green building

Very often here at BlueNC, we focus on the things that people are doing wrong. Which is cool, because being progressive means that we eschew complacency and believe in taking active measures to "fix" the things that need fixing. But we also need to recognize progress when it happens, as it demonstrates that our "hope for the future" is neither naive nor in vain.

<

(Photo above courtesy of the EPA)

In this installment of the series, I decided to follow up on the recommendations I received from at least five different people over the last few months to feature the EPA’s Campus located in the Research Triangle Park.

Being the intrepid Freelance Internet Journalist (Blogboy) that I am, I dutifully Googled their website to learn some background on this expansive project that was originally dreamed up back in 1984 and completed in 2001. As you can probably tell from the timeline, the years leading up to the completion of the project were filled with planning, research, budgetary headaches, as well as some strident opposition from a few of our less “visionary” North Carolina Senators. The fact that this project was finally approved and completed is a testament to those who do have a vision, and should be a lesson to us all.

Those of you who were lucky enough to meet with and listen to Jim Neal last weekend may recall a comment he made about the growing number of definitions for the term “sustainability”, and how it’s getting more and more difficult to ascertain what a person means when they use the term. Not only is this true, but it’s also strong evidence that Jim is staying abreast of this issue and not merely paying lip service to it. I will explore this phenomena later in the diary; for now, we’ll use a temporary definition of, “behavior which can be prolonged indefinitely.”

As the first in what (I hope) will be a series of diaries targeting businesses and individuals who "get it right" when it comes to development, I thought I would take a look at the newly completed Proximity Hotel in Greensboro.

It's actually only partially open for now, with only a set number of rooms available, but they were doing quite a bit of business when I was there today.

Also, this is the first time I've tried to use graphics in a blog at BlueNC, so if it's so tiny you can't tell what the picture is, or if it runs off the page and cracks the side of your monitor, you know. "I'm not responsible." :)

And good morning everyone! Please join me in welcoming my friend Tim Toben to BlueNC today. If you want an on-the-ground, behind-the-scenes view of environmental issues here in North Carolina, this is the place to be.

Tim should be online for an hour or so, starting around 8.