Page 99 - The Green Building Bottom Line The Real Cost of Sustainable Building

78 CHAPTER 3

This chapter is not intended to define absolutely—nor could it define
absolutely—what sustainability is and how it should impact a company.
What it hopefully will do is identify how to develop a sense of sustain-
ability that is authentic to a particular organization, one that an entire firm
can describe, affirm, and embrace through its day-to-day practices.

Sustainability and Authenticity

Think for a moment about bamboo. In the last few years, this quick-growing grass (it’s
not a wood, as is commonly thought) has become a material of choice in many green
buildings. It is most often used as a substitute for hardwood flooring, but also appears
in plywood, cabinets, countertops, bedding, and window treatments. The moso species
of bamboo, which can be used to make these products, can grow up to thirty feet in
one year, and needs only five years to mature. The same plant can also be cut and har-
vested four or five times before it must be replanted. These characteristics make bam-
boo a sought-after material in the green building community. Because bamboo is
rapidly renewable, easy to grow, cost competitive, and able to be reharvested, it is con-
sidered a very sustainable building material.
Or is it? Nearly 100 percent of the bamboo products entering the United States and
used in green buildings are grown and manufactured in China or Southeast Asia and
shipped halfway around the globe to reach the U.S. marketplace. Hmmmm. Perhaps
that bamboo flooring is not looking as green as it seemed initially. But the benefits of
not cutting down domestic forests still outweigh the impacts of transportation, right?
Maybe—but let’s look at the other factors that come into play. Were vast swaths of
native forests and vegetation slashed in China to make room for bamboo plantations?
Were fertilizers and pesticides applied to ensure quick growth, and where did that
runoff go? What are the labor conditions? Are workers being exposed to toxic fumes
while they glue the layers of bamboo together? Are they being paid fair wages? Are
the manufacturing plants meeting specific emission standards?
In asking these questions, I’m not condemning bamboo. It’s a fantastic material,
with near-endless potential. Many bamboo products may be grown and harvested in a
sustainable manner, with workers receiving a fair wage and working in healthy con-
ditions. That’s not the point of this narrative. The point is that any product or business
claiming to be green or sustainable is (and should be) subject to an ever-increasing
level of scrutiny. It is no longer enough to offer a sustainable product. Consumers,
partners, employees, and investors are looking for firms that raise the bar on product
or service offerings by embracing wholeheartedly the concepts their products pur-
portedly advance or support. Firms must be authentic in their actions to have their
products or services fully embraced in today’s marketplace.