While many of these people are doing fascinating and pioneering work in the field, the comments of two attendees in particular stand out as most memorable. The spouse of one of the architects attending said she came to more fully understand the enduring passion that drove her husband to pursue green design so relentlessly. Without a doubt, the issue of sustainable design is only going to grow in significance.
Green design is better design.
Author, entrepreneur and U.S. chairman of the The Natural Step, Paul Hawken, estimates that there are currently 10,000 groups, non-profits primarily, working on the environmental movement in the broadest sense of the term. That's why when we commissioned a recent independent market survey of readers, we asked designers, architects and facility planners how much importance they place on sustainable design concerns. We were encouraged to learn that 43.3 percent of respondents say that sustainable design issues are very important today and 57.1 percent say sustainable design issues will be very important five years from now. Part of what needs to happen in order to accelerate awareness and implementation of sustainable design practices is for these 10,000 or so groups to begin working together and pooling their resources and talents. By working together toward a common goal, we believe that green design will more quickly become the standard for creating built environments, rather than the exception.