We've been exploring the meaning of sustainability lately through everything from the freeconomy and online scrabble to educating future generations and sharing homemade soup. Our friend, writer Terry Selucky, recently got to hear John Picard, a noted sustainability expert, discuss his own moment of truth regarding sustainability, and has graciously offered to share her experience here. Our thanks to Terry for this post.
Sitting in a hotel ballroom at a sales conference in Florida a few weeks ago, ready to fall into the “attentive posture, wandering mind” practice that I reserve specifically for guest speakers, my ears perked up at a compelling observation.
“We make a habit of using energy to cancel out our energy use,” said John Picard, sustainability expert, efficiency pioneer, and speaker of the day. “The lamps above us are giving off more heat than light, and that, plus the heat from the people in this room, requires us to cool the space with air conditioning.”
“Hnyuh,” I said out loud, earning a look from the woman next to me. This was a bit startling. I’ve been in so many warehouse-sized conference spaces over the last few years, and rarely have I thought about how counterintuitive business practices are. I’ve always just accepted it as “the way it is.”
I looked around the room and saw even more examples of waste: plastic cups piling up on tables, speakers that bounced sound off distant walls, and two 20-foot screens that projected video images on either side of a stage from which I was a mere 30 feet away.
All this energy use—for what? So we could sit in the impeccably controlled, sterile environment of this indoor pavilion, steps from the beach? Outside, the Gulf breeze tempered a blazing Florida sun, and an adjacent courtyard offered ideal acoustics for public speaking. I realized that all our needs would have been met perfectly, with little trouble, had we used our energy to pick up our chairs and gather outside.
Leave it to John Picard, former member of Bill Clinton’s Green White House task force, to open my eyes and ask me to reconsider how we use our resources.
Picard wasn’t always so progressive. In the 1980s, he was designing some of the most elaborate homes in the U.S., speeding around the country in sports cars (I have fun picturing him in full "Miami Vice" pastels), trying to “fill a void” that persisted despite his grand success.
On one particular private jet trip, Picard and crew spiked 52,000 feet into the air, allowing a glimpse at the smooth, gleaming curvature of the Earth. Picard’s life view shifted. Seeing the world as a vulnerable, living organism that needed to be taken care of—a “low bid,” as he puts it—he became a spokesperson for environmentally sound building practices, imparting his knowledge to organizations, corporations and design professionals, and eventually founding E2, Environmental Enterprises.
One of the most inspiring things about Picard’s vision is that he takes his philosophy a step beyond green practices and sustainability, to regenerative and restorative design. He believes that “the next new economy is a natural systems economy,” and that large corporations will begin to compete with each other to rectify negative impacts on the environment in order to earn consumer respect.
It’s fascinating to imagine corporations that aren’t just carbon-neutral, but that actually cultivate a healthy environment. Even more remarkable, the consumer is where the conversation for sustainability and regeneration all started. We’ve spoken, and many businesses are listening.
Knowing this, I consider it my opportunity to take another step forward toward being part of a regenerative society that works with nature as it is. It’s more than just intelligence—it’s intuition. Opening a window is easier for me than turning on the a/c, and ditching plastic water bottles is a huge cut to the garbage I create. They aren’t always huge actions, but they add up.
In the meantime, I (and perhaps, we) need to have faith that the little things make an impact. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes along the way,” said Picard. “But I kept following my heart and my conscience and that’s what brought me here, to a place where I am a complete person.”
Surely, our desires to “fill the void” will lead us to live inspired, complete lives of our own.
Watch an interview with Picard here.
Terry Selucky enjoys filling the void by working as a freelance writer. As a playwright, her work has been seen in New York City, Chicago, and Portland; she also writes about food, travel and other fun things for publications like Time Out New York, nymag.com, and Not for Tourists books. She is Development Director for the awesome Girls Write Now.
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