Thanks for your insights, Rahul. It is great to see people sharing their thoughts on sustainability.
Agree with your second observation that, promoting sustainability is about reducing carbon footprint. The way I was thinking is, if we use natural resources in a smarter way, like making buildings suitable to the weather of a place, this may avoid necessity of using artificial resources, like gas/oil to say heat up the house or keep the house cool. In other words, use the sunshine or wind in a smarter way, thereby reducing carbon footprint.
These are my two cents on it.
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Jayant Singh
Analyst
San Leandro CA
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-25-2024 04:35
From: Rahul Saxena
Subject: Excellent resource on Sustainable Design
Hi Jayant,
I understand that Jason F. McLennan offers a compelling vision for how buildings and communities can be designed to be more environmentally responsible and resilient.
These assertions, however, need to be examined critically:
a.) There is nothing wasted in nature. Nature obeys circularity laws quite well
In general, any surplus provides a niche that a species can exploit, and over long time-periods many of the surpluses disappear, making you think that "nothing is wasted". Nature obeys the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, so nature's "Circularity" isn't an endless loop. I thought David Deutsch wrote quite nicely in "The Beginning of Infinity" about the fallacy of how people think of nature-in-balance.
b.) Living with the nature is a better idea to promote sustainability.
It's difficult to operationalize this assertion. What does it actually imply? In thinking about what "promotes sustainability", this paper (https://doi.org/10.1108/TECHS-08-2021-0003) asserts that it's about reducing footprint. Would be nice to get your thoughts on what it means for you.
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Rahul Saxena
FrogData.com
Original Message:
Sent: 05-18-2024 11:05
From: Jayant Singh
Subject: Excellent resource on Sustainable Design
Hello colleagues,
Recently, I came across an excellent book on sustainability; The Philosophy of Sustainable Design by McLennan, Jason F.
Here are my couple of takeaways;
a.) There is nothing wasted in nature. Nature obeys circularity laws quite well
b.) Living with the nature is a better idea to promote sustainability.
This should be a good read for sustainability fans and in particular, how to design green buildings,
Regards
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Jayant Singh
Analyst
San Leandro CA
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