Water restrictions are no match for green building principles
I wrote this piece for the Florida Green Building Law Blog a few weeks back, and thought I would share here as well. Look for more contributions from Tampa Bay area green building enthusiasts, including myself, in the future.

While the rain begins to hit our roofs almost daily—those afternoon showers that simultaneously cool things off yet make our air more humid—consider the fate of this precious source of water for our region…



Our water infrastructure includes the design of expensive, and extensive, storm water management systems that add huge costs to new development, require expensive/disruptive repairs, and transport the toxins, debris and trash that comes from water hitting our impermeable driveways, streets and gutters. It then goes into the sewer, enters the storm water pipes, is filtered with powerful chemicals at treatment plants, and eventually reaches (and negatively impacts) the precious ecosystems and waterways that Floridians and (and tourists) visit and enjoy daily.

In response to this unsustainable method of collecting and treating surface waters, green building advocates, environmental organizations and individuals mindful of the complicated and costly requirements of an impermeable environment have started advocating for more permeable site design, and employing conservation strategies that once were common remedies when water wasn’t as readily available in the home—rainwater storage/use and grey water recycling.

Tampa Bay Water defines grey water as “untreated household wastewater that has not come in contact with toilet waste and includes wastewater from bathtubs, showers, clothes washers and laundry tubs.” Grey water makes up roughly 50-80% of the water heading down our drain, leaving a large capacity of reusable water that could be filtered easily and efficiently…reducing overall water use in the home by 30% or more!

We are still in a drought; homeowners, businesses and municipalities have been required to eliminate their use of potable water for irrigation and maintenance in order to conserve our dwindling water reserves. People learned quickly that these kinds of limits are not fun for water-hungry landscapes, and cringe at the thought of higher water surcharges—taking a second look at our everyday use of water.

Those that weren’t concerned had already prepared for this predicament—with their rain barrels/cisterns, drip irrigation systems, Florida-friendly landscape and low-flow fixtures helping keep their yard lush and monthly bills low.

Transportation Alternatives Should be the Solution

You learn a lot when you attempt to traverse a city using a form of transportation that has not been catered to for decades. Walking, biking, even 'bus-ing.' The ease with which our cities have attempted to solve the problems of congestion with an added lane on the highway, or roadway, calls to mind many other unimaginative choices that our cities/governments make. Further, the lack of attention to those that choose to get out of their car and use some human-power to move through cities, proves just how lazily our cities continue to use our tax dollars.

As much denser cities are finding, the addition of a lane-and the removal of a lane-do not effect the congestion levels on the road. Let me say that again--neither adding or removing a lane makes a proven improvement on congestion. Examples include the removal of a lane in Midtown NYC for a pedestrian park (video below) and the conversion of an auto lane in Vancouver for pedestrian traffic.

It is difficult to understand how these experiments can prove something that seems to have eluded our city planners, governments and, yes, commuters for so long. Nevermind the unexplained abandonment of street cars, trolleys, meaningful bus services and even responsible growth initiatives in many of our cities-adding a lane is an unsustainable, and highly costly choice that our cities make over and over and over. Never learning that simply adding a lane does not have a lasting impact on traffic.

I recently attended a meeting where the Tampa Downtown Partnership presented the progress and programs of the previous year, and at the very mention of light rail and high-speed rail, coming to Tampa and Florida respectively, and the room lit up.

People are hungry for the sexier, more progressive and "green" transportation alternative that Obama has made a priority. But, I wonder if they really understand the effects that a true commitment to mass transit will have on the city.With examples like Denver, Portland, Charlotte and even Phoenix, it seems that the results are speaking for themselves-now it's time to change the solution.

Why, you ask?

Photo above courtesy Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization

Midtown NYC takes away lane, adds pedestrian attraction:

Tea Leaf Green- Mountain Jam- 5/29/09

Tea Leaf Green
Hunter Mountain, NY
Mountain Jam 5:30pm

Taught to Be Proud
Carter Hotel
Honeymooners
Forgiven
Jezebel
Wooden Ships>
2 Chairs>
One Reason>
These Two Chairs
Snow Days
Relax and Get Naked
Mistletwo
Garden (Part III)

Tea Leaf Green Welcomes 'Green' Community to their SF Earth Day Weekend Shows

Tea Leaf Green Welcomes S.F. ‘Green’ Community for Two-Night Fillmore Party Over Earth Day Weekend

And I was lookin’ up
at them tall redwood trees,
like looking up the skirt
of my destiny.
- Tea Leaf Green, “Zoom Zoom”

On Friday and Saturday April 17-18, San Francisco’s Tea Leaf Green returns to the historic Fillmore for what promises to be an epic Earth Day Weekend party for the Bay Area’s ‘Green’ community.

Known for its triumphant brand of psychedelic rock ’n’ roll – which has been likened to its San Francisco forebears – Tea Leaf Green’s music is characterized by the Earth-inspired lyrics and poignant vocals of keyboard player Trevor Garrod, a botanist who grew up on a northern California farm. The tension-release solos and soul-piercing blues guitar of Josh Clark trigger bursts of confetti to explode from the crowd at peak moments, while one of the filthiest rhythm sections in rock ‘n’ roll – bass virtuoso, Reed Mathis, and drummer, Scott “Ice Man” Rager – hold down the deep end.

Playing hometown shows in a city consistently ranked among the ‘greenest’ in the nation, the band is reaching out to the Bay Area’s ‘green’ community, and has invited two environmental non-profits to be a part of the event each night.

“Respecting the Earth is really important to Tea Leaf Green,” says the band’s long-time entertainment coordinator, Todd “Sauce” Wallenbrock, who is known to hike 30+ miles deep into wilderness areas of the American West. “You find out what is important in maintaining this world really quickly. Spend a few days in the back country catching three pound goldens [trout] for dinner, and things make little more sense.”

Wise men are hiding in the mountains
while most of us are working too hard
- Tea Leaf Green, “Kali-Yuga”

Friday night, rising Indy/Newgrass band, Or, the Whale will open the show on the main stage, while guitar maestro, Sean Leahy, plays the poster room before the show and during set break.

Seattle superstars Flowmotion open Saturday night, and Eugene, Oregon’s Freedom Tribe will play its vaunted mystical soundscapes in the poster room.

Click here to purchase tickets to what promises to be a historic pair of Earth Day weekend shows:

* Friday, April 17:
http://tinyurl.com/FillmoreNightONE

* Saturday, April 18:
http://tinyurl.com/FillmoreNightTWO

Tea Leaf Green @ The Fillmore SF

Job Creation and the Stimulus Package

Saw this today, and thought it was interesting in relation to the "bipartisan" debate going on in Congress over the Stimulation package, remaining TARP funds, etc. The amount of jobs created from a $1 billion investment in some of the areas mentioned in the original, and current, stimulus--as it relates to the effects of the same amount of spending in our nation's defense:

(you might want to click on the image to see the numbers--showing that a $1 billion investment in mass transit would create the more jobs than a similar investment in health care, defense, education, and home construction/weatherization)

Shovel Ready Shmovel Ready

With the latest round of "stimulus" headed for all of the "shovel ready" projects in cities across the US, I can't help but remain skeptical that those dollars are really being spent in the most useful way. I mean, sure we have billions of dollars of possible road expansions, paving projects, etc. etc. (and I understand that serious attention is needed for our bridges, levees and other important "connectors."

But, are we really going to tout the efficiency, convenience and city-altering positives of mass-transit while completely abandoning that important infrastructure investment because it is not a "shovel ready" project?

The Mayor of Minneapolis--of crumbling bridge fame says it well in the 12/13 Washington Post's Stimulus Package To First Pay for Routine Repairs:

"The quickest things we can do may not be the ones that have the most significant long-term impact on the green economy," he said. "Unless we push a transit investment, this will end up being a stimulus package that rebalances our transportation strategy toward roads and away from [what] we need to get off our addiction to oil."

Why not also consider projects that put the city/transportation planners, architects, engineers, contractors and, eventually, construction workers to work on mass-transit projects that have proven the ability to revitalize blighted areas, encourages real estate development, attracts Fortune 500 companies & young professionals and transforms cities?

I fear that our short-sighted haste will cause us to lose sight of the important infrastructure investment needed to bridge the gap into the 21st century. The failing automakers need more roads, and they've already gotten their first bailout. Let's not let this be their second...Public transportation needs it.

Stopping the Bleeding, or Creating a New Strategy?

Obama, Congress, heck even the Automakers are saying that the auto industry needs to create a new model to be viable in the 21st century. Yet, little is really going to change with this first stimulus (though seems it may be in doubt today) to the big 3--it will be the first of more than one, depending on bankruptcy, and Thomas Friedman in his Op-Ed in the NY Times today has a good point as to why this will not work:

our bailout of Detroit will be remembered as the equivalent of pouring billions of dollars of taxpayer money into the mail-order-catalogue business on the eve of the birth of eBay. It will be remembered as pouring billions of dollars into the CD music business on the eve of the birth of the iPod and iTunes. It will be remembered as pouring billions of dollars into a book-store chain on the eve of the birth of Amazon.com and the Kindle.

The problem I have with his column (which can be read here.) and the idea of the "car 2.0" is that our problems don't start and stop with autos. It starts and stops with the way that we depend on automobiles, the way we live too distant from our normal daily activities (work, school, errands, etc.) and the way that we travel distances that could be more efficiently traveled (en masse) by high-speed rail.

These automakers are responsible for killing the sustainable transit options of the early 1900's, Americans were all too happy to drive alone and live further from the city-center and the oil/gas industry has been reaping the rewards--and using that money to line the pockets of government.

It is time for a paradigm shift--it is not about the most efficient car, it is about the most efficient forms of transportation and more sustainably built cities and lives.

I'm going to have to finally watch "Taken for a Ride" a film about an "auto and oil industry campaign, led by General Motors, to buy and dismantle streetcar lines. Across the nation, tracks were torn up, sometimes overnight, and diesel buses placed on city streets.

Tea Leaf Green New Years Eve in San Francisco

Tea Leaf Green will be rocking on teh 30th and 31st of December at the Mezzanine in San Francisco's Mission district. On New Years Eve they will be playing 3 full sets, with set 2 starting at 1:30am and music going into 4am!

My First Note to the Obama Team

Today I received an e-mail (along with thousands of others) from the Obama Transition team asking to watch a video of a meeting that took place with his team for Energy and Environment. It also asked the reader to send a message to the team (which you can do here.). My message went something like this (thought it was a bit shorter, I think):

Before attempting to make renewables a large portion of our answer to energy dependence, we must encourage all Americans to do their part. Asking--or requiring--Americans to make small energy efficiency changes to their homes, or even larger renovations to make the home better insulated, will be the most effective way to increase the "net effect" of renewable energy. By decreasing dependence on energy producers we will be able to make renewables go much farther.

In order to make renewables the most effective we will need to improve infrastructure--transport lines for this new kind of energy--and also change the rules for homeowners. Incentives for solar (PV) power are a good start, but we must mandate "net metering" so investments in solar panels will allow a homeowner, if creating excess energy, to inject that energy into the grid and receive payment for that energy. This payment should be EQUAL to what utilities charge their customers--a 1 for 1 trade that will make entrepreneurs out of homeowners...increasing their homes energy efficiency, purchasing solar panels to create enough energy for the home, and even creating more energy to make money back on their investment.

The transportation of energy will need to be improved to meet the needs of a new energy future, but the transportation of people will be a required investment in order to change the way that people live, move and interact. We need to be able to look towards the larger cities--the New York City's, London's, Paris'--cities that are changing the game by offering public transit, dense, mixed-use urban environments and even free bicycles. No, most American cities are not going to be these cities, or can find logic in mimicking the development of these large cityscapes. But, we can take these ideas and adapt them to the local environment. It's not just about making cars more fuel efficient. It is about reducing the amount of cars on the roads, decreasing the number of trips taken solo in a car and making the need for a car unnecessary.

We have to re-think the way that we create energy, use energy and get outside of the box as to what the future holds. The future is here, it is time to start developing new ways to sustainably live in this challenging world.

For more on this check out this article:
Energy at a Tipping Point Part 1: A Conversation with Worldwatch's Chris Flavin

Obama Wins!

It is an amazing time in our country's history. The political landscape is changing, and a record number of Americans participated in this change. We must work together to achieve greatness--no longer can we battle for only "our" side...because we are all on the same side.

Trevor Garrod Plays "I've Got a Truck" 3/24/07

This project has been on a shelf for a while, but is finally seeing light. Bronson Lamb shot and edited the video, while I did some light direction. Fitting, because "I've Got a Truck" is a track on TLG's new album "Raise Up the Tent" which can be previewed and purchased here.

The Problem With Corn

A fairly recent article called "Grains Gone Wild" by Paul Krugman in the NY Times Opinion section briefly outlines the problems facing the world's food supplies; and, as no shock it has a lot to do with oil prices, the shortcomings of corn-based ethanol and the effect of global warming across the globe.

Whether or not you agree, the idea of gas prices raging as more and more catastrophic weather events rage and financial distress from the top to the bottom in the U.S. feels like a perfect "storm" that will not pass for some time. The US dollar continues to lose value while Americans are forced to pay $4 for a gallon of gasoline--caused by our dependence on personal vehicles, a lack of infrastructure to support mass-transit and the "American Dream" requiring one to live in a box in the suburbs.

It is time to take a good long look at what we are requiring from our leadership, what they are promising to deliver and if they have the competence to actually deliver. No longer should politicians be able to make headline-grabbing statements with little to back them up-a la corn-based ethanol's ability to fill American's gas tanks.

My Year in Music (2007)

It's been a pretty good year for music, though I have not gotten out to see live music as much as I have in past years. Here's to hitting the road more in 2008, and learning about new music as readily as I have in '07.

Favorite Albums of 2007:
1. Wilco-Sky Blue Sky
Glad that they went back to the more alt-country side of things, though I DO like the noise jam/spacey stuff as well.

2. Radiohead- In Rainbows (for the music and the marketing)
Just genius from conception. I remember when their guitarist, Jonny Greenwood announced "We're finished recording the album, now we have to figure out what to do with it." They had no label at the time, and I thought-"Wow, what a position to be in (if you are Radiohead)." What a marketing move, and what an album to back it up. Arguably their best, but can't really beat out OK Computer, for me, due to nostalgia.

3. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss- Raising Sand
Some really smooth, soothing stuff. Plant in a relaxed setting along with one of the most beautiful voices around. A great pairing.

4. Feist- The Reminder
Solid album, sharp voice, interesting sounds.

5. Editors- The Back Room (released in 2005, but found it this year.)
These guys really bring it on this album. I can't tell you how many times I've listened to it this year-one of those "from beginning to end" albums.

Favorite Shows of 2007:
1. Tea Leaf Green | 8/17/07 | Malibu Inn | Malibu, CA
Last show w/ Ben. Ben's custom mike stand. Invasion>POGL (for the last time w/ Ben for me) & the Reservoir I called for. My whole family was there as well, and they had a great time (as they always do, but this was all of their first FULL TLG show!)

2. Rose Hill Drive | 4/19/07 | Smith's Old Bar | Atlanta, GA
Rock 'n' fucking Roll. These guys put on a hell of a show.

3. Dave Matthews Band/Allman Brothers | 9/8/07 | Piedmont Park | Atlanta, GA
Say what you want about DMB, but the Allman Bros. w/ Warren and good friends & girlfriend in the Park for some beers and good times! DMB put on a great show as well I thought.

4. The Trainwreks | 8/3/07 | Rafters | St. Simon's Island, GA
size=9]Was in town for a wedding, and we all went out after the rehearsal dinner. Great band, lap steel guitar, good times.

5. Tea Leaf Green | 1/13/07 | The Social | Orlando, FL
This was a one set opening gig for a reggae band that was booked last minute after the Galactic cancellation. The boys played one of the most high-energy sets I had seen in a while and really got the unexpecting crowd into it.

Some Favorite Songs in 2007:
Band of Horses-Is There a Ghost?
Amy Winehouse- You Know I'm No Good
Spoon-Cherry Bomb (Alternate Version)
Ray LaMontagne- How Come
Radiohead- 15 Steps
Wilco- Impossible Germany
Editors- Lights
Tea Leaf Green- Forgiven, Doin' It Over and Over Again, Slept Through Sunday
Trevor Garrod- Where the Forest Was

Tampa Ranked Last in Study of Walkable Cities

Picture a place where you can step out of your home and walk to work, the movies or a restaurant. Just don't picture Tampa. A new survey ranks the city dead last for walkability among 30 major metro areas. The top three: Washington, D.C., Boston and San Francisco. Miami ranked eighth, and Atlanta 14th. It's not the first time Tampa has been rapped for its mean streets. A 2004 survey determined pedestrians in the Tampa Bay area take their lives in their hands more than in any other metro area in the country except Orlando.

----

With places like Ybor City, Channelside, and other historic neighborhoods in Tampa, what is keeping the city from bringing the densities needed to harness important walkable places?

Make It Right-Pitt's Call for Action in NoLa

In 2006 Brad Pitt announced a partnership with Global Green USA, a non-profit focused on stemming climate change through sustainable green buildings and cities, eliminating WMDs, and securing safe drinking water for all people, with an architectural competition for firms to bring green designs to the ravaged Big Easy. This week, in a more drastic move in the right direction, Pitt announced his "Make It Right" Initiative, and it's Pink Project:

"While filming a movie in New Orleans, Brad Pitt noticed a pink fabric house that was being used as part of the set. He perceived the visual potency of pink houses as a metaphor. Working together with GRAFT, the idea was born to merge film and architecture into an installation that would bring immediate global attention to a pervasive local issue."


The project hopes to promises to bring innovative, affordable, homes designed (passively and actively) to reduce the structure's impact on the environment-and surely the inhabitants operational costs.

---------------
Originally, I couldn't help but think of the loss of historic architectural features on the Lower 9th Ward after these 150 homes are built (so long as the money is donated). I soon realized, after looking at the designs accepted by the chosen architectural firms, that the home styles all incorporate a "shotgun" style, but offer contemporary, artistic, and, yes, innovative, design elements that bring color, life, and thought back to a place that needs all of those things.



One of the more envelope pushing designs by the Dutch firm MVRDV followed by my favorite by Billes Architecture:

Standardization, Modeling, and Tract Housing as it relates to a Sense of Place

After spending the weekend in Orlando, FL (land of Mickey Mouse and other destination Theme Parks) next to Lake Eola and Thornton Park in downtown I grew a greater appreciation for neighborhoods near urban cores. While decrying Orlando's sprawl, tourist attractions, and overall lack of identity (well, other than tourist trap), for years I experienced first hand the success of a city that is dedicated to green spaces, and, as I found this weekend, a sense of place.

The area of Thornton Park was found from an older Washington Post article calling it, in the article's title, "anything but mousy." I read on. What I found, on "paper," was a place with some walkable characterstics; it's restaurants, coffee shops, local hang outs, shopping, and other neighborhood hair dressers, laundromats, and B&B's. I wanted to discover more, and with a semi-planned trip to "meet in the middle"(she in Jacksonville and I in Tampa) with my girlfriend it seemed like a perfect place to meet. I must say that it lived up to the article in the Post.

What didn't live up to it's hype is Sembler's The Grove at Winter Garden Village. While the development is a great exercise in the new outdoor mall it really adds little to the community other than more cars, less connectivity, and a lack a sense of "place." Sembler focuses on big-box anchored developments (Lowe's, Best Buy, Target in this case) with "mixed-use" elements to give it a better cover.

My problem with this project has less to do with the actual project itself, and more to do with the tract housing and sprawl that surrounds it. Orlando is a booming city, no doubt, but what surrounds this attempt at creating a "city center" (city being Winter Garden-just outside of Orlando) where all that surrounds is the same thing regurgitated 3 different ways for at least a mile all the way around. Our lives are being made standard, where each family lives in a suburb with a similar sized and looking home, drives the same type of car, wears the same clothes, and watches the same television night in and night out. Why not put these people in the same neutral colored box and force them to deal with this new open air mall that they can only drive to (there was no connectivity from each pocket neighborhood to "The Grove")?

We need to encourage diversity, creativity, and our differences. We need to create places that inspire people to take part in their community, try new things, think outside of the box, and take ownership for their surroundings.

REAL building Press

St. Petersburg Times Neighborhood Times From 11/14/07:

By Paul Swider
As his environmentally sustainable home nears completion, Darren Brinkley is considering growing business for REAL Building, the consulting company he created to help people go green.

"It'll start to snowball once people start to become aware," he said of requests for environmental products and services. "People will almost start demanding it."

Brinkley came to the concept in just that way. The graphic designer moved to the area five years ago from London and wanted to build his own home. The more he learned about how to build the home he wanted, the more he realized that the home would be healthy, energy efficient and environmentally sound. So he decided instead of merely being a consumer in the green marketplace, he'd be a provider.

Standing in the nearly completed kitchen of a home he built with business partner Taylor Ralph at 216 84th Ave. NE, Brinkley said: "I wanted something different."

Different it is. The nearly 2,000-square-foot home sits over the remnants of a 700-square-foot block home that was on the lot when Brinkley bought it a year ago.

Brinkley didn't want to tear down the old house and add to a landfill when the old building was still viable. Instead, he turned the original home into a garage and supported the new above it from 24 wooden pillars. It gets greener from there.

The new home is built from insulated panels but is a sealed unit with no leaks, Ralph said. It is designed with windows to capture winter sun yet overhangs to fend off summer heat. Large doors open onto front and rear decks to create a breeze when temperatures allow.

"A lot of green building goes back to basics," Brinkley said. "You start thinking efficiency and you start building the way houses used to be."

The home also has a rainwater collection system with a 1,000-gallon cistern attached to an irrigation system. Toilets are dual-flush and low-flow, with a stated goal of using 30 percent less water.

Features do get high-tech. Ceiling fans are of a special design from the Florida Solar Energy Center. And the heating-cooling system comes from the ground up through a geothermal heat pump that uses 1,200 feet of buried piping to regulate indoor temperature and also produce hot water.

"Our initial estimates are that utility costs will be about $100 a month," Ralph said, "which is pretty crazy for a house this size."

The house has three bedrooms and two baths, but there's a large loft above the kitchen that could become a master suite. Brinkley plans to use that as REAL's office while he lives in the model home.

There are nonenergy green features, too, like the obligatory bamboo floors, but also a birch ceiling sliced from logs rotisserie style to prevent wasted wood. All finishes, from paints to stains, are soy-based and give off no volatile compounds.

"The health aspect is more important than the energy efficiency," Brinkley said.

The green flows freely in spending, though. After paying $155,000 for the original home, Brinkley said, the new one has cost about $150 per square foot. Add 25 percent to that to account for the labor he and Ralph put into it.

"Being green doesn't have to cost any more," he said. "There are thousands of things you can do to improve the health and efficiency of your house, and not all of them cost thousands of dollars."

Those suggestions are the real aim of the business, not building homes, he said. While REAL is bidding on a Tampa townhome project and talking to contractors and developers about others, Brinkley really wants to be a consultant to those who want to be green but don't know how. There is a demand also, he said, for guidance away from faux-green products.

The two men say in the eight months they've been building the home, they've fielded questions from passers-by. Most are impressed with the normalcy of the home.

"There's a preconception about green buildings that they have clay walls and grass roofs," said Brinkley, who designed the model. "It doesn't have to be like that. It can look like any other house on the street."

Blog Updates

I have been using this as a tool for other online activity; posting pictures, adding links and video, etc. My plan is to start writing an entry every 2 weeks. If I write more great, but bi-monthly will be the goal!

Where the Forest Was

Where the Forest Was
by Trevor Garrod

Let it be known, I've seen her in the rock face.
Let it be known, I've seen her in the sky.
I wanna show you by the liberated light of the moon,
How love dies.

Let it be known, I'm crooked as a creek bed.
I'm slower than a midwest summer cloud.
The summer's drying out drier than a desert at noon.
I'll be dead by the end of June.

Chorus:
But, my last breath is rushing like a river.
My last thought is working like the mill.
But, my legs have been chopped down like lumber,
and, where the forest was, the desert sand blows in.
Where the forest was the desert sand blows in.

Blessed are the birds that taught us singing.
Blessed are the fishes of the deep,
and all of the love that we will never get the chance to share.
Oh, my love, beware.

repeat chorus x2