This was a Beaming Bioneers session, televised live from San Rafael

Jason McClennan walked onto stage with a sunflower in his hand.  As he waxed poetic about the way in which a flower co-exists with its environment and creates beauty, he asked why our buildings don't do the same.

The building industry moves slowly and is inherently risk averse, but he stressed that the time to make a change is now and this is no time for baby steps.  It is the time for giant leaps.

Jason introduced the Living Building Challenge in which his organization is challenging architects and engineers to re-envision buildings.  The challenge requires entrants to meet a number of mandatory pre-requisites including no new sites, clean energy usage, and materials that meet  standards.  There are currently 4 projects that are being evaluated for certification and 60-70 projects which are currently in design across the country.

Jason encouraged the audience to participate.  In order to push our world towards higher buildind standards, we must stand and demand them.  At this point he invited the conference attendees to stand with him and many in the Ithaca satellite session stood with him.

TAGGED WITH: living buildings