What are the top three books you’ve read on environmental issues that you would recommend? Why are they great reads,important or influential?
Join the discussion underway on the Linkedin Sustainability Questions page and learn what others feel are important environmental books. I will summarise all the recommendations here soon.
Not a member of Linkedin? contact me to get an invite.
The presentation for my recent Route2Zero event for No Limits (Constructing the Future @ Elevate East Lancs) is available here: No Limits Route2Zero. The pdf is more print friendly than the actual slides used, with the images removed to reduce the size of the file. Also the reference for the Transition Town movement discussed on the evening is included.
Organisations looking to sign up to the No Limits Route 2 Zero programme should contact Donna at No Limits directly.
If anyone is looking for route2zero images please contact me directly.
I have watched the excellent Maybe climate change videocast by the Auctons through Green TV on my ipod over and over again many times this week. The images and music are simply great – keep with the video for images of cities, floods, eco build and homes and more…. and be inspired…. maybe I should use as an debate opener in my workshops.
A line-drawing short film designed to inspire people to do something about climate change. This acclaimed song by Autons (from their debut album Short Term Manifesto) is a definitive environmental statement of the year. Directed by Yesca and supported by Undercurrents and Permaculture Magazine.
From the Auctons Livejournal: This video was made by Yesca for Autons song Maybe. You can pass this video link around to all of your friends. You can also show it to people and show it at events. All you have to do is say it is available under the Creative Commons licence.
The UK Green Building Council has promised an open source sustainability code, to help address the confusion arising from the myriad of different green building standards with a new Code for Sustainable Buildings, joining in the debate / tussle between LEED and BREEAM.
Paul King, Chief Executive of the UK-GBC,: “Industry needs a clear and practical route map and milestones that are aligned with Government policy to give it the confidence and knowledge to move forward on a trajectory to 2019.
UK-GBC Chairman Peter Rogers , “The UK-GBC wants to see very wide take-up of robust and customer-friendly tools, and we believe that the standards at the heart of a new Code for Sustainable Buildings should be ‘open source’, meaning that such a Code could potentially be incorporated into a range of different tools, from a range of providers who could then compete in terms of service provision, without confusing the industry with different standards.”
The concept of open source, is to be welcomed, allowing the code to be incorporated into regional, corporate and community developments, and also allowing other standard bodies, building firms and consultancies to use elements of the code in their own green building guidelines. And it flies in the face of the more closed and commercial approaches from BREEAM and LEED
The final code, which is scheduled to be published in March next year, is expected to mirror the government’s Code for Sustainable Homes and as such, will feature wide-ranging rules and guidelines on the metrics and best practices builders should embrace to limit the environmental impact of offices, commercial properties and other non-domestic buildings.
Is there something else here,? Can codes, approaches, tools and technologies which in essence will improve environmental performance, carbon emissions, sustainability generally, and ‘save the planet’ morally be closed and commercial. The emerging models of wikinomics, freeconomics etc must be applied to sustainability, where the economic model is built upon giving away free ‘lead’ products.
I would love to see much more open approaches with the built environment sustainability agenda using for example the creative common model.
The Lancashire BPC event last Thursday saw a good number of organisations exhibiting and discussing procurement and support issues with around 70 delegates. The objective of the day was to allow organisations in the Lancashire area to showcase their procurement requirements and or areas of support, and for delegates to find out their customers requirements and talk to organisations who may be able to support them.
Throughout the day there were a number of small seminars on related themes:
Clive Weston – College and Apprenticeship schemes available through ACCROS
Martin Brown – Bid To Win – ten top tips for improving bid submissions
David Parsons – BSRIA – an overview of the work of BSRIA
Andrew Platten – Sustainable Stars competition as part of the Constructing the Future October conference
Chris Gold – Elevates Women into Work programme
My thoughts on the day:
Slides from the seminars should be available soon on the club pages
I see that manual for CEEQUAL, the civils sustainability scheme is available as a free download
Its objective is to encourage the attainment of environmental excellence in civil engineering, and thus to deliver improved environmental and social performance in project specification, design and construction.
Last Tuesday I attended the Building Sustainability Now conference event, from my study, popping out from the event and discussions only to deal with phone calls and other work issues. I also made a good number of new contacts, either through email address exchange or social connections such as Linkedin. Oh and I didn’t use the car on that day.
Phil Clark has posted lessons learnt from the event, which as Paul Wilkinson points out must be seen as a success judging by the numbers registered and attended. Phil has asked for ‘delegates’ feedback so here are my two pennies:
I loved the chat room in the lounge but would agree that there needed to be themed areas, as sometimes the debate was hard to follow. The excellent moderator services of carbon coach Dave Hampton kept the discussion alive, particularly on the climate change debate with Brad, which must go as a classic on on-line forum debates.
However, being used to other forms of online events, I found the interface too static and became tiring too quickly. For example compare with Second Life events where there is action, avatars moving, places to virtually visit, camp fires to sit around and discuss issues, the opportunity to talk in open chat or on a one to one or in a group, to pass information and links to others etc make it a more ‘live’ experience.
The question has been asked- is the industry ready for Web 2.0 ?. I would answer yes, but needs a little nudge and encouragement to join in. The increase in information that is communicated through web2 is increasing all the time, and the cost of attending real events (fees, travel and time away from office) will improve the take up I am sure. And again I must plug the up and coming October Be2Camp event, which will have introduction sessions to web2.0 as well as exploring the leading edge of web2 and possibly web3 communications.
As to costs, I had a choice of event to attend last Tuesday – Sustainability Now – free and I could participate in my own time in my own office, or a Business in Virtual Worlds event – cost £599, travel to London, and a fixed agenda of speakers. Its a no brainer.
Outside of the event, I found it fascinating the twitter conversations that were taking place, on themes and discussions from within the event, illustrating the use of Web2. For example I was able to send a twitter message to Rob Annable, (who was online at the event, but not in the lounge when the discussion was praising his eco-terrace project), suggesting he pop back into the lounge. Reinforcing my view Twitter stands to be the next email and texting killer application.
I did have technical problems in viewing the presentations – Real Player playing up this end – but question why recorded events where played at set times – maybe these should be available on demand
I like the exhibitors place but found a number of questions emailed to the stands still remain unanswered.
As to more international input, there has to be a programme that caters for international time zones to attract. Nothing worst that turning up at an event real or virtual to find everyone has gone home. In fact this may be one of the work-life balance issues that virtual events need to address. I sometimes find myself on line in Second Life debates at 2 in the morning – because they are held in the sunny Californian afternoon time zone.
But saying all that it was an excellent event Phil, well done – and I hope that it will be repeated.
I picked up a copy of the Patagonia outdoor apparel catalogue over the weekend. In addition to the photos and products, these catalogue are always a good read to see how a leading organisation is approaching and communicating their environmental and ecological ethos. A link to their website allows you to track the impact of specific Patagonia products from design through delivery, through interactive mini-site Footprint Chronicles™
What caught my eye was a comment on ISO14001, and on how Patagonia, to ensure that our (leather in footwear) leaves the smallest possible footprint, we only use (tanneries) with an ISO14001 registration. This strict set of environmental standards measures how efficiently a company uses natural resources, how its process impact on the environment and how closely it adheres to local and international environmental regulations.
Wow, if only this were the case in the built environment. Although I often make the link between effective ISO14001 application and reducing the carbon and ecological footprint but its not often I have seen others make the link. Of course this needs much much more than just achieving and maintaining with a tick box mentality. The concept of ISO 14001 remains good, but from experience of taking organisations through the assessment process it is far too easy to attain with tokenism and without really addressing real change on environmental and ecological issues.
As we are now head long into reducing the impact of the built environment may be its time to tighten up on ISO14001 accreditation and requirements. What difference would a project with the entire supply chain working to ISO 14001 achieve? I am aware that customers and clients believe this is what they get when in procurement they insist on ISO 14001 of the main or prime contractor. In reality it may be just the main contractor who holds the standard, who conducts the impact assessment, who then takes the do-as-little-as-possible-in-the-hope-we-are-not-audited approach.
Or, as the example given for greenwash Sin of Fibbing -being certified ISO 14001 compliant (“ok, its our holding company actually, not our business unit”)
We have seen a number of fast track and 14001 made easy programmes for the sector recently – I question if this no more than a bandaid, get-the-badge to get through tenders approach, or a real contribution to improving environmental performance. Often these are process based, web based, electronic approaches with pre-written templates that ignore the hearts and mind, people element so crucial to implementing the systemic change in ethos required.
Within the built environment we need, the strict set of environmental standards measures how efficiently a company uses natural resources, how its process impact on the environment and how closely it adheres to local and international environmental regulations. That covers ALL aspects of the sector and is continually improved.
Related isite links:
Responsible Sourcing to BS6000
isite’s Guide to Effective ISO 14001
To illustrate that solar power can be effective in communities and in existing homes, and for inspiration in our (uk) developments, take a look at this article over at greenbuildingelements
A community in Canada has an unusual form of solar power that can provide over 90% of the annual heating and hot water needs for the homes, despite being situated in a cold Alberta location where winter temperatures can reach -33 degrees C (-27 F).
News of up and coming events which in some way isite / fairsnape are involved or participating in. Information and contact links are included below but please feel free to leave comments or contact here for more information, or indeed for help on accessing the online events
(V indicates the event has virtual or online access elements, saving your travel and environmental footprint.)
Saturday 28th June. V
Open and Orientation day on the Public Works Island in Second Life. Your chance to pop into second life and see what all the fuss is about, get a guided tour around interesting construction activities, view environmental and education projects, talk to second life users and see how second life can help with your collaboration projects and meetings.
Details: Open Day register through the Public Works Group Web site,
July 1/2 V
Sustainability Now, Building‘s online conference organised by ZeroChampion blogger Phil Clark, is to take place from 8am to 8pm on the 1 and 2 July. From your home or office computer, visit this unique FREE online event and have the opportunity to Network with like-minded professionals; Hear from industry thought leaders; Visit the exhibition, and take part in Q&A sessions.
A series of live online seminar topics are planned including “EPCs – Surviving Them Now and Assessing their Impact” and “The Cost of the Code for Sustainable Homes”.
Details: Sustainability Now virtual conference
July 10th
Best Practice Procurement and Support. A Lancashire Best Practice drop-in event hosted by UCLAN, (University of Central Lancashire) in Preston. Find out the ‘best practice’ issues your customers are looking for in procurement and seek assistance from the ‘best practice’ support organisations. There will also be a series of mini presentations throughout the day and a chance to network and chat.
Details: Latest event news here
July 16th
Route to Zero improvement module as part of the Elevate Constructing the Future programme. An early evening event to learn about starting out on a route towards low or zero carbon future for your organisation
Details: Route to Zero . Register through Constructing the Future here
October (date to be fixed but between 10-17) V
be2camp. A planned event to discuss and explore the use of web 2.0 technologies and applications for built environment activities. The event is being organised on non-conference and bar-camp ideas, which means you can get involved in designing the event, speaking at the event, or providing support and sponsorship. This event is already attracting much interest in the UK, the USA and Australia.
Details: be2camp wiki, blogs
October 29th / 30th V
Elevate’s Constructing The Future national sustainability conference. Details to follow but get the date into your diary now.
Note that it is planned to host a Best Practice Club Question Time Event on the evening of October 29th
Details: background competition contact for more info
Fairsnape 