In fact, the country is shifting green. Everyone is realizing, what good is money if everyone and everything on the planet is getting sick. Health trumps money every time. Even Paris Hilton can’t escape pollution. Besides, she uses a lot of cosmetics, a major source of phthalate absorption in humans.
The world is out of whack and people know it. I see the look people give SUV drivers now (as they compute in their head the culprit's gas usage). It is the same look that mink coat wearers got in the early 80's, leading to the demise of the popularity of the "fur" coat.
The mainstream press – Newsweek – in it’s June 4th edition said downstream of a wastewater treatment plant in Boulder minute quantities of everyday contaminans are harming fish, for example, the female fish outnumber the males by 5 to 1 while upstream it is a fifty fifty split.
As far as the human population, the article acknowledge that:
“...scientists wonder if endocrine disrupters in the water are partially responsible for some well documented trends, including early puberty in girls and reduced sperm counts in men. In fish, sperm problems have been linked to waterborne contaminants including phthalates, which are used in many plastics, cosmetics, skin-care products and pesticides.”
So Miami developers you might take a look at the Republican playbook of Governor Charlie Crist and Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah. You are out of step with what is going on here and you are going to be seen as an even more hateful group. The actual County Commission Chair, Natacha Seijas (Barreiro is her puppet), who doesn’t give a hoot about the Environment and is addicted to the rubber chicken served at all your functions is going to have to budge - like it or not. If you developers were smart you would drop that lawsuit you brought designed to remove Endangered Species from their listing in Florida. Reporter Curtis Morgan said of the suit, in his July 13th Miami Herald article:
“A federal judge in Orlando has ordered a status review of almost all of Florida's endangered and threatened wildlife, a ruling developers hope will lead to lifting building restrictions on lands across the state.” and
“Builders also anticipate reviews could improve the status or even remove some creatures from the list, including the wood stork and several beach mice in the Panhandle, reducing or eliminating regulations and expenses that complicate or even prevent development.”
Take note developers, this is the construction photo of the future: Jim Fleming Ecological Park breaks ground. No politician who wants to get re-elected will stand with you as you break ground on stupid, greed-driven developments.
6 comments:
I'm not sure I get the various strings of the argument here.
You're right, the building industry will be led to the "green" or be put out of business. They actually recognize that now - even used the rhetoric at the last UDB Master Plan hearing for all the infill projects.
The thing is, they'll build wherever they can, politically and economically. They will seek the path of least resistance. That's why Lennar, the king of sprawl, is now building multi-story residences in Dadeland and homes with solar panels in San Francisco. They don't do that because its fun, they do it because that's what was politically feasible.
If our politicians demand a better product, we get a better product. That means "green" too. Green building techniques aren't just what you build, but how and WHERE you build too.
Finally, we as "consumers" have to demand better homes and shift from suburban lifestyles to neo-traditional compact living near our jobs and mass transit.
When will Miami-Dade County realize that it needs to step up and take responsibility for environmental protection and everglades restoration? If they continue to permit away the footprints meant for restoration projects, all the money the federal and state governments have and will invest is for naught, and the residents of south Florida, both people and critter, will be the ones who suffer.
I must echo Mr. Sunshine here. Developers are driven by the market. The residential market in Miami-Dade has been highly devoted to single family homes since at least the end of WW II. Developers have been providing the market with what it has asked for during the last half century.
When homebuyers demand "green" construction, they will get it. Faulting developers for not pricing themselves out of the market by voluntarily incurring the extra expenses associated with green building when no such market has arisen is ultimately unproductive.
Does the government have a role here? Absolutely. This is a situation where the market by itself will not solve the issue (not enough homebuyers care enough to make a difference).
Local governments should be, and to some extent are, pushing "green" development by encouraging additional density near transit stops, requiring xeriscaping, and mandating water saving measures.
The culture, however, needs to change. When Americans take pride in how efficiently they can live as compared to how many square feet their "great room" is, that is when the big change will occur. To quote Pogo, "we've met the enemy and he is us."
Developers are not sitting in smoke filled rooms figuring out how to ram McMansions down people's throats; they are giving us what we are asking for.
Wasn't talking about green building - read the post = i was talking about self serving laws that serve the development community...see rock mining post by gimleteye and read my post here. Laws ------- not what the market wants, that is my concern.
In Germany the government works hard to force builders to construct green building for commercial and residencial uses. It has worked so well that green construction has come down in price and is actually cheaper than conventional construction today.
miami developer, maybe you have another planet you are planning on moving too? or do you just live in another world?
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