I was speaking with an author yesterday who was also an architect and builder who had dedicated his life to the design of ecological buildings and communities. Paul Belanger is located in Alberta and you can view some of his work here (www.sunandstraw.com)
We talked about sustainable communities and I asked him if he know about a graduate program that is offered by the University of Calgary called the Faculty of Environmental Design. Occupying an eagle eye's view at on the top two floors of a building on campus it incorporates the disciplines of Environment Science, of which I studied for a year, Architecture, Urban Planning and Industrial Design. It is a marvelous exercise in cross-discipline learning. The time that I spent here stands out for me profoundly as, between disciplines, we created hypothetical communities that were sustainable, visionary and imaginative.
This way of thinking has been waylaid to some extent by LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design that is used as a benchmark for green buildings. When I worked in the non-profit world a LEED designation went a long way to attract needed funding for a project.
But the all-inclusive nature of sustainable community building has been lost as a result and given our world today, the industrial/agri complex that is depleting the Earth, our host, and crippling our quality of life, it is a subject that is extremely important to revive. In fact, we will soon have no choice in this matter as all that cannot be transformed in our emerging New Earth, will be eliminated.
Within these communities I am particularly concerned about sound governance. What is the model for communities, town, cities, regions, who adopt this model? Our current system of being governed from afar, with interests that are largely focused on the status quo, is no longer acceptable. A new paradigm must be created.
We are living in a narrow window of time when we need to step forward and suggest ways that these communities can work.
I shared with Paul the absolutely marvelous work of architect Eugene Tsui whose proposal for a zero energy complex in Mount Shasta is revolutionary and right on the money for this new model. I sent a note to Eugene Tsui as well in the hope that the two of them can talk. You can get an idea of Eugene's work by clicking here. (https://mountshastaecology.org/2019/07/09/eugene-tssui/.It is these types of connections that can form an organic web of interests around the Earth for our ultimate benefit.
Time is absolutely of the essence. We cannot delay this process any longer.
We talked about sustainable communities and I asked him if he know about a graduate program that is offered by the University of Calgary called the Faculty of Environmental Design. Occupying an eagle eye's view at on the top two floors of a building on campus it incorporates the disciplines of Environment Science, of which I studied for a year, Architecture, Urban Planning and Industrial Design. It is a marvelous exercise in cross-discipline learning. The time that I spent here stands out for me profoundly as, between disciplines, we created hypothetical communities that were sustainable, visionary and imaginative.
This way of thinking has been waylaid to some extent by LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design that is used as a benchmark for green buildings. When I worked in the non-profit world a LEED designation went a long way to attract needed funding for a project.
But the all-inclusive nature of sustainable community building has been lost as a result and given our world today, the industrial/agri complex that is depleting the Earth, our host, and crippling our quality of life, it is a subject that is extremely important to revive. In fact, we will soon have no choice in this matter as all that cannot be transformed in our emerging New Earth, will be eliminated.
Within these communities I am particularly concerned about sound governance. What is the model for communities, town, cities, regions, who adopt this model? Our current system of being governed from afar, with interests that are largely focused on the status quo, is no longer acceptable. A new paradigm must be created.
We are living in a narrow window of time when we need to step forward and suggest ways that these communities can work.
I shared with Paul the absolutely marvelous work of architect Eugene Tsui whose proposal for a zero energy complex in Mount Shasta is revolutionary and right on the money for this new model. I sent a note to Eugene Tsui as well in the hope that the two of them can talk. You can get an idea of Eugene's work by clicking here. (https://mountshastaecology.org/2019/07/09/eugene-tssui/.It is these types of connections that can form an organic web of interests around the Earth for our ultimate benefit.
Time is absolutely of the essence. We cannot delay this process any longer.