Claims:

If developers of communities, commercial buildings, residential spaces, and even tourist locations move towards sustainable planning, the impact would be so great that.... (open for editing... but I think this is where we are going with all of our papers...)

Claims:

Livability

Sustainable communities are conducive to enjoyable lifestyles.

Feel good/Benefits-

Economic: lower operating costs, more $ for recreation/enjoyment

Quality of Life: satisfying, recreational

Health Benefits: natural light... more productive, less pollution, less smog/toxins

Social Unity: bringing together groups in community projects.... "build a sense of community"

JAMES Opening paragraph:

• One of the greatest stresses on our planet is our population.

• If we acted the way we do in a much less populated world we wouldn’t be doing so much damage to the environment, therefore we wouldn’t have to be worrying so much about sustainability.

• As it turns out there are over 6.6 billion of us and counting, so we are now in the position of having to address sustainability, seeing that modern civilization may be at stake.

• The funny thing is that our world has progressed exponentially over the past several decades, yet we have exercised very little foresight in regards to sustainability.

• Most of the dire issues we’re now forced to address are the result of our own carelessness.

• That being said, I chose to look into sustainable communities.

• Communities are one of the most intimate hubs of human interaction.

• With the advent of the automobile and its mid-century boom following WWII, we Americans were set loose to explore the world outside our local communities that for thousands of years had been the place of almost all our daily activities.

• We were freed to travel, commute, and seek goods and services previously too inconvenient to reach often.
• The cultural and environmental consequences of the mobile lifestyle we pioneered have resulted in over a half-century frenzy of unsustainable development.

Vicki:

• Sustainable building, or green building, is a practice of incorporating environmentally-conscious decision-making into planning and development of new and existing architecture or construction.

• A green builder’s objective is to have a minimally invasive effect on the environment of today, while considering the effect on the environment of the future.

• This means increasing or developing the efficiency by which a home uses energy, water, and material resources.

Christian:

• Key features to look for in sustainable architecture are buildings’ efficiency in heating, energy consumption, and building materials, while considering waste management.

• Building materials should be extracted and manufactured locally to the building site to minimize the energy embedded in their transportation.
• In order for the materials to be sustainable, they must be harvested to a point were they will not be depleted.

• Waste management within a household or community is imperative when considering one's ecological and environmental footprint.
• Did you know common plastic shopping bags, the ones that Wal-Mart uses to double bag your half gallons of milk, takes roughly a thousand year to decompose and also releases toxins into the soil.
• Placing waste management practices into a building plan is sustainable in a home and for the environment.
• Waste products and used building materials can be recycled and reused in new building designs.
• Those forty plastic bags, accumulated during that one Wal-Mart, trip can be used to build such items as park benches and playgrounds to improve social sustainability.
• One concept of social sustainability, used in sustainable architecture, is the construction of green and social spaces.

• The Romans were one of the first peoples to develop a way to control the climate in their homes, using the sun.
• They built their homes facing south, along the hillsides in row formations, to maximize the heating potential of the sun.
• This was intelligent because one home did not block another from the sun's rays, yet it allowed the community's space to be used most efficiently.
• This principle is widely used in today's construction, saving people in heating and energy consumption costs, and lowering a household's environmental footprint.