#LONGSTORYSHORT
A SERIES EXPLORING CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE BUILDING INDUSTRY
We are all impacted by the decisions each of us make. This could not be more evident than in times like right now. As architects, we are constantly involved in decision making processes with our clients and partners. We have been noticing more, as we’ve grown as a firm, that there is profound connection between financial stability, environmental sustainability, and social equity.
Credit Onion Flats, our partner in designing high-performance, low-carbon affordable housing for Jackson Hole, WY
It’s easy to get caught in the rut of making decisions that we believe to be long-term, but are really short sighted. We just don’t give the decisions related to buying, building or renovating the kind of weight they deserve. And with that lack of weight comes a risk to our financial freedom, our health and the health of the natural ecosystems we love in the long run.
If we are truly making a long-term decision to save money and reduce our risk, we will choose quality over code every time, using the best building techniques, systems, materials, and products.
We’ve witnessed the results with our clients and in our own home projects. Making decisions for our health, the health of our communities and that of the landscapes and ecosystems we love, as well as the landscapes, communities and ecosystems where materials come from is the one that results in the lowest risk and long-term cost to us.
Take the process of designing and building a home for example. The life of a building is often a hundred years or more. That's 100 years of fossil fuels, CO2 emissions, and rising asthma rates. How often do we see the connection between the decision to install a code-level ventilation system with the real financial costs we will incur as a result of poor air quality which increases our medical bills every year?
Not thinking about the long-term, holistic costs that come with our decisions when we don’t take into consideration the whole picture can create a lot of risk for us. But if we take the time to consider the potential costs that come with each of our decisions in the long run, we’d see that the same choices we make to reduce our impact on the environment, or to insure our health, are the same ones that provide an economic return.
“While the average American lives to be 79 years old, they will spend 90% or 71 of those years inside of buildings. 26 of those years will be at home, and 26 of those years will be spent sleeping. So some very small spaces can have a huge impact on our health. The last 5 years will be spent in transportation vehicles. We “ingest” our environment with every touch, breath, and sometimes bite! Products and chemicals are inhaled or ingested as dust particles from abrasion/wear, they can be absorbed through our skin, and as compounds that are off-gassed over time. ”
While we may not feel the true costs of our decisions today, we as a society will certainly feel and pay for them over time. Your decision to buy, build, or renovate comes with a lot of weight, and the same is true for us as building professionals. We all have opportunities every day to create conversations that challenge the way things are currently being done. Let’s not forget that.
And as the world begins to speed back up, let’s not forget that when we act as a community that supports one another and understands how deeply connected we are, the positive long-term decisions we will be making will bring us fulfillment and impact far beyond where we might imagine.
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