91视频

For two years, migrant farmworkers in Oregon have volunteered their time fundraising and building one of the world’s most innovative commercial office buildings, free of any bank debt and with little obligation to utilities. This first example of a Passive House office building to seek certification in the United States is the new home for the Capaces Leadership Institute (CLI). Not only is this an outstanding achievement, it’s a reminder to us all in the industry about what sustainability truly means.

The Institute builds on 30 years of community organizing led by Oregon’s largest farmworkers’ union, PCUN (Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noreste 鈥� Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United). Capaces, which translates to “capable or able,” is at multiple levels the perfect term for this new leadership institute. CLI is where the social-change leaders of today share their wisdom with the youth who are gaining the skills and values to be the leaders of tomorrow.

This new, super- insulated building is 20 times more air-tight and is predicted to use less than 8 percent the energy of a code-built equivalent. A super-efficient Energy Recovery Ventilation (ERV) system provides continuous fresh filtered air to each room, creating ideal indoor air conditions for an optimal learning environment. The vaulted spaces and interior finishes made of salvaged materials are no less inspiring than the envelope that contains them. Top it all off with a living roof system to cool and filter rainwater, and the end result is a healthy, comfortable and inspiring space where effective learning and a social justice mission can thrive.

Thrive is not an outcome one would generally associate with a migrant worker in the United States. Surviving against all odds is more like it. There is a deep-rooted history in the U.S. of exploiting the willing labor force south of our borders: to use them when we are in need and dispose of them like an unwanted dish towel when our burdens are met. This cycle of use, abuse and abandonment has persisted as a dirty reality for a few hundred years and is still true today.聽 Imagine waking to work in the field, a factory or construction-site in hopes of feeding and clothing your family and not knowing if you will be thanked and paid, or called an illegal and rotten and forced to move hundreds of miles away. Imagine that going 鈥榯o your home country’ means at best working under similar or worse conditions for one tenth the pay and for companies benefiting from low minimum wages and free of tariffs.聽 Somehow amid the daily struggle, this disenfranchised but highly motivated and inspired group achieved constructing a world class building and in doing so have taught us a lesson in sustainability.

Sustainability is defined as the place where social justice, environmental conservation, and economic prosperity meet. Our industry has done well in recent years in focusing on our environmental and economic impacts, but we too often forget about the social equity issues we affect. We often relate the equity issue to simply providing our employees with a fair wage and benefits and our clients with healthy environments. It’s easy to forget the upstream and downstream effects on the people that manufacture our materials and deal with, or are affected by, the resulting industrial wastes regionally and internationally. The volunteers that spent their days in the field and their weekends building are very aware of these on-the-ground impacts and have shown the world just how impassioned they are to fight for human rights and social justice.

In the two years that Green Hammer has been involved with CLI to assist in creating this state-of- the- art center, I’ve learned a great deal. In particular how buildings can teach values, empower, inspire and strengthen a community; how the synergy of fully integrating the stakeholders into the process can unlock the exceptional potential within. We must never forget the people we affect when we do. We should never give up on our dreams, and we must stand up for what we believe in because all the good in the world is possible. To quote the immortal worlds of Cesar Chavez: 鈥淪i se puede!鈥�