editor's word
cover story
Sustainable Style
health
Aromatherapy - Neroli
Ayurveda
Elemental Wisdom -
Ayurveda at Home
yogi lifestyle
Spiritual Arts -
Star Oakland
Healthy yogi -
Asana for Female
Mind and Body
Yogi Yummies -
Eggplant Zucchini
Parmigiano [PDF]
Yogi's OM -
Sustainably Zen [PDF]
yoga
Series -
The Myth of Yoga Styles
for the mind / for the soul
Exploring the Classics -
Vaastu
Special Guest Interview -
Joseph F. Kennedy
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“Buildings use two-thirds of the electricity consumed in the US, thus causing over 25% of the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that cause global climate change. Therefore, we can have the greatest impact in mitigating climate change in the shortest amount of time, if we begin with the built environment.” – Donald W. Aitken, Ph.D. LEED Accredited, Renewable Energy and Sustainable Architecture Consultant
Though it is often overlooked, all of the economies in the world depend on the integrity of their eco-systems. Damage to and loss of natural resources are hidden costs that negatively impact the bottom line. It is imperative that the true cost of environmental damage be factored in the price of development. Until the environment is calculated at its true dollar value, it will not be perceived as something worth saving. We need a sound business approach to sustainable development and we need it in a hurry.
Almost all of our electricity in the US is produced by coal-burning power plants. This burning process results in CO2 emissions, other greenhouse gases, and mercury, the killer that silently finds its way into our fish and water. Though it is gaining popularity, the term “clean coal” is a public relations ploy. Coal is never clean. Power plants are placed in remote locations far from their customers living in urban and suburban areas. The smoke stacks of the plants are built high to dissipate the emissions over a wider region. The effects of these emissions are difficult to trace back to the power plants. The system relies on us accepting that what we don’t see won’t hurt us. Or at least we won’t know it’s hurting us until our children are diagnosed with asthma, or a pregnancy produces a child with a lowered IQ or other birth defects resulting from mercury exposure.
The proliferation of mass media enables the world to see how Americans live. The world’s developing countries want that same lifestyle. China, emerging from its sleepy haze of communism, is now leaping into economic expansion, growing at a rate of 67% per year. This expansion requires vast amounts of power, resulting in addition of two coal plants every month. The demands of India’s expanding economy nearly equal China’s reliance on coal burning power plants. This all points to a future of increasing CO2 emissions and rising mercury levels. Coal’s pollution is exceptionally lethal because it is composed of tiny particulate matter. In China’s case, these particulates are carried on airborne grains of sand from the Gobi Desert, and have been traced to Tiananmen Square in Beijing and as far away as Aspen, Colorado.
Is there an alternative to burning coal for producing electricity? Emphatically yes! We have the energy of the sun, which is free and plentiful enough to power the entire world.
“In one second the sun produces enough energy to supply the world’s total energy needs for two thousand years!” – BP Solar brochure for its Natural Source for Electricity, 2002
Before the 20th century, the sun was the primary consideration in choosing a building’s site, placement and window locations. In ancient times the Romans, Greeks and Native Americans built their homes with the sun in mind, taking advantage of prevailing breezes. With the
Through the use of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, buildings have the potential to produce more electric power than they consume by utilizing a system called net metering, which sells excess electricity back to the power company for a credit, so that the building then becomes a power provider.You can watch the meter run backwards during the day and in the evening reverse when the power provider returns the stored electricity. Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on roofs harvest sunlight that is converted to clean electricity. PV panels are more efficient than ever and can be integrated into the building design on a pitched roof and walls facing South to SW or SE. There are PV tiles that integrate into tile roofs, PV panels that offer various colors, PV that is integrated into windowpanes and also on building surfaces. They can also be installed on flat roofs on racks where they track the sun for maximum power.
The newest roofing product is a lightweight industrial material fused with flexible solar cells manufactured by Solar Integrated Technologies in South Los Angeles (solarintegrated.com) for large roof areas such as factories and shopping centers. Lightweight and flexible, it is suitable for large portable tent structures that can be folded, packed and moved to various locations carrying its electric power with it.
Building design can be our first line of defense against environmental pollution caused by burning up our precious and dwindling natural resources. Intelligent design chooses natural resources that are renewable, resources that replenish themselves and are sustainable.
For example, bamboo can quickly replenish itself because it grows faster than any tree, making it a sustainable natural resource whose value increases as it grows. It has become a popular product for flooring and walls used by environmentally conscious designers and architects. Its valuable re-growth can be a planned resource. As William McDonough, leading ecological architect said in a May 16, 2005 issue of Newsweek magazine, “We’ll have bamboo wetlands nearby to purify the waste – and the bamboo, which grows a foot a day, can be harvested and used for wood.” He is working with the China Housing Industry Association to design seven new cities, which will house 400 million people in the next 12 years.
Good daylighting designs should include window placement to permit the maximum amount of sunlight into a room for passive solar heating in colder climates. If windows face south and west, not only will more light be available, but also a passive solar effect occurs warming the interior. Studies have shown that daylighting improves productivity in the workplace and learning in the classroom by 15%. Good design is not more expensive; it actually saves money in the long run, and improves the quality of life for everyone.
Double-glazed windows keep warm air in and cold air out. It was calculated that if everyone in colder climates insulated their homes by replacing single-pane windows with double-paned windows, we could actually save the cost of building the Alaskan pipeline, or $10 billion. Planned placement of windows and doors that take advantage of natural breezes and air currents cool rooms and bring the outdoors inside. Ceiling fans circulate air and use less energy than air conditioning. They can also give rooms an exotic style.
Trees planted in relation to the arc of the sun, shade and cool rooms and walls. Treepeople of Los Angeles (treepeople.org) has planted trees all over the city and began a program called Cool Schools. Executive Director, Andy Lipkis has proven that planting trees to shade the buildings and open spaces of schools benefits the students and staff. His diagnosis of LA is true of
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| Since there is little political will in our country to get us off of our addiction to fossil fuels, the answer and solutions are really up to us as individuals. Solar power your homes, your offices, your government buildings. Raise awareness of the issues. I truly believe that there is hope for our future children to live healthy, self-realized lives, if we as parents and adults take care of the planet (our mother) as carefully as we would care for our newborn child. Think about it. Earth is a living organism, and she is showing signs of distress in the form of changing and radical weather patterns, sea level rise, melting glaciers, drought, starvation and disease, and wars over oil. All caused by global climate change. Would you or could you neglect or refuse to provide care to your sick child? I doubt it. Earth is just as fragile and damaging her will only set up a set of conditions in which mankind will not be able to survive. It’s not a pretty picture and a serious one, at that, to sacrifice life as we have known it on this beautiful blue marble in space. - Casey Coates Danson, President and Founder, Global Possibilities |
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Paul Hawken, business consultant and environmental realist suggests a sustainable vision to reverse global devastation:“Rely on current income. Sustainable human communities should act like natural ones, living within a natural ebb and flow of energy from the sun and plants. This doesn’t mean being cold and hungry in winter, but redesigning all industrial, residential, and transportation systems so that everything we use springs easily from the earth and returns back to it.” We are a part of nature and nature has the ability to repair and sustain itself. But doing so means reducing the use of our precious natural resources and substantially reducing our reliance on burning fossil fuels for energy.
Global Possibilities is an environmental non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the use of solar and renewable energy to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels and mitigate climate change through documentary films, consumer education and sustainable design curriculum development.
Some suggested sources for additional information:
bioneers.orgglobalpossibilities.orggrist.orggreenbiz.comgreenfusiondesigncenter.
comnaturalhomemagazine.comorganicstyle.comsolartoday.orgCoal:
A Human History by Barbara FreeseThe Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability by Paul Hawken
photography by donald w. aitken, ph.d. and marvin rand
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