels and sunlight vents. If this is our chance to make a difference in the world we all share, it cannot be left to engineers, architects and builders alone. It is a burden shared by those who will daily live the visions now turned into the buildings of a greener world.