Build2Sustain: An alchemy approach

Yahya Henry shares his thoughts with us this week.  You can find out more about Yahya on the B2S Team page.

On October 15^th we witnessed the web’s largest social event with Blog Action Day. This year the focus was climate change and on October 24^th the International Day of Climate Action will take place. There will be events all of over the world to raise awareness about climate change. To date, I have not seen any such movement take place in the building industry. There are several conferences throughout the year but none that reach as many people as the two aforementioned events. Blog Action Day reached over 18,000,000 readers and the International Day of Climate Action, I’m sure, will have a similar affect.

Why has the industry that contributes most to GHG emissions been the quietest? Yes, we have LEED, EarthCraft, EnergyStar and other rating systems, but no single organization has rang the alarm to say “Wrong Way, Detour.” Perhaps subtleness works, but I don’t think subtleness is what’s required right now. The demand for energy resources is increasing; the demand for space is increasing but a standard has yet to be developed for the building industry globally. When I think about the potential we all carry, alchemy is brought to mind.

Alchemy is an ancient philosophy that affirms that with the right formula and proper manipulation any metal could be transformed into gold; those who practiced were called Alchemists. We’re not in a society where Alchemy is practiced, but I believe the same principles can be applied to the building industry. Once we have created the formula, we can create a legion of Alchemists that turn buildings into gold. Build2Sustain’s renovation model carries many of the alchemic principles. Great thinkers of our time have solved problems by pulling from other industries - sometimes industries completely unrelated to the problem. Notable examples include Henry Ford and the assembly line, Richard Branson and Virgin, Ted Turner and CNN.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho is my personal favorite book. It tells the story of a boy who leaves his home country in search of his “Personal Legend”; you could also say his destiny. Inevitable to any journey, there were many hard lessons and detours before he reached his treasure. The building industry has started on a journey towards energy efficiency and sustainability. Like the boy in ‘The Alchemist’, our industry has come to realize that we do not exist solely to build, buy and trade real estate. We’ve come to understand that, with thought leadership, we can solve many of our toughest challenges, but it’s imperative that we embark on a path to get us there.

I would say the journey for our industry started when LEED benchmarks were put in place by the USGBC in 2000. The evolution had been slow until late 2005/early 2006; now you can’t avoid some discussion on the issue of green building and sustainable design. There will be many more debates on what the focus should and should not be on in pursuit of a better built environment. I appreciate what Build2Sustain presents:

Part office makeover reality series…part social network and online community organizer…part catalyst for systemic change, Build2Sustain will be a working, transparent laboratory for the best minds in sustainable building and design.

…that is in essence Alchemy at work.

Comments

[Christopher G. Hill]

Cool post YahYa! Great metaphor and use of alchemy.

[Yahya E. B. Henry]

Thanks Chris. Hopefully we find the 'formula'.