Page 66 - Green Builder Magazine Spring 2018 Awards Issue
P. 66
FROM THE TAILGATE By Ron Jones
New Offerings for the Sustainable Minded
Greed and Spite: Twin Evils
HE REDWOOD NATIONAL PARK in California
was formed in 1968, although by that time about
two-thirds of the land it occupied had already
been logged. Then in 1977, a U.S. congressman
T from California introduced legislation that
would enlarge the size of the park, and in 1978 President
Carter signed it into law.
A provision of the legislation allowed timber companies
to remove any redwood trunks that were lying on the
ground. It is reported that in the last days before the law
took eect, timber bosses ordered crews directly into the
redwood forest to drop every redwood they could get to
before the deadline.
As the story goes, they would fell the biggest and most
valuable trees rst to maximize their prots, while leaving
less valuable trees for follow-up crews. The forests were left
with clear-cuts that fanned out from staging zones visible
from the air for decades.
Actions such as these blur the lines between greed
and spite. Sure, the timber companies involved sought to
wring every last drop of prot out of those amazing natural
treasures. But they may have been equally motivated by
resentment at having been denied unfettered access to
the remaining resource. One has to wonder how many
redwoods would survive today if not for regulations and
legislation enacted to protect them.
In a number of ways, this tale reects the mindset of
many engaged in the homebuilding industry. This is true
particularly those involved with trade associations, whose mantra Something says that this cannot all be about the dollars alone.
seems to be: “Make all you can for as long as you can, and ght While some builders and their apologists are willing fall on their
against any form of outside oversight with everything you’ve got!” swords to resist anything that adds a dime to their upfront costs—no
I recently read a release from RESNET reporting that in 2017 more matter how much lobbying expense and human resource is required
than 2,000 homes across the country received HERS ratings of 40 to wage the battle—there is an even darker motivation driving them.
or less. These homes were constructed by builders large and small, Put simply, they despise any form of oversight that holds them
from coast to coast, in virtually every climate zone and in every price accountable. I hate to say it, but in my half-century in the industry
and size category. I have witnessed deep, seething anger at being told what to do or
Yet at the same time, some in the homebuilding industry, most how to do it. The trade associations have learned to harvest this
notably homebuilder associations at various levels, directed vast ideological resentment of regulatory oversight and leverage it to their
amounts of financial resources, time and energy to attempt to own advantage. They assume the role of defender and champion of
prevent, or at least stall, adoption of updated energy codes. This the builder to justify and perpetuate their own existence.
occurred even though national surveys, many conducted by the Those who nd success in this industry going forward will do so
trade groups themselves, consistently revealed—and still do—that because they are willing to learn and adapt as the art and science
homebuyers understand the benets of greater energy eciency and of home building evolves, leaving the unnecessary baggage of spite
are willing to pay a premium for that performance. where it belongs. GB
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