Andy (not his real name) called me last week and asked if he could come see the houses at Good. He said he was in the market for a new home and happened to drive by the project. I met him later that day and showed him around the project explaining all the sustainable features and design concepts at work in the project. About 20 minutes in he stopped me and asked why I kept using the word green, he said “is that because you used the color green on the outside of the house?” Ouch.. I had clearly mistook him for someone who understood why Good is what it is. From there it got way worse. He started to get angry with me that the homes were not less than $200,000. He said that if we had used paperstone counter tops made out of recycled paper than they should be “free” because the paper was going to be thrown away and instead was used on our project.
Oh how I wish his logic was right about the cost of sustainability. I am not saying that our homes are over priced – we are able to sell houses for lower prices than any of our midtown counterparts. It’s just that when you do put all these sustainable things into a home, the materials cost more than the run of the mill home depot standards. Building these houses like we did and still being able to sell the XS for under $300,000 is one of the things we are really proud of at LJ Urban. If you read Dwell Magazine, you would be led to believe that good green design starts at 1.5 Million. Not so.
But you know what stood out is not that Andy was so down on the price, it was that he had no idea why we would use anything sustainable or as I called it green. We got into a bit of a debate about why it was important for us as Americans to start living more like we cared about the earth and what we left for the next generation. He kept looking at me like I was crazy. It felt really weird because I am not a veggie powered VW bus driving crazy environmentalist, I see myself more like I am in the business of innovating our way to a better future. I am excited about doing this because I think we are lucky enough to be the generation who not only knows about the challenges we face but has the tools the do something about it. Take for instance LJ Urban’s new venture LJ Urban Renewables. We are building solar farms that are able to sell power during the peak demand hours into the grid and not pollute the air around them while they do it. To me, that is the future at its best and I jump out of bed in the morning thinking about how we can do that more. The same with the houses LJ Urban builds, it means a lot to me to know that our houses use less than half the natural resources of a typical tract home over their life.
I am not down on Andy or the fact that he has not heard about this stuff before – I am down on us as a society that there are millions of people out there who will go buy an SUV because the price of gas came down, or people who want to live in bigger and bigger houses because of what image they project to their friends. Even though we are finding the tools to make a better future what we need is a revolution. We need marches on the capitol and competitions to lower our power usage. We need a new PR campaign and a real leader. It’s time we stood up and made this a mission for every American.
Levi Benkert
6 responses so far ↓
1 cindy // Feb 21, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Are you that man Levi? The challenge is to get people thinking about how they effect others as much as they care about how things effect them. I think your a pretty good spokesman for that.
2 Levi // Feb 21, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Maybe in about 10 years. I think I am a ways off from being someone people want to follow.
3 dustin // Feb 21, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Levi – This green movement will likely not occur voluntarily. It seems that us socially conscious, environmental types are still the minority.
While “Green washing” is becoming insanely pervasive and would appear to be diluting the term “green”, people like us continue to see the importance of limiting our impact on the environment. I believe many others still see this as a mere trend and can’t fully support something they believe will eventually fade.
I had a conversation yesterday with a number of prominent architects and building officials from Sacramento about how the USGBC’s green rating system has become synonymous with green building industry. One problem with the system is that the public’s perception of an architectural professional that doesn’t have those four letters, LEED, after their name doesn’t know what it means to design and build sustainably. This is assumption is more times than not false.
Anyone, and I mean anyone who has $400 can become LEED certified. Does this mean you want this person designing your home? Not me. But many people out there believe hiring a LEED accredited professional, or more commonly known as a Green Consultant, is the first step. This is an issue we’re struggling with in the AIA. How did we become displaced from our own profession? Who do you think started the whole green building movement? Passive solar design was thought of as fad or trend that would have no real longevity. It was pioneered by the Greeks and Romans and later marketed in the US by architects in the 30’s and 40’s then again in the late 70’s. Because of these innovators, the green movement is what it is today.
If everyone in the US would have adopted California’s Title 24 Energy Efficiency standards, it’s possible may have few less coal plants online. Infact USGBC’s LEED program doesn’t even represent the best green building standard out there. SF’s Build It Green initiative has been said to be superior but far less marketed. LEED has become the Wal-mart of the Green rating systems. But if this is what the public is demanding, this is what they’ll get.
I believe it’s a step in the right direction, but it’s not the end all measure of sustainability. Achieving USGBC’s LEED status is not cheap, why is that? It’s four letters tacked on to a building…
My hope is that the term “green” is infact the fad and that all industries will eventually adopt standards inline with existing green principals, rendering the term useless.
I’m ranting but come on, I know so many people who still don’t recycle. As long as it’s a choice, it won’t be the majority! It’s tough not to get worked up when you see so many people consuming with reckless abandon.
Just my opinion.
4 Steve K // Feb 22, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Levi, great post, and Dustin, that is some great insight. I get tripped on the inaccessibility of the “green movement” and CSR-type initiatives, in that the working poor (and in CA that could be the middle class) are often priced out of making sound choices. Things like shopping at Whole Foods, driving a Prius, and living in a part of town near businesses and close to public transpo is a privilege that is not held by all.
In this respect, the bottom-up aspect of the green environment needs to start at the true bottom, where the impetus is on early education and job creation, so that the players in this movement constitute a broad representation of the many different voices in a given community.
5 Levi // Feb 23, 2009 at 7:45 am
Steve and Dustin. Great comments. I do agree that Green has been over used. What we really need is not more green marketing and earth day festivals but a cultural shift in our thinking. We have to rebuild as Steve says “from the bottom up”
6 Ian M. // Feb 23, 2009 at 8:39 am
It’s not easy to make up for the sins of the father.
Levi –
Out of curiosity, how old is Andy? What’s his occupation, education, family type? It may shed some light on the conversation.
I am a LEED AP out of choice and priviledge. I was on the sustainability/regeneration path before it was a fad and know better than most that there are a load of LEED APs with no more knowledge than what bin to put their soda can.
However, marketability is a method of survival in business, and unless you are a famous designer or cookie cutter home builder, getting the word out about what you do and your creation is just a way of life. It’s why professionals have acronyms. Do you think ‘Good’ would sell better if it didn’t have a name? What if you didn’t list the prices?
I’m happy to be just “Ian”, but someday I’d like to be recognized as a leader in making our community more livable. Titles are a means to an end. I agree that our systems of measurement aren’t perfect, but it’s getting the job done and making a difference. LEED is a work in progress, and so am I.
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