Do You Want Ecology With That?

With Al Gore and his team of filmmakers on “The Inconvenient Truth” winning the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature at this year’s Academy Awards, the issue of global warming became the resident cause for Hollywood types. At least for one day, the Academy acknowledged the problem, asserting that they had for the first time conducted a “completely green” telecast. What that means is unclear, and now that they’re on to the next thing, along with the next Oscar cycle, the entertainment community’s impact on the subject appears to have faded as quickly as people’s memories of who won which award. It doesn’t mean, however, that we land use types can’t think about the role our industry can play in the fight for environmental preservation. Historically, new additions to the built up environment and ecology have been mutually exclusive to one another. However, within the last few decades, this landscape has changed with the demands governments and consumers have placed on land use planning and building practices that help to alleviate the environmental impacts new development projects have on existing fauna, flora and other natural resources within the site’s orbit.

For instance, in El Salvador, the development company Lomas de Santa Elena has initiated a mega project called Emerald Ecozone, a multi-use development planned to be constructed in seventeen stages, with the first ten to be completed by next year. Located in the southern town of Cuscatalan, the project aspires “to inspire human interaction with nature and maintain a balanced ecosystem.” To achieve this goal, the developer is seeking to recreate El Imposible, the nation’s national park, within the confines of the development, to provide open space that the new residents of the gated community may enjoy. Putting aside the jokes of whether this effort is “possible,” the developer seeks to cater towards native Salvadorians who have spent time in the United States, and are now seeking an attractive retirement locale. In addition to the proposed parkland, the developer also plans to install solar paneling, encourage recycling, and abide by “eco-architecture” tenets.

In the United States, the green building movement has gained momentum in the last decade. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), a consortium of development constituencies, oversees the LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, certification process. Introduced in 1998, the LEED system sets forth a common standard of measurement for new projects in meeting environmentally-friendly guidelines while still remaining economically profitable. The multi-point system ranges over a spectrum of sustainability, from a project being “Certified,” to it being at “Platinum” level. The USGBC measures for site development sustainability, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. The LEED seal of approval, although not legally required, provides additional cache for new developments seeking to cater towards tenants and purchasers who are increasingly conscious of these ratings. With the high level of participation among development interests, the LEED process has grown in importance, and dictates a growing percentage of construction in America.

The movement towards more sustainable construction practices must warm the heart of Al Gore, who has made clear that although changes must be made to stem the tide of global warming, they can be done without completely changing our accepted way of life. Green building and sustainable site choices appear to be one step in the right direction. But without a clear guiding hand, how successful are these ad hoc approaches? Can Emerald Ecozone really achieve its goals of engineering “an environment where people live in harmony with nature”? Isn’t it really just another attempt to exploit untapped natural resources for the benefit of the privileged classes? And what about the sector of the industry that still operates without interest in the LEED certification process? How do we bring the entire industry tighter into the orbit of sustainable practices? Should this even be done, considering that environmentally-friendly construction may only be attainable for people who have the money to pay for it?

Behind all of these questions is the inconvenient truth that there are no easy answers. But with the wind heading in the direction of green practices, incremental change may lead towards a critical mass of shifting policy that will bring meaningful results for our sick planet. This week, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, along with Senator Barbara Boxer, both Californians, initiated the “Green the Capitol” initiative, a plan to investigate how to improve the environmental conduct of Congressional operations. Pelosi and Boxer have set an April 30th deadline to hear back from Congress' chief administrative officer on findings and approaches. As with the other changes sought by the Democratic-controlled Congress, only time will tell -- just like when Pelosi and Boxer's fellow Californians await who "the Oscar goes to."