Page 4 - Green Builder Magazine Nov-Dec 2017 Issue

EDITOR’S NOTE

By Matt Power
The Inside Scoop Editor-in-Chief

Big Ideas Begin on Your Street

Local efforts toward sustainability can yield social and ecological rewards.

A many clever and portable jigs, clamps and
COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO, I
techniques. Perfected by a non-profit called
received an appeal from my
Window Dressers, the whole process is
local neighborhood association
brilliantly simple, with application to many
(WENA) to volunteer to build
affordable window inserts for
other woodworking projects.
■ Eco-impact. Over the course of the week
my neighbors.
■
Like many of you, I’m wary of small of volunteerism, we collectively completed 500
homeowner organizations. They can too easily winter window inserts for the city of Portland.
devolve into anti-change NIMBY groups, or Many will go to low-income residents. But
become de facto-style police, controlling here’s the best part: These windows reduce
everything from mailbox colors to lawn length. heating costs (and CO2 offgassing) by 20
But this endeavor seemed legit. So I signed up. percent to 40 percent per home or apartment.
Doing so cost me very little—a day of my Are temporary window inserts that last 10
time. But the positive impacts went beyond years the solution to climate change woes?
my expectations. They deserve an accounting: Of course not. But the ripple effects from this
■ New connections. First, I met about a project go far beyond its physical output.
■
dozen of my neighbors with whom I had never spoken. One was a You’re going to hear some big ideas in this issue, from some
retired engineer. Another an artist. A young woman named Heather very smart people. But my experience with WENA has convinced
asked me to attend an upcoming environmental education fair called, me that policy, codes and smarter technology alone won’t create a
“Get Energized About Energy.” Another volunteer introduced me to more sustainable future. We need buy-in and participation at the
a local Climate Action Group and asked me to join. neighborhood level—along with more holistic, circular products
■ New skills. I’m an experienced carpenter but I’m always open and processes—to engineer a future that serves the many, yet makes
■
to new tricks. The production of the window inserts involves room for the rest of life on Earth. GB

CREDIT: WENAwindows

People power. In a makeshift, portable “factory,” volunteers assembled 500 window inserts in about a week.

2 GREEN BUILDER November/December 2017 www.greenbuildermedia.com

2 GB 1117 Editor's Note.indd 2 11/17/17 11:29 AM