Bill Reed & John Boecker Radio Show
A forum for exploring the bridge from green building practices to sustaining life.
If you save the living environment it automatically will save the physical environment. If you just save the physical environment (as we’ve come to understand it), we’ll lose both.
E.O. Wilson (Wilson’s Law)
A forum for exploring and deepening our understanding of what we call sustainability, through the access point of green building. This requires a “re-membering” – acknowledging that humans are nature and discovering how we can better engage in the mutually beneficial interrelationships between all living and earth systems. Doing so will enable us to discover patterns of health that reveal the means by which to heal the environment and ourselves.
Sustainability is ultimately about sustaining all life. The current trend of making buildings, cars, light bulbs, products and processes more efficient is simply the beginning point for achieving this goal. In order to truly achieve sustainability for ourselves and the other species on this planet, we will need to redevelop a conscious connection with and understanding of the whole system of life-enhancing processes that shape the habitats within which we live. We must reintegrate our building—and our communities—with life on Earth.
The process of creating our shelter, producing our food, provisioning our water, and harnessing our energy has tremendous impact on planetary health. The corollary is also true; the act of connecting and building can become an act of healing and regenerating the community of life. In other words, learning how to sustain our communities can be a re-membering and rebirth of consciousness – an understanding that humans are not separate from nature. In recognizing that we are members of the same system that contributes to, is subject to, and forms the whole Earth system, we can begin to discover patterns that will help us contribute to healing of the whole — “wholing”.
This program introduces the philosophical underpinnings of such a design approach, and supports the theoretical with very practical concepts and examples of integrating technical and living systems through a deep understanding and application of life’s principles and patterns. Surprisingly, this is not as hard as it may seem; but it represents a real change in the way we think, build, and live on this planet. It requires a reawakening of what is means to develop – that is to say, in its literal meaning, to create new potential.
Whole system thinking begins as we shift our role from conserving nature to re-membering humans as part of nature, thereby developing new purpose within ourselves.
Intended Audience:
Everyone… The healthy evolution of our planet requires all of us to be engaged in thoughtful and conscious design. We are starting this dialogue from the perspective of architecture — the process of visioning a new world and developing the blueprints to manifest it. We are all co-designers.
| Listen to Episodes | Aired | Download |
|---|---|---|
| 1. What are Green Buildings? | 12 June 2009 | mp3 |
| 2. The Two Paths of Systems Thinking | 19 June 2009 | mp3 |
| 3. What does it mean to sustain life? | 26 June 2009 | mp3 |
| 4. Habitat: How can we create healthy Habitat? | 03 July 2009 | mp3 |
| 5. Water: How do we care for Water? | 10 July 2009 | mp3 |
| 6. Energy: Is sustainability all about Energy? | 17 July 2009 | mp3 |
| 7. Materials: Is life cycle assessment the holy grail? | 24 July 2009 | mp3 |
| 8. What is the fifth universal element? | 31 July 2009 | mp3 |
| 9. Reflections and Stories | 07 August 2009 | mp3 |
| 10. How sustainable is our food? | 14 August 2009 | mp3 |
| 11. How can development be used to understand and sustain life? | 21 August 2009 | mp3 |
| 12. How can we sustain sustainability? | 28 August 2009 | mp3 |
| 13. How do we inspire change? | 04 September 2009 | mp3 |
Purpose:
To elicit knowledge and understanding by delving deeper into whole-ing and healing through inner and outer development, right and left brain integration, and living and technical pattern insights, in a way that brings out our individual essence and purpose, enlivening and enriching who we are and uncovering our true potential, so that we consciously evolve, heal, and become whole again.
Background:
We, Bill and John, are both architects and long time advocates of sustainable design practices. We’ve observed that the design and other professions are increasingly engaged in more and more sophisticated technological solutions to the planet’s problems — without significant progress and benefit. It has become apparent that these ‘solutions’ are responding to the symptoms of the problems — not the real issues. These real issues are the fractured relationships between people and the web of life; the awareness of the commons; and our responsibility to take care of each other. In other words, we have grown unconscious of the whole inter-related system of life.
This is hands-on practical work. It is as real as an energy model or recycling and by giving equal focus to both physical and invisible relationships is how we become whole. In fact, the only way we will ever achieve a sustainable condition – a vital, thriving, healthy living system — is to begin the journey of delving deeper — re-membering humans as part of nature.
The purpose of Delving Deeper is to consciously practice becoming whole — this means becoming aware of how to take care of and love ourselves, our communities, and our planet.
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