:: aribra ::

by James Bedell

Many consider Americans to be polling as angry, but anger isn’t the emotion driving the national public agenda right now. It’s fear. Anger is just the fiercer face of fear and right now, Americans are afraid of nearly everything.

Who could blame them? A sour job market is keeping unemployment at 10 percent, the nation is still stuck in two wars, one of which is looking more perilous and unwinnable. The cost of a college education continues to go up, but it’s value seems diminished with so many out of work college grads. Americans have piled up a mountain of personal debt, from underwater mortgages to credit cards, to student loans. It seems we all owe corporations some massive amount cash. Those same corporations sell us over priced homes, take tax payer bailouts, reap huge profits our backs, dump oil into the Gulf of Mexico and for good measure invade our privacy regularly. [...]

by Timothy Hughes

The blogs have been crackling for several weeks with reports and analysis of the LEED “challenge” process.  Chris Cheatham devoted a multiple part series to analyzing the challenge filed and ultimately rejected to the LEED Gold certification awarded to the Northland Pines High School in Wisconsin.  Shari Shapiro has discussed the same and included an interesting interview with the challengers discussing their reasoning for the protest.

Without getting too bogged down in the technical details of the Northland Pines case that are covered elsewhere, I would highlight a couple important takeaways from what we have learned from the Northland Pines challenge case:

1. Currently, anyone can file a challenge – there are no standing requirements whatsoever.  If anyone can file a challenge, the threat to projects, and to LEED, is that anyone will file a challenge.
2. There are very loose/limited guidelines or rules on procedure, hearings, document and information exchange and the like in the challenge process.  Look for a future revamping adding more clarity in the challenge process rules.
3. It appears that USGBC permitted Northland Pines to correct, amplify and update its submittals during the challenge process to demonstrate compliance with the prerequisites.  USGBC needs to make clear whether certification requires bright line compliance based on initial submittals and information, or whether they are more interested in allowing some wiggle room as long as the project meets the standards at the end of the finish line.  Failing to make this basic philosophical tenet clear is not fair to project participants, opens the process to future inconsistency during later challenges, and ultimately threatens the credibility (and thus potentially the viability) of the USGBC process. [...]

Driving can be hazardous to your health and in more ways than you think. A new study shows how driving less can help you live longer. The transition away from automobile-centered environments creates the ideal scenario for more walkable streets and safer communities.

From AOL | Drive Less, Live Longer

Let’s face it: Most motorists just drive too fast. Too many people are in too big a hurry to get where they’re going. Safety experts and law enforcement agencies are constantly admonishing the lead-footed to “Just Slow Down!” And to underscore that point, a recent study by a Canadian research team has determined that driving decreases life expectancy.

According to the study, every hour you spend behind the wheel in North America leads to a 20-minute loss of life expectancy due to the risks of a fatal car crash. Further, the study concluded that by slowing down just two miles per hour, the average driver would increase their life expectancy by three hours per year.

“When drivers speed to get to their destination faster, they actually lose more time because the savings from faster travel are offset by the increased prospect of a crash,” says Dr. Donald Redelmeier, the lead investigator in the study. Redelmeier is a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto and a staff physician at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Canada’s largest trauma center. [...]

by Christi Elflein

May is National Bike Month with special Bike to Work events occurring throughout the month in cities across the country.  It’s time to pump some air into your tires and get out there!  Biking to work is such an enjoyable way to commute.  You get fresh air, your heart gets pumping and you’re doing a good thing for the environment while you’re at it. 

The Today show and Self Magazine ran a special segment on biking to work last week.  According to the segment, 50% of American’s live within 5 miles of work.  And if you bike to work three times a week, the average person will lose 10 pounds in one year.  Now think of how much weight you could lose if you bike more than 5 miles three times per week.  [...]

by Christopher Hill

It’s a beautiful, warm spring day here in Richmond, VA.  The sprinklers were going in neighborhood yards as I left for work this morning and the clouds are moving lightly on the breeze.  With the sun shining and the birds chirping outside of my office window, even I and my old pal Eeyore could smile and see some optimism for the future.

Activity abounds in the sustainable building world.  California is implementing the first state wide “green”  building code and, according to my friend Imad Naffa (@imadnaffa on Twitter), that state will be pressing builders and developers to build in a sustainable manner.  Governmental units, both small and large, are seeking to add zoning or other incentives to build in a sustainable manner.   More and more developers are seeking LEED certification (though this certification is sometimes subject to challenge).  All of these signs point toward the desire for a more energy efficient and responsible built environment.

The dad in me wants this badly and quickly.  Better air quality, less energy use, and a more predictable weather pattern (to the extent that weather is predictable) can only lead to a better future for my kids.  However (and this is where you should get the “here he goes again” look on your face as you read this), the sad little donkey on my other shoulder is always reminding me to step back and take a quick look at the big picture. [...]

by Yahya E. B. Henry

East Point Plaza, Suffolk, VA (Streetview Rendering)

Rebuilding the fabric of inner cities has been a passion of mine since understanding the power of design and infill development-more specifically small-scale infill development. Small-scale infill can be classified as projects comprising less than 100 housing units and fewer that 10,000 square feet of commercial space. There a several definitions for this type development but it is my personal favorite. In the recent issue of Urban Land Magazine (City Futures, March/April 2010), Sam Newberg wrote an excellent piece entitled “Little Infill”. In his piece, he notes that 20 million attached housing units will be needed by 2025 and that some 3 million acres of greyfield sites will become available for redevelopment.

“They [small infill developments] are favorites of the planning and development industry for their compact urban scale, innovative design, and positive impact as catalysts for their neighbors.” Sam Newberg, Joe Urban, Inc.

I’ve long championed infill development, especially in smaller, less developed cities. Migration patterns have already begun shifting back to urban centers and smaller cities are positioned to take advantage of these trends. Small mixed-use infill projects do not fit most institutional investor business models. [...]

Many point to Charlotte has an example of good urbanism and city vision. Charlotte’s leadership understood decades ago that the city could not sustain it’s suburban growth and made proactive steps to create the economic engine it is today. Aribra seeks to engage smaller to medium sized cities who can benefit from embracing more sustainable, urban development models.

From CNN Living | Americans Rebuild for the ‘New Urban Century’

In Charlotte, North Carolina, commuters zip along a sparkling new light rail system into a booming downtown district.

In Sacramento, California, construction workers hammer away at the next generation of green buildings.

And in New York City, rush-hour commuters pedal across popular bike paths that have spread like kudzu across the metropolis.

Those snapshots from cities across America offer a glimpse of the future. Americans are rebuilding their cities and communities to make people, not cars, the center of a more environmentally friendly lifestyle, urban planners and transportation experts say. [...]

by Yahya E. B. Henry

Mercury exposure in humans primarily results from eating fish that contains methylmerucry. Mercury is primarily a neurotoxin, which means it attacks the central nervous system. Its effects are often subtle enough not to be recognized immediately, but more and more people are learning that their health problems could be due to mercury exposure.

~Oceana.org

I love seafood. More specifically, I love sushi. I mean really love it! This post isn’t about my adornment for sushi but to explore what health effects consuming the wrong amount of sushi can have on myself and other human beings, I have at least some reason to explore this further: [...]

by James Bedell

The pundits all say it. The skeptics believe it, they all say that America can never be a “green” nation. We will never lead the world in sustainability. America will fall behind because she doesn’t care about the environment she only cares about rabid consumerism, after all the “green” brand has already been bastardized beyond recognition anyway….

Enough.

Of course green will never scale. Green will never scale because “green” doesn’t mean anything. “Green” is a movement, a way of thinking, it’s not a product. There wasn’t a “mobility” movement that spurred the automobile to scale, there wasn’t an “information” movement that got a computer on every desktop in America. [...]

by Christopher Hill

A recent article at the Ahead of Schedule Blog brings up a project owner’s perspective on “green” building.

The article starts by stating that:

Despite the explosion of articles, seminars and webinars on green building and development during the last year or so, there is a dearth of information in the development world regarding what project owners and developers who do want to build a green project should actually put in their design and construction contracts.

The post then lists several good points regarding what a construction project owner should look for and request in its contracts, particularly with a design professional.

My blog, Construction Law Musings generally discusses these issues from a contractor, sub-contractor or construction attorney’s perspective and the potential liability inherent in constructing such projects and this article has much to recommend it, and not just from an owner standpoint.  The fact remains that owners will be seeking sustainable building, whether through LEED or some other energy efficiency or environmental measure.  Project Owners will either chose sustainable building for economic or moral reasons, or through government mandate.

Knowing the other side’s playbook is one way that a football team can prepare, the same holds true in pre-construction negotiation of contracts. Knowledge of the types of contractual provisions an owner will seek to [...]