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GreenMoney Journal - publishing since 1992
Fall 2010 issue
Socially Responsible Investing – Better Companies, Better Communities
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ECONOMICS, ARCHITECTURE, AND BANKING
Tom Bender
The core of sustainability is spiritual. This is equally so for sustainable design, economics, and
investment. Most of our intractable social problems are merely symptoms of a single disease of the
spirit - lack of
self-worth, lack of respect by and for others, and lack of opportunity to be
of value to family and society - which turns ever-present temptations into epidemic problems. Our
true goals in life have more to do with love and being loved, and with having meaning in our lives
than with how much money we make. Healing diseases of the spirit requires open hearts; honoring the
elements and forces of nature, the rhythms and cycles of life, the users of a place, and all of
life - in our buildings, in what dreams we allow to manifest through our investment, in the
economic institutions we create.
Sustainability requires work done with reverence.
What is made with love becomes loved, and what is loved endures and is sustained. We have been
taught that work is something to be minimized for both the worker and the employer. Yet meaningful
creative work is essential for everyone to develop and apply our abilities, to have self-worth, to
be of value to our
communities, and to find rewards in what we do. Health is not possible
without it.
Immersion in spirit allows us to experience the wholeness with which all
is inextricably connected. No part of that wholeness just exists. It exists because of an intention
that it be manifested in our universe. So we also have to pay attention to underlying values,
goals, and dreams.
Approaching economic issues from a wholistic perspective can give an
order of magnitude more effectiveness. Conventional economics ignores the future where we will live
the rest of our lives. It says to cut forests when the trees are only 40 years old.
However, every time we cut a forest, we lose benefit of the next 20 years of solar energy
falling on that land. Rotations four times as long produce more wood per year, more net income,
less work needed in the forestry operations, 75 percent fewer clearcuts, restored
productivity
of fisheries, improvement in other forest products and recreation. Total forest benefits from true
sustainable forestry can be 20 times those of conventional forestry.
Similarly,
the dynamics of income resources, such as solar energy, are very different from those of capital
resources, such as petroleum. Solar energy not used is lost. Fossil fuels not used are worth more
tomorrow! And for us to do what nature does free for us has immense costs.
Embodying
these dimensions of sustainability in the making and use of our buildings is far less advanced than
dealing with energy efficiency or indoor air quality. Yet their rewards truly overshadow
conventional dimensions of sustainability. Things which make a qualitative difference in our lives
are frequently more important than things which only make a quantitative difference.
Initial costs of buildings are only a sub-set of lifecycle costs. Buildings themselves are also
only a sub-set of the institutions they house. An office building can cost three times as much as
usual, yet generate greater profit if it improves worker productivity by only five percent! When
considering green design, commercial clients need to examine employee turnover rate, absenteeism,
and goof-up rates. Spending more on building design that results in healthier and happier employees
can be a huge productivity tool.
Oregon's Bank of Astoria is a community bank, one of
the best in the nation in reinvestment in the local community. Both their Manzanita building and
its making embody what community banking and green money are about and what they contribute to a
community. It used local design, contractors, skills, trades, materials and products. In doing so,
it honors, empowers, and serves the community - with incalculable value to both the bank and the
community.
Commercial forests constitute 85 percent of the county, so celebrating trees
and community forestry skills became an important design element. Native plant landscaping
connected the building with the surrounding ecosystem. A roof spout pouring out 100" of rain into a
pond has been one of the most delightful design elements.
Major effort went into
coordinating city, county, and utilities to initiate utility undergrounding desired by the
community. Roundwood, siding, and framing lumber was obtained from sources within a 25-mile radius
of site. Art in the building came from community artists, with provision for rotating exhibits by
local artists. Bark from the cedar central post was given to local artists for basket-making.
Shingle and trim scraps were given to a local birdhouse-maker.
The project was part of
a state economic development program to develop use of local wood-grading, woodlots, and
small-mills. Recycled driftwood was used for posts, casework, door handles, and landscaping. Curved
timbers were used to develop their merchantability. Roof trusses used finger-glued wood chords to
maximize strength, with recyclable steel webs.
The building has 100 percent
natural daylighting (except for the vault), 100 percent on-site stormwater retention, 100 percent
natural ventilation and cooling; passive solar design. The building envelope efficiency is double
Oregon's already stringent code standards. Its high-efficiency lighting is expected to be needed
only 25 percent of the time. Operable windows and a high-level exhaust vent provide ventilation,
supplemented by night-flushing in summer. A photographic report on the Bank is available at-
http://www.tombender.org.
The project shows that vitality and life can be achieved in
our
buildings simultaneous with state-of-the-art energy performance, local ecological fitness,
community benefit and economic success. Our institutions can find new life through building design
processes focused on community, cultural, spiritual, and energetic dimensions of sustainability.
They can honor and celebrate our natural and human community and enrich our lives.
A building that dramatically employs and enriches people skills and resources stands as a
yardstick to encourage others to develop and use skills. A building that can move our hearts, be an
outstanding business success, and be even more magical in the worst weather is one we know is in
harmony with its world.
Article written by Tom Bender, recipient of national and
international awards for his seminal work in development of sustainable economics, communities and
design. His most recent book on sustainable economics, Learning to Count What REALLY Counts.
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