Sustainability: I am my own worst enemy

As most of you who read this (all 2 of you, thanks!) know, I just closed on a house. I know you want to see it and hear details. Believe me, I’m excited to share them. It will slowly be shown as I work on it, but today I’m focusing on the exterior.

This now marks my 5th home as an adult, but only my 1st where every responsibility is on me…

• In Maine, we rented and the awesome landlord and her riding lawnmower took care of things for us.
• In Mississippi Hot-sippi, we rented and my ex was deployed. I quickly found value in paying somone to come cut our grass so I didn’t have to walk through the hot tub air that is Gulfport in August…or any month for that matter.
• In San Diego, my job was to maintain the lemon tree and the mint plant, which I happily did because both ingredients contribute to some of my favorite adult beverages.
• At my rental in Indy, my wonderful landlord mowed our shared yard.

Now? Allllll me. Which I’m fine with (though you may ask me again next May or June). After spending countless hours this past weekend – yes, you heard me right, my back still isn’t happy with me – I’m still excited to go over there and work on it. My concern? How that work manifested itself this past weekend.

I am my own worst enemy

Not so sustainably, that’s how.

Going through school, the professors always pushed the teachings of sustainability and sustainable design – and I was right on board. LEED came about when I was in college and during my long internship in grad school, I studied for, took, and passed the LEED AP exam. My Masters Thesis was on stealth/holistic sustainability and how, when we design quality buildings, sustainability is inherently a part of the design. Architecture that promotes sustainability, either in the building’s DNA or in user function (or hopefully both) is what excites me about my profession. We are first and foremost stewards to our clients…and some of our clients haven’t been born yet, which means we need to take care of this Earth so we have a job in 20 years.

So, knowing all of this, what did I do this weekend?

I killed nature.

Halfway into sawing through my 3rd weed that had become a 12’+ tall plant resembling a tree (but wasn’t) – I realized I was my own worst enemy. Without thinking twice, without realizing it, I blazed a trail of nature carnage to clear a path for my design vision. The even more horrible irony being it was for a new electric line. Picture a blackened, coal soot-covered Hulk smashing through a forest…and that’s how I felt in that moment.

Now what?

It helped me stomach the sight of the carnage strewn before me to know that a different kind of sustainability would be taking its place.

• The future deck, where some of the weeds had previously been, will host gatherings of friends. The brush which once stood there will be the fuel for the fire that we will laugh over on a fall night while we carve pumpkins and roast the seeds. In architecture speak we call this “strengthening the cultural connectivity and sense of place”.
• Further along the fence line will be the home for a raised bed to plant edibles next spring. Tomatoes, herbs, zucchini, asparagus, you name it. I may not be able to grow a lemon tree in this climate, but you can bet mint is in my future. 😉
• Just past that will be a composting bin, whose contents will replenish the aforementioned raised bed.

…So it’s not that I’m doing as the Counting Crows sang and paving paradise to put up a parking lot, but it still gave me pause.

It reinforced to me that, if someone like myself who has been studying and seeking out sustainability in life for the last 7+ years can so easily act opposite to that goal, we have our hands full trying to reach the masses. What this taught me was that until the world has changed so greatly that sustainability is the only choice, the first thought, it requires continuous effort to make it a priority.

And let’s face it…we honestly should already be there.

Every choice will have to be mentally processed and asked “Is this sustainable? Am I willing to sacrifice that if it’s not?” A good analogy (which I heard representing another subject, but also works here) is this:

If we’re not making a continuous effort to swim upstream and seek our goal, we’re losing ground.

It’s true. Sustainability isn’t mainstream. Well…it is, but not necessarily in the best ways. So every choice, decision, and action is an effort.

What about you?

Have you ever had a similar experience? Maybe not specifically related to sustainability, but something you equally hold dear? How do you get your clients to take on options in design that are a daily task or require continuous effort and (sometimes) a change in lifestyle? Especially in instances where the outcome might not be readily apparent? I’d love to hear your thoughts.