jonathan herz, aia, leed ap inova intersections symposium, october 11, 2013 - fairfax, va connecting...
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Jonathan Herz, AIA, LEED APInova Intersections Symposium, October 11, 2013 - Fairfax, VA
Connecting Health & the Environment
• Waste Management• Toxic Materials/Mercury• PVC and Phthalates• Flame Retardants• Electronics• Cleaners and Pesticides• Safer Chemicals• Healthy Food Systems• Green Building and
Energy• Climate and Health• Green Purchasing
• Pharmaceuticals• Environment and Health
ISSUES:
HEALTH CARE WITHOUT HARM
OUR CURRENT SUSTAINABILITY PARADIGM
THE BRUNDTLAND COMMISSION (1987)
“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
“It contains within it two key concepts:• The concept of 'needs', in particular the essential needs
of the world's poor, to which overriding priority should be given; and,
• The idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment's ability to meet present and future needs.”
THE CURRENT SUSTAINABILITY PARADIGM
THE CURRENT SUSTAINABILITY PARADIGM
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (1997)
“THE TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE”
ENVIRONMENT
ECONOMY
SOCIETY
“Sustainable development involves the simultaneous pursuit of economic prosperity, environmental quality and social equity. Companies aiming for sustainability need to perform not against a single, financial bottom line, but against [this] triple bottom line.”
THE CURRENT SUSTAINABILITY PARADIGM
• BREEAM® (1990)
• LEED® (2000)
• GREEN GLOBES™ (2000)
• LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE (2003)• GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR FEDERAL LEADERSHIP IN
HIGH PERFORMANCE AND SUSTAINABLE BUILDINGS (2006)
GREEN BUILDINGS STANDARDS
“The concept of a Triple Bottom Line in fact turns out to be a “Good old-fashioned Single Bottom Line plus Vague Commitments to Social and Environmental Concerns.”
Wayne Norman and Chris MacDonald (2003)
THE CURRENT SUSTAINABILITY PARADIGM
“There is one and only one social responsibility of business – to use it resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game…"
Milton Friedman (1970)
OUR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL IMPACTS
OUR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees http://www.footprintnetwork.org/
+
2011 Toxic Release Inventory :• More than 22.8 billion pounds of toxic
chemical wastes produced,• Over 18.6 billion pounds were recycled,
burned for energy recovery, or treated, and,• Over 4.13 billion pounds released to the
environment.
OUR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
TOXIFICATION OF THE PLANET
BUILDINGS AND THE ENVIRONMENTCONSTRUCTION, RENOVATION AND OPERATIONS:
Produce (Directly or Indirectly):
• 49% percent of SO2,• 40% of landfill waste,• 35 % of Greenhouse Gases,
and,• 10% of airborne particulates.
Consume:• 66% of electricity,• 50% of the extracted,
natural resources,• 33% of the energy, and, • 17% of water.
“A typical 200-bed hospital in the coal-powered Midwest using seven million kWh is responsible for more than $1 million/year in negative societal public health impacts ($0.14kWh) and $107,000/year ($0.01532/kWh) in direct health care costs.”
Practice Greenhealth
• Asbestos
• Lead
• PCB’s
• Formaldehyde
• Dioxin
• Chromium
• Arsenic• VOC’s• Mercury• Chlorine• CFC’s• Many others
BUILDING MATERIALS AND METHODS DIRECTLY AFFECT WORKER AND COMMUNITY HEALTH
BUILDINGS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
OUR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
CLIMATE CHANGE KEY ENVIRONMENTAL THREATS:• Decreased Availability of Potable Water,• Sea Warming, Acidification, and Level Rises, • Extreme weather, and. • Ecosystems Destruction.KEY HEALTH THREATS:• Cumulative Climate and Health Stressors – impacts on
young and old, those chronically ill and the poor, • Societal System Failures During Extreme Events – impacts
on infrastructure, evacuation, response services, power.• Emergence of Diseases - shifting pest ranges, lack of
immunity & preparedness, inadequate monitoring.
OUR SOCIAL IMPACTS
UNJUST DISTRIBUTION OF RESOURCES- The poorest 36% of the world’s people
get less than 3%, while,- The richest 15.6% of the world’s people
(including the U.S.) get more than 80%.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICEVulnerable Communities are seeing:- Increased incidence asthma,
cardiovascular disease, stroke, heat-related illnesses and deaths,
- Disruption of food and water sources,- Infrastructure impacts.
SOCIAL EQUITY AND ETHICS
SOCIAL EQUITY AND ETHICS
“It is a question whether a man has a moral right to destroy the riches of the earth, no matter how they come to his hands, with the purpose of gaining more than he can eat and be comfortable with and be responsibly helpful to those about him.”
Chase Osborn, Governor of Michigan
Wasted Resources–Pollution (1908)
WHAT IS EQUITY?
SOCIAL EQUITY AND ETHICS
Respect
Well-being
Quality of Life
RESPECT AND WELL-BEING- LIVING WAGES -
“Neither we, nor any other people, will ever be respected till we respect ourselves and we will never respect ourselves till we have the means to live respectfully.”
Frederick DouglassThe North American Review
1881
SOCIAL EQUITY AND ETHICS
QUALITY OF LIFE- TOXICS ELIMINATION -
By finding alternative and substitute products for hazardous materials used in industrial processes and by consumers, we reduce the overall harmful effects both to human health and to the environment.
National Association of County and City Health Officials.
SOCIAL EQUITY AND ETHICS
OUR CURRENT ECONOMIC PARADIGM
THE TRADITIONAL ECONOMIC PARADIGM
THE ENVIRONMENT IS A SUBSET OF THE ECONOMY
TRADITIONAL ECONOMICS: “THE INVISIBLE HAND”
“Socially optimal” conditions emerge when there is equilibrium between production and consumption, which occurs when:
1. Consumers are perfectly informed about all products,
2. There is competition,
3. Households maximize their well-being and firms maximize their profits, and,
4. Production and consumption of goods and services affects only those directly involved, with no indirect impacts on others, such as waste or pollution.
Pric
e
Supply
Demand
Quantity
P*
Q*
Supply & Demand
TRADITIONAL ECONOMICS – MARKET FAILURES
EXTERNALITIES – positive or negative consequences of economic activity, prevent commodities from being produced at a socially optimal level.
PUBLIC GOODS - No free market incentive to supply them so government intervention is often necessary.
COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS - An economic decision-making approach to decide whether a proposed investment or policy is worth pursuing, or to choose between several alternative ones by comparing expected costs against expected benefits.
LIFE CYCLE COST ANALYSIS - The cost of a capital asset, including all direct and indirect costs for planning, procurement, operations and maintenance, and disposal.”
ECONOMIC DECISION-MAKING
ENVIRONMENTAL AND RESOURCE ECONOMICS • Look at the lifecycle of our economic activities, • Monetize ecosystem benefits and costs of environmental
problems, • Use taxation and other market-based mechanisms to correct
externalities
TRADITIONAL ECONOMICS
“The market cannot tell us how much clean air, clean water, healthy wetland, or healthy forests we should have, or what risk is acceptable when the welfare of future generations is at stake.”
Herman E. Daly and Joshua Farley (2004)
There are economic, environmental, and social issues associated with every choice we make.
ECONOMIC DECISION-MAKING
02-02-11
IT’S TIME FOR A NEW PARADIGM
WHAT DOES “SUSTAINABLE” MEAN?
SUSTAINABLE (adj.) – Capable of being carried on for a prolonged duration, or for the foreseeable future, and beyond.
DEFINING THE GOAL
SUSTAINABILITY: “to create and maintain conditions, under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic, and other requirements of present and future generations.” NEPA (1969), EO 13514 (2009)
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY: life-supporting ecosystems are maintained, toxics are eliminated, renewable resources are consumed below their regeneration rate, and non-renewable resources are recycled or replaced by renewable substitutes.
SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: resources are distributed justly, allowing people to live with dignity.
THE WORLD IS A CLOSED SYSTEM….
THE ECONOMY exists within the environment as a construct of society
Principles
• Sustainable Scale
• Just Distribution
• Efficient Allocation
Ecological Economics
ENVIRONMENT
ECONOMY
SOCIETY
THE NEW ECONOMIC PARADIGM:
An environmentally sustainable world: • Maintains critical ecosystems that provide
essential life support,• Reduces or eliminates generation of
toxics,• Uses non-renewable resources at rates
below that at which they can be replaced by renewable substitutes,
• consumes renewable resources at rates below their regeneration rate, and
• Generates all wastes al levels below the ecosphere’s assimilative capacity.
A socially sustainable world:• Has a just distribution of resources
that allows people to live with dignity.
WHAT DOES A SUSTAINABLE WORLD LOOK LIKE?
START THINKING SUSTAINABLY
John R. EhrenfeldExecutive Director of the International Society for Industrial Ecology
“REDUCING UNSUSTAINABILITY WILL NOT CREATE SUSTAINABILITY.”
THINKING SUSTAINABLY
Reconsider Forecasting=> Likely development
pathway =>Status Quo Outline of a likely future
Vision of a desirable future<= Necessary development pathway <=
Status Quo
Apply Backcasting
THINKING SUSTAINABLY
• Involve multi-disciplinary stakeholders directly in decision-making.
• Use qualitative as well as quantitative measuring scales• Resolve problems with multiple values systems and objectives.
Consider Multi-criteria decision-making
RESOURCES - THINKING SUSTAINABLY
•Health Care Without Harm•Green Guide for Health Care•LEED® Version 4•The Pharos Project•Cradle-to-Cradle•FGI Sustainable Design Guidelines for Hospitals and Outpatient Facilities (Draft)
•Comparative effectiveness Analysis•Sustainable Return on Investment•Health Impact Assessments and NEPA
www.gsa.gov/sustainabledevelopment
The New Sustainable Frontier
Sustainable Development & Society
EVEN MORE RESOURCES