Ethics
New Construction Should be Outlawed
I think new construction is to building like heroin is to health. It should be outlawed as a threat to our well-being. There are enough old buildings for us to renovate. New construction is a needless act of arrogance and self destruction.
There’s really not much more to say. I could explain why I guess but [...]
Go Green Expo NYC
Go Green Expo NYC is coming up next week. See below to get the $10 special rate. I went last year and it was ok. It is really a subsection of Architectural Digest Home Design Show, although I’m sure it will be bigger this year.
Go Green Expo NYC in my opinion is profit based. Green [...]
Why So Many Houses?
We are on holiday. This morning my daughter asked, “Why wherever we go in the world there are so many houses? Why are there so little open fields with flowers?”
What have we done to this world?
I don’t care if all the houses are green. We’ve got too many of them.
We are in Aruba, a desert [...]
Green Building is More Dependant on Natural Cycles
One of the many differences between renovating a Brooklyn brownstone the old fashioned way and doing a green renovation is the difference in cycles.
A normal brownstone renovation is very similar to all post-industrial activity: MAN OVER NATURE. And ever since the “triumph of science” we have been able to overpower the earths natural cycles and [...]
Permaculture, Pigs and Bees
Here is a cool insight into nature. It is by Michael Pollan. He also talks about the Polyface Farm which is run by “grass farmer” Joel Salatin. Joel is interviewed a lot in the Food Inc Movie. Check out the talk below, follow the links above. All very cool stuff.
Not directly connected to green contractors [...]
Building Green Book
This book has a long title: Building Green: A Complete How-To Guide to Alternative Building Methods Earth Plaster * Straw Bale * Cordwood * Cob * Living Roofs. But then again it is a big book.
Written by Tim Callahan and Clarke Snell this book overflows with 600 pages and 1500 images. The book aims to [...]
Food Inc and Green Building
I had been avoiding the movie Food Inc for a while. I’ve seen lots of animal rights movies: they are depressing. They make me angry because of the barbarity and frustrated because I feel helpless.
But one evening I was feeling especially brave. It turns out the movie is UPLIFTING!
Sure it jumps all over the place [...]
Waste, Reuse and Cheese with Worms
I was just speaking with an Eco Brooklyn intern who is an architect for a non-green firm in Queens. She was lamenting a current job she is working on where they are tearing out beautiful cherry wood details to turn the building into crap rentals.
All my workers have similar stories and one of their main [...]
LEED Green Building Myth
I don’t know if it is a mainstream thing or what but I don’t get LEED. I even became a LEED AP in the hope that I would see what the big deal is but I still don’t get it. Why would you want to spend all that money and time so that you can [...]
Green Building Material Delivery
I just came across this craigslist add with the title:
green building materials delivered-brooklyn (red hook)
Being a green contractor in Carroll Gardens right next door to Red Hook, I thought, “Cool! I can get green building materials delivered to our job site!”
The add went on to read:
“Hello, we are a green company specializing in home delivery [...]