:: aribra ::

by Yahya E. B. Henry

This summer has been a blur and seemingly, far from over. Over the past 3 months, I’ve had the opportunity to explore the Southern states of Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and South Florida. Some work, some play but overall an education.

My summer started out by having to go to Gulfport, MS for Naval Reserve training. Yes, after 8 years of active service, I’m still a part time warrior. In fact, I’m a builder in the Naval Reserves and apart of a Construction Battalion, commonly called Seabees (Sea or ‘C’ = construction, ‘Bees’ = Battalion). The position allows for me to expand my knowledge of the construction industry and continue service to my country. We’re largely rockstars. That’s all.

I apologize for my absence but I’m back (smile). My decision to relocate to Augusta, Georgia is coming full circle. Augusta is humming right now and it feels great to be back to work. [...]

Andres Duany, famed architect for the firm DPZ and co-founder of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), is becoming part of the solution to the crisis in Haiti.  He has designed a basic cabin concept that can be pre-fabricated and built within days to house Haitians that remain homeless from January’s earthquake.  The cabin can house eight individuals, incorporates lessons learned from the Katrina cottage, [...]

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. [...]

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. [...]

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.  [...]

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. [...]

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: [...]

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. [...]