Labors of Love

Real life begins anew on Labor Day. Our lazy, hazy summer is over even if it’s still hot where you are. (Here in the Northeast we’ve been suddenly blessed by delightful, almost-sweater, autumnal weather.) It’s no-more-excuses time; there’s serious work to be done. We’ve a lousy economy to deal with and a planet to save.

I think of the resolutions we make on January 1 as promises to be less bad – lose weight, pay more attention to grandma, be neater. Labor Day, I propose, should be about being more good. Here are some suggestions:

•    Step up your learning. Educational opportunities abound in the green building world. Take some time now to delve more deeply into some of the technical aspects of green buildings you can bring into your projects. USGBC has begun offering frequent webinars on a variety of topics; another online resource is the Sustainable Design Program offered by the Boston Architectural College in partnership with BuildingGreen.

•    Check out the websites that you’ve been meaning to go to – forever. What is it you don’t know enough about – global issues like carbon emissions, reducing your carbon footprint, - or specific strategies such as sourcing FSC woods, and working with daylighting tools - or the availability of stimulus funds?

•    Set some incremental goals. You’ve heard it before – it isn’t easy being green, but you can inch toward it one or two steps at a time. A company that I’ve been working with through my consulting firm, Ecoimpact, set two ambitious goals a couple of years ago, has been persistently in pursuit of them and achieved both this summer. More about Wilsonart soon.

Happy Labor Day.