What are the Europens doing to combat the many social, medical, environmental and safety problems caused by the personal automobile? Click here to find out.
What are the Europens doing to combat the many social, medical, environmental and safety problems caused by the personal automobile? Click here to find out.
By Cheryl Conklin
Are you interested in improving your community? Do you understand the importance of building sustainable neighborhoods? If so, you may consider advocating for green buildings in your city.
What Is Green Building?
Building “green” means considering environmental impacts when designing structures. It also means finding ways to reduce adverse effects while creating positive ones. Green buildings emphasize sustainability while preserving natural resources.
Green buildings can include:
A green building also considers its occupants’ quality of life. It pays respect to local customs and the needs of its users. It also factors in local climate and environmental situations.
According to statistics, green building uses 25% less energy and 11% less water than conventional construction methods.
Green Building Benefits
Green buildings reduce waste, use fewer resources, and lower environmental impact. They help reduce energy bills, making them less costly to operate and maintain. They are designed with user satisfaction in mind — large windows and open floor plans are appealing and maximize natural daylight. Ideally, they offer comfortable environments and have a high resale value.
Green Building Feature 1: Eco-Friendly Lighting
Energy-efficient lighting is an excellent addition to green buildings; you can install it without compromising safety. It’s vital to install lighting in areas that need to be well-lit, especially walkways, stairwells, and vestibules. Good lighting is essential in parking garages.
Pedestrians and drivers depend on the increased visibility good lighting provides. It adds a layer of safety so that people can easily see where they’re headed. It also deters criminals.
An ideal eco-friendly lighting system automatically senses and adjusts light levels to increase energy savings without squandering safety.
Green Building Feature 2: Green Materials
Building green means using natural and renewable materials when possible. Recycled content, prefabricated products, moisture-resistant materials, and low-VOC products all fit the description.
It’s ideal to buy materials locally to reduce the carbon footprint of transportation.
Green Building Feature 3: Water Reduction
Green buildings focus on the need to reduce water consumption. This feature is a vital consideration in drought-prone areas.
Water-reducing features include:
Artificial groundwater recharge is another green-building feature that’s becoming more significant. It involves redirecting water to replenish groundwater levels by:
How To Influence Sustainability in Your Community
Creating a green community is a task that requires all hands on deck. You may be wondering how you and your cohorts can make an impact. The answer lies in getting local businesses and lawmakers on board.
Advocating for green building can be challenging, but it is possible. Creating changes in your community, such as energy-efficient lighting, is real progress. It’s also very satisfying for the people who work so hard to make an impact.
If you live in Santa Rosa California, you know that biking is not safe nor convenient yet. Bikeable Santa Rosa is working to change that. They are organizing “slow rides” to make biking more visible, advocating for protected bike lanes and pathways and having fun in the process. They are pushing the Santa Rosa City Council to lower speed limits in town, fix dangerous intersections and build better safe bike infrastructure.
If you live in Santa Rosa, consider joining Bikeable Santa Rosa and participate in their slow rides.
A new bill in the California Assembly would make wise, dedicated investments in the state’s recreational trails and help meet the growing demand for trails and outdoor spaces in the Golden State—but your legislator needs to hear from you to make it happen.
Write your Assemblymember now in support of dedicating millions of dollars for California’s natural surface trails.
Although they may not realize it yet both Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) and tourism in Sonoma and Marin Counties depend upon one another for their future success. EcoRing has published a White Pater exploring this symbiosis and made recommendations on how to deepen this relationship. You can read it here: