<html>
<body>
Hi Reuben,<br><br>
These are important points to discuss. I'm thinking of
"desirable" in perhaps a broader sense. How do we make smaller
homes desirable? Or urban living? Or reduced
consumption/materialism? In other words, how we change our habits
and our image of what "the good life" is?<br><br>
Comments are enabled (but moderated). I didn't see one from you, though
I'd be very happy to see your post there.<br><br>
The subscribe and follow links are not yet working right,
though.<br><br>
Regards,<br><br>
David<br><br>
At 10:11 AM 7/23/2012, you wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">David, <br>
I look forward to following your blog. It seems like a very worthwhile
project. <br>
On your blog you wrote:<br>
<i>"It’s not enough to say there are solutions (though it’s a good
start). We need solutions that are desirable; not solutions that are
adopted only because they are necessary. I firmly believe there are
futures that simultaneously save the environment that nurtures us while
allowing, indeed helping, us to flourish as individuals and as the
species homo sapiens."</i><br><br>
I agree in general, but I suspect you'd concur that the definition of
desirable is going to have to be divorced from the framework of fossil
fuels. Many of the things currently understood as <u>convenient</u> in
our society are drenched in fossil fuels. We're going to have to figure
out ways to redefine convenience in new ways. Right now a reigning
interpretation of how to make solutions desirable is Energy Star: pick
categories of appliances known to flatter middle class tastes (side by
side refrigerator with through the door ice and water) and tweak the
parameters so that they qualify for an Energy Star. Rather than
discourage the category as a whole as energy authorities did through
about 1990, now the majority of Energy Star refrigerators are side by
sides with TTD ice and water. I think this is an unpromising way forward.
As it stands, the underlying goal of reducing our dependence on fossil
fuels has taken a back step to encouraging early replacement and trading
up. <br><br>
I signed up for your blog but suspect maybe that comments aren't enabled
there yet.<br><br>
Reuben<br><br>
On Sun, Jul 22, 2012 at 8:25 PM, David Bergman
<<a href="mailto:bergman@cyberg.com">bergman@cyberg.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
<dl>
<dd>At 11:05 PM 7/22/2012, Gennaro Brooks-Church - Eco Brooklyn
wrote:<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">
<dd>I think that forward thinking people discover better ways to do
things.<br>
<dd>The rest of society only follows when they are forced
to.</blockquote><br>
<dd>I think there's more to it than that. People also tend to follow
when:<br><br>
<dd>they like what they see<br>
<dd>they want to be cool like other (forward thinking) people<br>
<dd>they see personal advantage (health, $, etc.)<br><br>
<dd>These "carrot" methods, arguably, work much better than the
stick of requiring people to change.<br><br>
<dd>BTW, this is a significant part of what I'm going to be writing about
in my new blog, EcoOptimism
(<a href="http://www.ecooptimism.com/" eudora="autourl">
</a><a href="http://www.ecooptimism.com/" eudora="autourl">
www.Ecooptimism.com</a>). <br><br>
<dd>David Bergman RA LEED AP<br>
<dd><font color="#808080">DAVID BERGMAN</b> ARCHITECT / FIRE &
WATER</b> LIGHTING + FURNITURE<br>
<dd>architecture . interiors .
</font><font color="#008080">ecodesign</font><font color="#808080"> .
lighting . furniture<br>
<dd><a href="mailto:bergman@cyberg.com">bergman@cyberg.com</a>
<a href="http://www.cyberg.com/" eudora="autourl">www.cyberg.com</a></u>
<br>
<dd>241 Eldridge Street #3R, New York, NY 10002<br>
<dd>t 212 475 3106 f <a href="tel:212%20677%207291">212
677 7291</a> <br><br>
<dd>author - Sustainable Design: A Critical Guide<br>
<dd>blog -
<a href="http://www.ecooptimism.com/">www.EcoOptimism.com</a></u> <br>
<dd>adjunct faculty - Parsons The New School for Design</font> <br><br>
<dd>_______________________________________________<br>
<dd>Greenbuilding mailing list<br>
<dd>to Send a Message to the list, use the email address<br>
<dd><a href="mailto:Greenbuilding@bioenergylists.org">
Greenbuilding@bioenergylists.org</a><br><br>
<dd>to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page<br>
<dd>
<a href="http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/greenbuilding_lists.bioenergylists.org">
http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/greenbuilding_lists.bioenergylists.org</a>
<br><br>
</dl><br>
_______________________________________________<br>
Greenbuilding mailing list<br>
to Send a Message to the list, use the email address<br>
Greenbuilding@bioenergylists.org<br><br>
to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page<br>
<a href="http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/greenbuilding_lists.bioenergylists.org" eudora="autourl">
http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/greenbuilding_lists.bioenergylists.org</a>
</blockquote>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<br>
David Bergman RA LEED AP<br>
<font size=2 color="#808080"><b>DAVID BERGMAN</b> ARCHITECT / <b>FIRE
& WATER</b> LIGHTING + FURNITURE<br>
</font><font color="#808080">architecture . interiors .
</font><font color="#008080">ecodesign</font><font color="#808080"> .
lighting . furniture<br>
</font><font size=2 color="#808080">bergman@cyberg.com
<a href="http://www.cyberg.com/" eudora="autourl"><u>www.cyberg.com</a>
</u></font><font color="#808080"> <br>
</font><font size=2 color="#808080">241 Eldridge Street #3R, New York, NY
10002<br>
</font><font color="#808080">t </font><font size=2 color="#808080">212
475 3106 f 212 677 7291</font><font color="#808080">
<br><br>
author - Sustainable Design: A Critical Guide<br>
blog -
<a href="http://www.ecooptimism.com/" eudora="autourl"><u>
www.EcoOptimism.com</a></u> <br>
adjunct faculty - Parsons The New School for Design</font> </body>
</html>