Ms. Darby

Vintage postcard of the Merchandise Mart

Existing buildings seem to be overlooked when the sustainability topic arises, although USGBC’s LEED program has had an EB (existing building) designation for three years now. The shift from new construction to the rehabilitation of the estimated 4.5 million commercial properties already built is one that is necessary, especially considering that commercial buildings account for over 60% of the nation’s electricity consumption.

One of the largest buildings to get LEED certification, The Merchandise Mart in Chicago takes up two city blocks and has its own zip code. Spearheaded by Myron Maurer and Christopher Kennedy, brother of Robert Kennedy of NRDC fame, the Merch Mart received a Silver LEED rating.

With the real estate market morph towards realistic values, this seems to be the time when many property management companies and large commercial building owners are staying put and looking for ways to increase tenant retention and decrease operating costs. Building owners, meet sustainability. Sustainability, building owners.

From the New York Times Sunday business section:

The headquarters of the software maker Adobe Systems received a platinum rating for its three towers in December 2006. Adobe spent 1.4 million on the project, but earned that back in savings in less than 10 months.

The myth that “green” buildings cost more is thankfully being successfully challenged at every turn. I personally am incredibly interested in the LEED ReGreen program, addressing residential remodeling projects using a whole house approach. Helping homeowners to retrofit and build upon what they have, as opposed to using more natural resources by building a new house from scratch, is also an exciting prospect.

Filed by admin at 2:43 pm under Building Programs, Community
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Armstrong Center for Professional & Continuing Education, Grand Lobby

Savannah’s new media strategists, visionary entrepreneurs, traditional journalists, bloggers galore, and local interesting characters gathered publicly, in real-life flesh and blood, at the 2nd annual BlogSavannah UnConference yesterday.

Although I couldn’t partake in all of the breakout sessions, my favorite panel was on GPS and Geocaching led by Marvin Heery. I hadn’t ever heard of geocaching, and since me likes to learn, it provided the biggest opportunity to do so. Geocaching is like a digital scavenger hunt, described as “an adventure game for GPS users” on the most prominent geocaching website, (uh, duh) Geocaching dot com.

From my limited understanding on the subject, it seems players all over the world both hide “prizes” in various “secret” locations, as well as hunt for these “prizes”created by other players. Through any number of various geacaching websites, players list the coordinates of a specific spot. Various items are left in the spot by the player that “hid” the treasure, many times a tupperware container with found objects, little toys, etc. There is usually a note in the box explaining the interest of the location, items in the box, etc. Geocaching is also used to bring players to points of interests in an area that perhaps no one else knows about, much like a childhood secret spot in the woods.

While the idea of Geocaching was being explained, it reminded me of the hyper advanced way Trent Reznor and Nine-Inch-Nails promoted their (then new) album, Year Zero. With cryptic messages hidden in a concert t-shirt, USB drives left in concert venue bathrooms, and the slow reveal of unannounced shows, the artform turned out to not only be the album itself, but the interactive discovery of a message created to connect the fans to the band and their music. This speaks volumes of our human and innate yearning for discovery.

Mostly, all of these technologies deliver some truly interesting modes of using the online environment to actually interact offline. Thus, my favorite part of BlogSavannah’s UnConference; Joining with others that have blogging (at least) in common presents the rare opportunity to learn from and meet the real life people behind their online presence and the opportunity for new discoveries.

Words of the day:
Podfade
Geocoding
Peyote Buttons
Libsyn

***DISCLAIMER***My link to BFG Interactive is not unbiased. My other half started and heads the Content Department there.

Filed by darby at 10:06 am under Advertising & Marketing, Arts
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Pre-order the journal for a hard copy

Every two months, Polar Inertia rolls out extraordinary photographic installments via a magazine (and website) documenting “the story of the highway, mobile home, fast food chain, suburbanite, truck stop, and industrialized landscape.”

Here’s their manifesto:

Polar Inertia journal is an outlet and a resource for on going research into the networks that define the contemporary city. The journal began with the idea that an understanding of the conditions of post war urbanism requires immersion into the technologies and instruments that have molded the growth and image of the city. Using Los Angeles as a primary research laboratory, Polar inertia works under the belief that by exploring and documenting the infrastructure and land use patterns we can begin to understand the contemporary and future city. The research in the journal provides a basis from which to explore the potential for alternative proposals for urban development informed from the daily realities of the city.”

Some pretty heady stuff, with amazing photo’s to match. Check it out!

Filed by darby at 10:33 am under Arts, Docu Potent, raves
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With the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver come an estimated 1.5 million attendees, creating a mammoth-sized footprint.

Thanks to VANOC, the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, sustainability is written into the mission/value statement of this enormous effort.

In 2005 and 2006, VANOC established a set of six corporate-wide sustainability performance objectives. These objectives are based on Bid commitments, best management practices of other Organizing Committees and input from sustainability experts, key partners and stakeholders. They are now an integral part of VANOC’s strategic and business plans.

Accountability, Environmental Stewardship and Impact Reduction, Social Inclusion and Responsibility, Aboriginal Participation and Collaboration, Economic Benefits, and Sport for Sustainable Living are the six objectives. Some of the poignant goals are:

To behave ethically, set measurable performance targets and communicate openly about our progress and challenges

To conserve natural environments and manage, mitigate and offset negative impacts

To care for our workforce, protect human rights, and ensure health and safety

To demonstrate that sustainable innovation and practice makes good business sense

To use sport, and growing athlete and public interest in living more sustainably, to inspire action on local and global sustainability challenges

Vanoc is going for LEED certification on many of the building’s that will be constructed, as well. Imagine if all corporations, business ventures, governments, and individuals sat down and mapped out their intentions like this. Imagine.

Filed by admin at 7:41 pm under Activism, Community
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ASID & the USGBC have joined forces on what seems to be a much needed partnership for guidelines in best practices, which focus on residential remodeling based upon sustainable design principles, called ReGreen. The release of the completed guidelines happens at Interiors 08: The ASID Conference on Design next month.

The conference takes place in New Orleans, another great reason to go. While there, my agenda would include touring and exploring all of the great sustainable building happening in the fertile blank slate of New Orleans right now.

The plan is to present the guidelines, developed by “ASID and USGBC members and invited experts”, which will “complement the release of LEED for Homes, but is not itself a LEED-branded rating system”. With help provided by the open source implemented public comment spoke of the project, the think-tank model supports forward thinking and delivers what will likely prove to be a well-rounded blueprint in this field.

Apparently, space is limited for the upcoming conference, which takes place March 13-16, 2008.

Filed by admin at 7:01 pm under Conferences, Resources
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I remember being fascinated by National Geographic magazines at a very young age. I was able to explore the world, meet new people, and see animals and structures I had never imagined. It made me feel smart just by looking at it, with all of its maps, colors, and other-worldly images. Of course, when I was older, there was the possibility of seeing naked people, which any curious 10 year-old can appreciate. And this was LEGAL voyeurism, as adults never minded kids leafing through a National Geographic. The taboo was lifted. Long live anthropology.

Founded in 1888 “to increase and diffuse geographic knowledge while promoting the conservation of the world’s cultural, historical, and natural resources,” just the name National Geographic conjures thoughts of worldliness, professorialism, photographic mastery, and the intelligentsia.

As I was watching the National Geographic channel the other night, one of their “spots” referred to themselves as Nat Geo. Call me old fashioned, but some names are best left to tradition. Attempting to “modernize” one’s name by calling upon 50 year-old ad execs to get into the minds of the twentysomething’s, only to arrive at Nat Geo? Well, it’s a poor showing, at best, and a complete dumbing down and juvenilization of an esteemed brand at worst.

Must everyone attempt to craft themselves into an acronym-like, texting-friendly buzzword? Stick to the tradition when that tradition has over 120 years of solid, culturally infused worthiness, OK? Whether they like it or not, I will continue to call them by their proper, given name. National Geographic. Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?

Filed by darby at 10:11 am under Advertising & Marketing
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It’s been a while, huh? Having returned a couple of days ago to my first Omaha visit off the back of 5 nights in Boulder, CO for the New Year found me full of mucus and lacking energy. It’s nice to be home.

The New Year brought amazing gifts, like meeting my good friends’ child, who just may be the Little Buddha. I’m not kidding. I have never met a more happy, bouncy, smart, calm, fun, loving, joyous, rhythmic kid in my life. In the land of beautiful people with beautiful kids (Boulder, CO), this sweet one-year old stops people in their tracks and creates lines in the airports baggage claim area so that admiring passengers can meet her. No joke. Kinda crazy, really. Look:

Although I am about nine days late on a New Years mantra, I have been thinking about this next year a bunch. 2008 will be an incredibly significant year for me. I will get married. I will hopefully find meaningful work where I can apply my knowledge of sustainable building practices. I will likely relocate in order to do so. (and to keep my sanity). I will see my friends more often, and gather them all together for a grand celebration of love in September by Mt. Rainier National Park. I will make my health a huge priority, hopefully exercising more, eating better, and meditating often. I will use my time more wisely. I will work on staying more positive. I’ll dance more, and create more with my hands. And if the stars are aligned and I track down the courage I lost, I will have the strength to follow my bliss.

2008 will also be the year that we have some much needed change politically in this country, and let us all work towards it being the right change.

Happy 2008, ya’ll!

Filed by darby at 11:10 am under General
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