Joe Webb

Principal, Webb Architects

Why should we build green? Most of us can list of several reasons without hesitating, part of the obvious, easily enumerated responses we all keep at the ready. We should build green: to save energy; to sustain our and our children’s lifestyles and therefore our cultures; to inflict less damage on our environment; to rid our inhabited realm of chemicals, additives and supplements that harm; to improve our mental and physical well being; to energize ourselves; to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, in particular, and all power sources in general; and lastly - to transform the planet. All good but woven amongst these actions are results that will fundamentally change us. We have the opportunity to impact aspects of our daily lives with more far reaching consequences than we currently suspect. Imagine working in a building that is healthier and therefore causes us to miss fewer days of work, school and recreation. Imagine the positive economic impact on our businesses (think productivity), educational systems (think comprehending) and even more significantly, our healthcare systems (think shortened recoveries), when thanks to the environment we live within illness is minimized. Imagine the impact on the quality of their lives when our children and our senior citizens live in healthier environments. We encourage the next Einstein; we nurture our youth through the wisdom and experience of our active and engaged seniors. We live longer, healthier, fuller, more informative lives contributing much to our communities. All by simply considering how we build.