martin brown
Improvement advocate in the built environment with a passion for social media, wildness, music, mountains, walking, cycling, astronomy, geostuff, outdoor, inspirations, dark skies, connectivity, edge of chaos, improvement, natural environment, CSR, built environment, virtual worlds, resilience, community enterprise ... and more
Category Archives: sustainability
Architects and Green Deal: greater ability to improve public health than medical professionals
‘Architects have a greater ability to improve public health than medical professionals’ A provocative statement made by physician Dr. Claudia Miller, assistant dean at the University of Texas School of Medicine, at a recent healthy building materials panel moderated and … Continue reading
Green Vision for Social Media at Green Build Expo
Be2Camp returns to Greenbuild Expo in May with Green Vision. This year’s session, taking place on 8th May at Manchester Central from 1pm, will be the most exciting yet, with an amazing line-up of speakers (see below for programme). GreenBuild … Continue reading
Built Environment Earthday Inspiration
Today, April 22nd is Earthday. Earth Day is an annual day on which events are held worldwide to demonstrate support for environmental protection. Earth Day is observed on April 22 each year. The April 22 date was designated as International Mother Earth … Continue reading
Introducing the Living Building Challenge in the UK
It was a real treat to introduce the public lecture from Amanda Sturgeon as part of the UK Living Building Collaborative launch at the Interface showroom in London last night. Here are my introduction notes … Good evening and a … Continue reading
Posted in built environment, green buildings, sustainability
Tagged Amanda Sturgeon, fairsnape, Green Vision, Interface, LBC, Living Building Challenge
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From Greendeal to Mindfulness in Sustainability
My More than Just a Green Deal keynote to the Merseyside Construction Conference March 13th 2013, making the case to see Green Deal as part of the Green Build and Sustainability agenda, and the need for doing the right green … Continue reading
Posted in Green Deal, sustainability
Tagged carbon, chouinard, climate, environment, fairsnape, Green Deal, keynote, mindfulness, Route to Zero, survivability, sustainability, think different, winning work
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The Carbon Cycle: Transition Event
In 2006 Kate Rawles cycled 4553 miles from Texas to Alaska. Along the way she talked to ordinary Americans about their views on climate change and saw for herself some of what’s at stake. In 2012 she published a book … Continue reading
Posted in carbon, cycling, events, literature, sustainability
Tagged carbon, co2, cycle, Garstang, Kate Rawles, The Carbon Cycle, transition
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Construction Localism – how do you compare against benchmark?
Construction ‘localism’ is currently high on the agenda. And set to grow in importance. There is, rightly, much talk and focus on localism within construction projects and frameworks at the moment, based on the principle of keeping project spend local. … Continue reading
Posted in carbon, procurement, sustainability
Tagged benchmark, benchmarking, built environment improvement, carbon emission, constructco2, construction, Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, environment, fairsnape, footprint, frameworks, localism, Route to Zero, Social Media Construction, sustainability, sustainable construction
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Sustainability beyond the low hanging fruit
My sustainability lecture to UCLAN SNBE and CSD 31/1/2013 Beyond the Built Environment Sustainability Low Hanging Fruit from martin brown Links referred to in presentation: previous blog Have we picked the low hanging fruit? Zero Built Environment Green Vision tweetchat #GVischat … Continue reading
Are we so oblivious to the ways of nature?
“After 10 generations of industrial society, and with most people in the west removed from a world of soil and sweat, we are so oblivious to the ways of nature that we cannot bring ourselves properly to absorb its vital importance” Mark Cocker author of Crow Country … Continue reading
Posted in nature, reviews, sustainability
Tagged Crow Country, Mark Crocker, nature, reconnecting, sustainability, Tony Jupiter
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Ecologically Rethinking Construction
Jonathan Dawson, head of economics at Schumacher College, writing on Guardian Sustainable Business asked “How do we redesign a new economic theory framed by ecological systems?” A question we need to ask and start addressing within the built environment. We are seeing a new … Continue reading →