Eco Design + Living

Having just returned from Prescott College with a degree in Sustainable Community Development in hand, I have been reflecting on what all this means. By “all this” I mean my career path, my community, and the word, sustainability. For simplicities sake, when previously asked what I was getting my degree in, I would blurt out the title, then quickly follow up with “you know, green building.” It’s true that at Prescott College, the curriculum is self designed and though I was getting my degree in Sustainable Community Development, my studies were bent toward green building and design, since I’m a practicing residential designer. Makes perfect sense.

The reality is that green building and “going green” are not synonymous with sustainability. They are an element of sustainability, but they are not the defining feature. I learned this in my first course at Prescott, Critical Issues and Applications. Instinctively, I knew this to be true, but I didn’t yet have the language or coherent thoughts to express the difference. Oddly enough, over the next two years, I still didn’t have the language (or chose to disregard) to define what I studied. I often pretended that it was something other than what it really was.

I share with most Americans a common affliction - the ability to define who I am for the rest of the world to sum up in simple, understandable terms, like one word, e.g., “I’m a ________.” For the last fourteen years I have been a residential designer. This has usually drawn blank stares and then a typical response, “oh, you design interiors.” No, in fact, I don’t. Then comes the long explanation that either draws more blank stares, disinterest, or suspicion. Occasionally, I am understood. By definition, I am an architect. By Florida law, because I am not licensed, I am not allowed to use any variation of the word ‘architect’ or ‘architecture’ to describe myself or what I do. That’s fine, I have the utmost respect for my fellow architect peers that went through traditional means to acquire their career title. Unfortunately, the title of residential designer, leaves people confused and disappointed because we are so used to thinking in absolute, specialist, simplified terms. But in reality, how many of us can really describe our livelihood in one or two words?

Add to residential designer the fact that I went back to school, not to earn a degree in architecture, but a degree in sustainable community development and what word comes to mind? Confusion? After reading Stephen Kellert’s book, Building for Life, I claimed for myself a term he used in the book to describe a new professional he would like to see emerge that combines the natural and built environments, the environmental restorative designer. Makes sense to me.

I even tried calling myself a permaculturist for a brief stint. I found that even permaculturist, Toby Hemenway, refers to permaculture as ecological design in his book Gaia’s Garden, in order to be inclusive and understood. A good and concerned friend says that the word permaculture sounds unhip, uncool, and like, what is it? 

Then I came home from Prescott, with degree in hand, remember? On my travels, I picked up a copy of Vandana Shiva’s book, Stolen Harvest and in the book, she is described as an advocate for sustainable community development and her formal education is as scientist. It finally dawned on me that I was doing myself and others around me, a great disservice by not completely owning up to my degree and educating others about sustainability. By defining myself as a residential designer who has a keen interest in green design, I miss the opportunity to be fulfilled in my life’s work. If I truly want to continue designing housing that is mostly the status quo with a few green bells and whistles, then I can continue as I have all along. If I want to work on environmental and humanitarian issues, then I must embrace this thing called sustainability. What does this make me now? A sustainologist perhaps. Confused yet?

According to the Brundtland Report, sustainable development is defined as development that ”meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Bill Mollison and David Holmgren claim that permaculture goes beyond sustainability by caring for humans, caring for the earth, acknowledging that every being has intrinsic value, and sharing the surplus.

From Wikiedia: Sustainability, in a broad sense, is the capacity to endure. In ecology the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. For humans it is the potential for long-term improvements in well being, which in turn depend on the well being of the natural world and the responsible use of natural resources.

The First Nation Iroquois had their own definition of sustainability that considers and accounts for seven future generations. “In every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation… even if it requires having skin as thick as the bark of a pine.” –great Law of the Iroquois

At Prescott College, the Sustainable Community Development program, created by Terril Shorb is defined by what he calls the butterfly curriculum, which consists of four areas of focus; natural history, appropriate technologies (this is where green building is addressed), spirituality and psychology, and arts and education. The butterfly is the representative symbol because of the four lobes of her wings and her ability set world changing events into action by the mere flutter of her wings.

So, the time has come to stop pretending that designing a green home somehow equates to creating a more environmentally and socially just world. It’s a piece of the puzzle, but not the whole picture. It’s about the way we live and every day decisions we make. Every choice is the opportunity to create sustainable communities or further push society down a path of uncomfortable change and destruction. In the interim, I continue to make a living as best evolved toward less harm as possible, but in the continuum, deep systemic changes are taking root.

Live well.

Chandra