You can make a difference to the hurt being caused by climate chaos and the great extinction event, in your town or your city! How? Reuse, repurpose, and recycle this information. You can push your local politicians to act. It will make a difference.
This is the letter for week 76 of a weekly climate strike that went on for 4 years in front of San Francisco City Hall, beginning early March 2019. For more context, see this story. For an annotated table of contents to see topics for all the strike letters, see this story. Meanwhile…
STRIKE FOR THE PLANET
If you build it, they will come.
This week’s topic is Green Building Practices.
What are Green Building Practices?
Green Building Practices require that the funders, builders, buyers, and final owners green the life cycle of a building in an integrated, comprehensive manner. Every phase of the building’s existence is made green, from construction to operation, maintenance, and decommissioning. It is a Cradle-to-Cradle approach1 for society’s largest tangible goods.
Building green means having sustainable siting, energy efficiency, water efficiency, sustainable and recycled building materials, waste reduction, and healthy indoor environmental quality.2 Some ways to achieve these include (but are not limited to) constructing Net-Zero3 and Climate Resilient Buildings4; meeting the standards for Green Star5, EDGE6 or LEED Certification7; incorporating Distributed Energy Systems8; and use of Alternative Building Materials.9 All Green Building Practices push the builders and users of a structure to do no harm to the environment.
Boring and obvious, right?
You already know current buildings are insanely environmentally destructive at every step of the way10, 11, you already know the quick and easy green practices that could be implemented in SF today12, and you absolutely already know that construction and permitting in SF are a horrific mess that penalize small businesses and green builders and reward the wealthy, connected, and criminal.13, 14, 15, 16 So fix it! This is clearly both your job and long overdue!
Okay then, how do you fix this?
- First, acknowledge that we have to use only Green Building Practices if SF is going to survive.17, 18
- Second, stop tearing down buildings that are sound and usable — reuse and renovation are orders of magnitude less harmful than new building.19, 20
- Third, repurpose the glut of luxury housing and office space into affordable housing and affordable small business, non-profit, community, arts, and medical spaces.21, 22, 23, 24, 25
- Fourth, change the damn permitting process and building codes!! They are out of date and harmful, byzantine, timidly green at best, and prone to corruption.26, 27, 28, 29
Taking these actions requires rethinking how SF works. Taking these actions requires a push to fundamentally change SF, something at the city level akin to the start of the Space Race at the national level. Why will doing this be so big and so rushed? Because you waited until the absolute last minute (see the final paragraph below) to make any substantial changes at all. You can’t wait any longer.
And it’s not like this is rocket science!
There are plenty of places that are allowing, using, and increasingly requiring Green Building Practices.30, 31 There are even green buildings in SF, such as the Exploratorium32 and the Salesforce tower.33 The examples, the legislative language, the equipment, the funding sources, the insurance policies — it’s all there already.34, 35, 36, 37 You just have to act.
And, as a bonus, Green Building Practices are equitable.38, 39, 40 Since SF flunked a recent state health equity test41, we should probably be pushing equity on all fronts as hard as possible.
And you do realize there’s a time pressure here, right?
We have 13 weeks left in which to start the necessary big actions if we’re going to survive.42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49 In a little over a year, we have lost 10 years time in which to do something. The Guardian climate countdown gives us 28 days to save the earth.50 Act now.
FOOTNOTES
1. William McDonough. “Cradle to Cradle”. William McDonough. 2020. https://mcdonough.com/cradle-to-cradle/.
2. Institute for Public Administration. “Complete Communities Toolbox: Guiding Principles Of Green Building Practices”. University of Delaware. Accessed 6 October 2020. https://www.completecommunitiesde.org/planning/sustainable/guiding-principles-gbp/.
3. “What is Net Zero?” World Green Building Council. Accessed 6 October 2020. https://www.worldgbc.org/advancing-net-zero/what-net-zero.
4. “Climate resilient buildings”. State of Green. Accessed 6 October 2020. https://stateofgreen.com/en/sectors/buildings/climate-resilient-buildings/.
5. “Green Star Certification”. IACC. Accessed 6 October 2020. http://www.iacconline.org/environmental-initiatives.
6. “EDGE: Green Building Certification System For Buildings”. Construction Review Online. 16 September 2020. https://constructionreviewonline.com/2020/09/excellence-in-design-for-greater-efficiencies-edge/.
7. Marc Lallanilla. “LEED for Green Building Certifications”. The Spruce. 17 September 2020. https://www.thespruce.com/what-is-leed-1708546.
8. Urvashi Verma. “What is a distributed energy system?” In-Building Tech. 11 January 2019. https://inbuildingtech.com/energy/distributed-energy-systems/.
9. Devina Mahendriyai. “Alternative building materials for green construction”. Asia Green Buildings. 13 July 2016. http://www.asiagreenbuildings.com/14221/green-building-material/.
10. Dan Ketchum. “Home-Building and the Environmental Effects”. SFGate. Accessed 7 October 2020. https://homeguides.sfgate.com/homebuilding-environmental-effects-65999.html.
11. Mariah Venice Afable. “Building Green - Minimizing The Environmental Impact of Construction”. Bold Business. 10 January 2019. https://www.boldbusiness.com/infrastructure/green-construction-environmental-impact/.
12. See Strike letters for weeks 12, 20, 22, 23, 27, 28, 29, 32, 38, 44, 48, 59, 68, 69, and 72.
13. Adam Brinklow. “SF’s chief building inspector named in fraud scandal”. Curbed San Francisco. 11 March 2020. https://sf.curbed.com/2020/3/11/21174475/tom-hui-fraud-scandal-555-fulton-san-francisco.
14. Michael Barba and Joshua Sabatini. “Permit expediter accused of fraud to cooperate in FBI City Hall corruption probe”. San Francisco Examiner. 24 June 2020. https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/feds-charge-permit-expeditor-with-conspiracy-as-nuru-scandal-expands/.
15. Dennis J. Herrera. “Herrera uncovers $420,000 in check fraud by former building commission president”. City Attorney of San Francisco. 12 March 2020. https://www.sfcityattorney.org/2020/03/12/herrera-uncovers-420000-in-check-fraud-by-former-building-commission-president/.
16. Heather Knight. “Bid to open S.F. ice cream shop turns into a bitter saga because of byzantine small business rules”. San Francisco Chronicle. 2 October 2020. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/heatherknight/article/Bid-to-open-S-F-ice-cream-shop-turns-into-a-15614815.php. But there are many more examples that have been published over the years, and many many more examples that never got any press that I can find just in my immediate neighborhood.
17. “Climate Emergency, Urban Opportunity: new flagship global report launched”. Coalition for Urban Transitions. 19 September 2019. https://urbantransitions.global/en/news/climate-emergency-urban-opportunity-new-flagship-global-report-launched/.
18. Matt Simon. “This Scary Map Shows How Climate Change Will Transform Your City”. Wired. 12 February 2019. https://www.wired.com/story/this-scary-map-shows-how-climate-change-will-transform-your-city/.
19. “New Construction vs. Renovation: Which is Greener?” Buildings. 1 May 2012. https://www.buildings.com/article-details/articleid/14014/title/new-construction-vs-renovation-which-is-greener-.
20. Greg Hanscom. “This old house: Why fixing up old homes is greener than building new ones”. Grist. 25 January 2012. https://grist.org/cities/this-old-house-why-fixing-up-old-homes-is-greener-than-building-new-ones/.
21. Jessica Corbett. “‘Glut of Overpriced Apartments’ Has Made Rents Fall for Rich, Soar for Poor in Cities Nationwide”. Common Dreams. 6 August 2018. https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/08/06/glut-overpriced-apartments-has-made-rents-fall-rich-soar-poor-cities-nationwide.
22. Stephanie Sierra. “San Francisco turned ghost town? Here’s how empty the city really is”. 7 News. 29 July 2020. https://abc7news.com/san-francisco-housing-market-coronavirus-california-real-estate-affordable/6341378/.
23. Riley McDermid. “S.F. has a condo glut, with massive supply and dwindling demand, report says”. San Francisco Business Times. 7 July 2016. https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2016/07/sf-condo-glut-paragon-polaris-real-estate.html.
24. Trisha Thadani. “Vacancy glut in SF could spur tax on empty storefronts”. San Francisco Chronicle. 23 January 2019. https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Vacancy-glut-in-SF-could-spur-tax-on-empty-13554017.php.
25. TRD Staff. “San Francisco office vacancy hasn’t been this high in years”. TheRealDeal. 2 October 2020. https://therealdeal.com/la/2020/10/02/san-francisco-office-vacancy-hasnt-been-this-high-in-years/.
26. Vivian Ho. “Settlement reached over San Francisco’s notorious sinking luxury tower”. The Guardian. 29 August 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/29/millennium-tower-san-francisco-settlement-leaning.
27. Mallory Moench. “SF bans natural gas in new city buildings, plans all construction ban”. San Francisco Chronicle. 19 Jaunary 2020. https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/SF-bans-natural-gas-in-new-city-buildings-may-14984899.php. And see the Strike letters for weeks 32, 38, and 68 as to why this move is such weak tea.
28. J.K. Dineen. “Embattled SF planning commissioner sues city, alleging building department acted ‘like a crook’”. San Francisco Chronicle. 19 February 2020. https://www.sfchronicle.com/local-politics/article/Embattled-SF-planning-commissioner-sues-city-15068984.php.
29. Becky Little. “Why It Took Two Earthquakes for San Francisco to Finally Build Smarter”. History. Updated 19 October 2018. https://www.history.com/news/why-it-took-two-earthquakes-for-san-francisco-to-finally-build-smarter.
30. Rube Goldberg. “Green Building Rankings Grow World-Wide”. Indvstrvs. 18 October 2017. https://indvstrvs.com/green-building-ranking/.
31. Amy Kolczak. “This City Aims to Be the World’s Greenest”. National Geographic. 28 February 2017. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/urban-expeditions/green-buildings/green-urban-landscape-cities-Singapore/.
32. “Sustainability: The Exploratorium as Exhibit”. The Exploratorium. Accessed 7 October 2020. https://www.exploratorium.edu/about/sustainability-the-exploratorium-as-exhibit.
33. Patrick Flynn. “A New Sustainability Milestone: Innovative Water Recycling System in Salesforce Tower”. Salesforce Blog. 11 January 2018. https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2018/01/salesforce-tower-innovative-water-recycling-system.html.
34. Kelsi Maree Borland. “Southern California Leads in Green Building Adoption”. Globe St. 26 November 2019. https://www.globest.com/2019/11/26/southern-california-leads-in-green-building-adoption/?slreturn=20200907123009.
35. “Green Building”. Cool California. Accessed 7 October 2020. https://coolcalifornia.arb.ca.gov/green-building.
36. “Cal Green”. Building Standards Commission. Accessed 7 October 2020. https://www.dgs.ca.gov/BSC/Resources/Page-Content/Building-Standards-Commission-Resources-List-Folder/CALGreen.
37. Andrea Wells. “Green Insurance Market: Competitive and Growing”. Insurance Journal. 21 October 2013. https://www.insurancejournal.com/magazines/mag-features/2013/10/21/308183.htm.
38. Jennifer Hirsch. “The hidden power of equity in sustainable buildings”. Living Building Chronicle. 25 October 2017. https://livingbuilding.kendedafund.org/2017/10/25/equity-petal-sustainable-building-georgia-tech/.
39. Katie Okamoto. “If You Are Serious About Sustainability, Social Equity Can’t Be Just Another Add-On”. Metropolis. 6 January 2020. https://www.metropolismag.com/architecture/social-equity-sustainability/.
40. Paula Melton. “Re-forming the Building Industry: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion”. Building Green. Updated 7 January 2020. https://www.buildinggreen.com/feature/re-forming-building-industry-equity-diversity-and-inclusion.
41. Fiona Kelliher. “Four Bay Area counties fail to hit state’s new coronavirus equity measure”. The Mercury News. 6 October 2020. https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/10/06/4-bay-area-counties-fail-to-hit-states-new-coronavirus-equity-measure/.
42. Matt McGrath. “Climate change: 12 years to save the planet? Make that 18 months”. BBC News. 24 July 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48964736.
43. Heather Smith. “Climate Change: Even Worse Than We Thought”. Sierra. 8 October 2018. https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/climate-change-even-worse-we-thought-ipcc-report.
44. Michael Grose and Julie Arblaster. “Just how hot will it get this century? It’s worse than we thought”. Phys Org. 18 May 2020. https://phys.org/news/2020-05-hot-century-worse-thought.html.
45. Amelia Urry. “The scientist who first warned of climate change says it’s much worse than we thought”. Grist. 22 March 2016. https://grist.org/science/the-scientist-who-first-warned-of-climate-change-says-its-much-worse-than-we-thought/.
46. Rafi Letzter. “Today’s Climate Change Is Worse Than Anything Earth Has Experienced in the Past 2,000 Years”. Live Science. 25 July 2019. https://www.livescience.com/66027-climate-change-different.html.
47. John D. Sutter. “Vanishing”. CNN. Accessed 30 June 2020. https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/12/specials/vanishing/.
48. Peter Castagno. “Biodiversity Loss Worst in Human History — 1 Million Animal Species Risk Extinction”. Citizen Truth. 6 May 2019. https://citizentruth.org/biodiversity-loss-worst-in-human-history-1-million-animal-species-risk-extinction/.
49. Kristen Callihan. “Earth’s Currently Ongoing Sixth Mass Extinction Is Worse Than We Thought”. OutwardOn. 7 August 2017. https://www.outwardon.com/article/earths-currently-ongoing-sixth-mass-extinction-event-is-worse-than-we-thought/.
50. “Climate countdown”. The Guardian. Accessed most recently 7 October 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/series/climate-countdown.