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The US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program (LEED) is based on some really cool Core Concepts:  Sustainable Sites; Water Efficiency; Energy and Atmosphere; Materials and Resources; Indoor Environmental Quality; and Innovation and Design.  When expanded to the new LEED Certification for Neighborhood Development, there are also some added concepts:  Smart Location and Linkage; Neighborhood Pattern and Design; and Green Infrastructure and Building.

Within each of the Core and Expanded Concepts there are goals, strategies, measures, and standards.  Wow, this is a really a great tool!  And great tools are an important part of a larger sustainability plan.  Plans are based on larger concepts.  In Sustainability, those larger concepts could be:  the Triple Bottom Line, The Natural Step, Zero Waste.  Once under a larger Sustainability Umbrella, the tools come out with more purpose.  Tools should be able to quantify base-line data and also to follow data over time, perhaps even identify opportunities.

According to the US Green Building Council (USGBC), “Information is the foundation for action and improvement”.  This is not an original thought… We knew this; but have we actually been tracking our consumption?  Our consumption of energy and water?  Our consumption of other natural resources in the products that we use and buy?  The waste of natural resources in the items that we throw “away”?  Where actually is “away”, anyway?

Especially in times of economic troubles, we need to look for opportunities.  There are opportunities all around us for energy and water conservation, and efficiencies – and subsequent cost savings. There are opportunities to choose more wisely in purchasing, and in reducing waste.  We are at a crossroads.  We can change the way that we value natural resources, human resources, and come up with a better model.  We can move forward with a more thoughtful plan.

I am reading The Value of Nothing, by Raj Patel.  Historically, we have valued our natural (and human) resources in terms of what we can get for them, instead of what they are truly worth.  When we evaluate the trade-offs between direct capital and operating costs, I suggest that we look forward and consider more long-term and wider-reaching benefits and consequences of our choices than we have been doing.  Our world is a lovely place, a delicate place, a resilient place, an honorable place.  But in the scope of time, it is only our place to visit and move on.  We should cherish it with our actions today, in order that we preserve it for more tomorrows.

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