Teach to Build

I am an advocate that all change comes through learning. Explain it and teach it and they will build it.

Its all great to devise theories but without practice and in turn feedback you have no way of knowing if that theory is a work in place or just not working at all.

Its why I realize that it's Education not Consultation that is needed with regards to the Sustainability movement. From building to energy to living we need to provide Education and instruction and in turn garner the kinds of inquiry and feedback that acutally moves that theory into practice and acceptance.

I decided this year to change my focus to Education and my dream would be to either develop a charter school or teach in one where Sustainabilty is the focus, from building to living. Its a broad scope to a word with a broad meaning. We have to re-examine what it means to live and do so in ways that is both affordable and approachable. We have long been confused as to what it mean to "build" Community and its clear we need to re-build it to make our lives "wealthier" and "wiser".

From the basic way we grow our food, care for our enviornment (and that too is a very broad based term) to caring for our long term needs regarding our health and home, America has become a substinenance nation. In other words just substandard in all aspects of living when it comes to the majority of our people.

I was looking through Eco Home magazine and found articles that all say the key to change is through Education.

This is from DuPont’s Building Knowledge Center,Laura Dwyer:

Dwyer sees three key critical components—education, collaboration, and innovation—that will need to come together if we want to reach a more sustainable future.

Echoing the thoughts of many Vision 2020 research contributors, Dwyer feels education is the most critical part of the equation. “It’s great to get thought leaders together, but sometimes we are talking to ourselves,” she says. “We need to focus on how we get that into the hands of the users.”

Or this from Bruce King, founder of the Ecological Building Network who holds seminars teaching the use of alternative building products in construction:

The most necessary change, however, will have to happen at the educational level—a challenge King is trying to personally address. “If you are not going two or three or four stories high, there are an awful lot of things you can build with that the building code doesn’t even notice and essentially accepts, like adobe or straw bales or bamboo or stonework,” King says. “Most engineers in the world have no training whatsoever in those things, and they don’t know how to deal with it. Part of my effort is to get things into educational institutions—getting to students in engineering schools and at least prying their minds open a little bit.”

King would also like to see more builders do their part by educating themselves and, even more important, by investing in healthier, low-carbon materials

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Getting people on board with opportunites to actually learn while encouraging to do is the only way to reach the goal of net zero by 2020. And its going to have to be affordable and accessible. And given the State of Wisconsin already abandoning Energy Star we have a problem when it comes to moving into energy efficiency. And with out current fiscal cliffs impending I am not sure the financial incentives that companies like GE, DOW, Apple, etc employ to avoid taxes and in turn generate profit margins are available to those who actually would benefit the most so its going to be a "building challenge" to say the least.

I do think the key to Rebuilding America is through the trades, they have done it once before and are more than willing to step up to the plate again but they need a turn at bat. Three strikes you're out. We have only one strike so let's see if we can turn this game around.