Chattanooga Pulse

It’s that time of year again. The leaves are changing, colder weather is moving in, and all over the country, architects, consultants, engineers, designers, planners, students, LEED APs and sustainability enthusiasts are gearing up for the environmental event of the year: Green Build 2009.

Green Build is the USGBC’s annual conference and expo. As a quick refresher, the USGBC (U.S. Green Building Council) sets LEED standards. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating systems set the pace for sustainability in building design and operations. The organization is quickly expanding, now covering neighborhood development and healthcare. LEED and the USGBC may seem like a small niche in the sustainability movement, but the organization and its rating systems apply to many areas.

Americans spend most of their time indoors. We clear habitats to build our structures and we pour massive amounts of our natural resources into their creation. We cover the walls of our buildings with paint-emitting toxic fumes, causing headaches, dizziness and, at worst, damage to our nervous systems. From these buildings, we throw 136 million tons of waste away annually. Some of us drive long distances from the homes in which we spend our nights to the buildings where we will spend our days, emitting thousands of pounds of pollutants in the air. Our buildings drain 14 percent of our potable water supply and utilize 72 percent of the electricity generated in this country. Our buildings can make us sick when we use harmful materials to clean and control pests. The conventional way of building and operating our infrastructure is the bulk of what stands between a sustainable future and us.  A business-as-usual attitude limits the reserves of potential innovation in this country.

This has not been written to prove that Americans don’t care about the environment or that we should all abandon what we’ve built and live in the woods. What this evidence proves is that we are capable of building something better. We can work with natural systems. We can continually invent better, healthier ways of living. The outcome of operating with as little impact as possible does not have to translate into either we have our comfortable, 21st-century lifestyles or we sacrifice for the cause. Sustainability translates into opportunity for everyone. We can infuse the economy with products that are better for us and the planet, leaving more resources for those who come after us.

LEED standards are an answer to conventional building and planning.  The standards advise that problems can be solved if we are innovative, that technology is our friend, and that progress need not come at the expense of human health and the environment.

The Green Build conference is massive. In 2008, the event drew 28,000 people and 800 vendors. Being surrounded by thousands of people working toward the same goal, a sustainable future, is inspiring. With all those vendors touting the latest in green products and technology, it’s obvious that progress is being made in building the green market.  Green Build has won a spot on the annual “50 fastest-growing trade shows in the U.S. and Canada” list for the past four years. Frame by frame, certification by certification, market transformation is taking place. Classes are held, equipping attendees to make a difference in their communities. But the standards aren’t perfect. Green Build provides an opportunity to trade lessons learned and recommend that changes be made.

This year, Green Build is being held in Phoenix, Arizona, but if you can’t make it, the USGBC makes many of the speakers’ speeches available online. For people under 25, the conference tickets are roughly 70 percent off. This year’s conference introduces a new event: the green building job fair, helping connect people to green-collar jobs.

Events like Green Build, when people come to together to advance this important transition, the shift to sustainability becomes less daunting. Yes, there is work to do; the problems are complex and the obstacles require perseverance, but with so many people invested, carving out a place for the green market in the global economy is possible. It’s more than possible. It’s happening.

Originally from South Carolina, Elizabeth Crenshaw moved to Chattanooga after graduating from Warren Wilson College in 2007. She is a LEED-accredited professional who believes sustainability can be achieved though applying the triple bottom line: people, planet, profit. In her spare time, she writes, takes pictures and practices yoga.