Since the rise of the world's first big cities, humanity has wrangled with the conflicting drives to both exploit and to preserve the world around us. In the wake of the first Industrial Revolution, we started broadcasting our thoughts on this dilemma and enacting legislation and regulation to try to come to terms with it.
Today, we are in the midst of what many call a "green revolution", and just as we did at the dawn of the Information Age, society has created a running list of new jargon and buzzwords in an attempt to define it, but what does it all actually mean to us?
My aim is to make sense of these often complicated concepts and the relentless march of green technology. I am an interior designer and sustainability consultant, the principal designer and sustainability director for Ohio's first certified green restaurant The Greenhouse Tavern and previously general manger of the eco-friendly Great Lakes Brewing Co. This odd resumé has given me unique insights into the products and materials we interact with, the spaces we live in and the food and drink that nourish us.
In the coming months, I will work to break this overwhelming menu of green topics into manageable bites. Along the way I will report on some of the very exciting things that are happening in Northern Ohio in the realm of sustainability, community development and design.
Applied Future
We spend a lot of time juggling words like sustainable, environmentally friendly and green. Think hard and you realize that everything comes down to just one thing: quality of life. It is the principle that guides you in every decision concerning yourself, your family and your friends.
I can't see the ozone layer, nobody is burning down a rainforest in my backyard and a polar bear has never died in my arms. Yet I know that I want to live in a house without poisons, a town without smog and ensure a long and healthy life for my family.
My plan is to relate these passions to some of the projects I have been involved with. I hope this will make the strategies more concrete while showing that there are a lot of different solutions to any "green" issue. As a building professional, I am bound by certain factors, and they are the same for all of us at home: money, time, access to the right equipment and talent. There will always be compromises in one or all of these areas. Our goal is to achieve a blend with the most benefit to our well being, but also to our bank accounts.
![Jonathan Sin-Jin Satayathum LEED AP [BD+C]](/cache/users/06/15/72x90c_1288126428.jpg)
On October 27th, 2010 @ 09:45:am,
Great read. As a home owner in Cuyahoga County I've been meaning to look into the rain barrel. Now you've motivated me to action.
On October 27th, 2010 @ 10:17:am,
Dear Sin-Jin, Thank you so much for these very informative articles. I find that so many people are so confused about green design and sustainability that they shrug it off. They get confused by all of the terms; Green design, sustainable design, environmental design, environmentally sustainable design, environmentally-conscious design, etc. I look forward to your future articles and consider it a great resource to send my clients to for some very informative, easy to understand explanations of what we can all do to raise the awareness and be more socially responsible for our actions and how we live in the environment we all share. Warmest regards, Lisa M. Amiri, ASID
On October 27th, 2010 @ 12:46:pm, cristina mccarthy remarked:
Great article. Easy to read and very informative about the world of "green" and "sustainable" buzzwords. Keep up the good work. I look forward to reading your next article.