In 1987 a mobilizing
call for action and a fundamental definition of sustainability came out
with the Bruntland Report. It was also called; Our Common Future:
Development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs.
Pre
war buildings were made on the . . . exemplifies the state of
knowledge circulating in the early nineties, produced by the Fijdhorn
Foundation in 1993, their idea being to consider not only the larger ecological
and global impact but also concerns with human health.
Shortly before in 1992, from
Rio . *
. the world received the United Nations Declaration on Environment and
Development. It holds 27 principles, the 1st. states:
Human beings
are at the canter of concerns for sustainable development:
They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.
A comprehensive
plan of action, Agenda 21 . *
. was adopted.
In the UK a broad program to inform, debate, articulate, and impart further
through education, was set to work, initially aimed at educators, government
officers, and practitioners in environmental industries, it proved effective
to the point of government ministers going back to university and, return
with
a new color in their political discourse. Awareness rose.
During
the massive task of post war reconstruction . . . another UK study
presenting the same indoor issues, but giving a different balance of emphasis.
It was written in 1994 by Architect David Elliot.
Both studies are focused on the house unit.
In 1991, the
US Environmental Protection Agency was clear about Sick Building Syndrome
. * . , three years
later addressed health practitioners . *
. , and by 1995 gave guidance on indoor air quality in apartment buildings.
For the US EPA indoor air quality is a specific issue . *
. * .
From the earliest
the Precautionary Principle . *
. was and is high in the mind of all involved.
A global effort to set a coordinated legal framework and Enviromental
Agencies was and is underway:
In the UK The Environment Act 1995 . *
. was passed, and with it the establishment of its Environment Agency.
London embarked
on the largest planning and construction program since the post war reconstruction.
The Greater London Authority GLA was created in 1999.
Circle of blame
. * . as described by The
Building Research Establishment in 2000.
In 2003 the European
Commission proposed a new EU regulatory framework for the Registration,
Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals.
"will reverse the burden of proof so that industry, both producers
and importers of substances, rather than the public authorities, will
have to assume greater responsibility for providing the necessary information
and taking effective risk management measures."
"It will introduce a new European Chemical Agency to be established
in Helsinki, Finland, which will manage the registration of substances,
through the setting up of a database. It will play an important role also
in the evaluation and authorization of substances"; REACH . *
.
In The Housing
Act 2004 HA; Part 1 of the Act replaces the existing housing fitness standard
contained in the Housing Act 1985 with HHSRS
Housing Health and Safety Rating System . *
. In force since April 6th 2006, it places the emphasis on the effects
on occupiers rather than the building itself. It also adapts and extends
the powers of enforcement currently available to LHAs Local Housing Authorities
to tackle poor housing conditions. LHAs will, under the HHSR system, asses
the rating of hazards in the building and use this to asses what action
needs to be taken.
In the UK affluent
home owners adopted the awareness brought in by Agenda 21 creating the
initial demand for healthy substitutes to products on offer by the mass
market.
To feel the scale of the catchment area in the mind of a marketing strategist.
I suggest take a flight with Google-earth to cities of all sizes, focus
on the density, the grain; . . . all those rooms, billions of them.
More than 50% of the worlds
population already lives in cities, keeps growing at a rate of 1/4 of
a million people a day, and the prediction is that will stabilize by 2030
when it reaches 75% of an estimated total of under 10 billion people.
Governments have to balance
concerns about the disfavourable impact of some areas of the economy,
against the benefits to the Common National Interest.
Growing demand means: increased production, monetary growth, and employment.
Stimulating demand it follows; is beneficial to the CNI.
Progressively the legal, financial and institutional structures taking
place will account capital as a composite made of: Natural + Social +
Human + Technological Capital.
This plus Carbon as a dominant exchangeable commodity will set the course
towards sustainable human practices.
In this environment the risk of promoting health hazards will be seen
and valued differently.
A magnet placed on one side
of a piece of cardboard, will hold a paperclip on the otherside, magnetizing
it while doing so. Magnetism jumps across the space between isolated metal
structures. Playing on with the clip and the magnet you will notice acceleration
in the attraction between them as they get closer, this indicates an exponential
relation to distance. Now think of urban compaction, of every electrical
appliance first adding to the EM field of the host building structure
and then passing it to others in proximity; also think of harmonic resonance.
Knowledge about health hazards related to electromagnetic radiation depends
on studying the effects of electrical equipment, their interaction with
metal structures; and of how that affects chemistry and biology.
For the parties in charge of building products production everywhere in
the world; a critical view on electricity or steel is almost delinquent.
Authoritative opinion tells that buildings with metal structures had been
electrified for a while, and historically the level of EMR related hazards,
falls within the boundaries of acceptable risk; which differs from culture
to culture.
London is in the implementation stage for the production of 450.000 dwellings
to be in place before 2020..
Production of buildings as it is, will more likely be compelled to comprehensive
revision by the carbon market calling the price of embodied energy, than
by health matters.
The issue however, will not go . *
. * . and stands
as a true challenge for inventors, and industry.
Before going further, first
we have to go back to 1971 when the Nixon Administration withdrew the
legal foundations of the US Dollar convertibility to gold, and so, the
Bretton Woods agreement initiated in 1944 was set to collapse, and it
did in 1973.
It was the beginning of an era now ended, characterized by:
- expansion of the money supply, and;
- market forces free to adjust foreign exchange rates.
This currency exchange system, was going to drive amongst other things;
the ending of the cold war, the IT revolution, and Den Xiao Ping to proclaim
"to get rich is glorious".
Financial gurus and super achieving chief executives emerged as stereotypical
role models, exalted by the prospect of making real money, instrumentally
fit to operate systems, finance, and contracts.
Yes; . the Culture of Management.
While all this was happening,
in 1972 a study done at MIT for the Club of Rome was published . It came
out as a book with some quotations, one amongst them:
Most persons
think that a state in order to
be happy ought to be large; but even if they
are right, they have no idea of what is a
large and what a small state. . . . To the
size of states there is a limit, as there is to
other things, plants, animals, implements;
for none of these retain their natural power
when they are to large or too small, but
they either wholly lose their nature, or are
spoiled
Aristotle, 322 BC.
The members of
the club understood that: Interdependence; between the economic, political,
natural, and social components making the global system, needed study.
And so, computer modeling did the runs with all known factors and feed
back variables. Transparent about methodology, the modelers rejected the
overshot and collapse result trials, and searched for a model output representing
a world system that is:
1st: Sustainable without sudden and uncontrollable collapse, and
2nd: Capable of satisfying the basic material requirements of all people.
The model would not bring about such behavior unless, Deliberate Constrain
on Growth was in the input.
The report's name is: The Limits to Growth,.
For the beliefs and interests at play; it was Anathema; and; . . it took
16 years for Sustainability and the Precautionary Principle to be brought
back to surface with the Bruntland Report.
By then the Culture of Management had its ways well established. . *
.
Still, the debate has not been fully resolved as new science validates
central claims a of the original message. . *
.
There are 25
million dwellings in the UK.
London has a share of over 3 million of which 75% are pre 1970; 40% are
tenant occupied and most of the stock is ailing from the consequences
of successive renovations.
The effects of
all the above are noticeable in W9:
-The Campaign Against Smoking is strongly going through its paces. Recycling
is daily routine, and eating habits are improving.
-Just like on cigarette packs; furnishings and paint-decorating products
begun to show labels informing about some of the hazardous substances
in them.
- Enterprise is coming up with clean products at mass market
competitive prices. *
. *
.
- On the internet: . *
. *
.
- On Metro . * . a local paper.
- On the radio: BBC4. 15 11
05: The World Health Organization declared painting and decorating a hazardous
occupation. / We know that 75% of all cancers are caused by mutations
triggered by substances found in the environment. / 70 thousand substances
are being scrutinized by the EU / Until the appearance of DDT 75% of beds
in the UK were infested with bugs; the perception of chemical solutions
still holds a kind local memory.
For individual houses, business premises and small buildings;
the process of cleaning is likely to be more rapid, as owners, bosses,
and boards of small organizations have the necessary proximity to their
problems for planning and acting using clean, up to date methods and materials.
In the case of medium and large organizations things may unravel somewhat
slower.
By the midd 90's a dialog on
indoor health issues was possible with some housing professionals aware
of Agenda 21; as they retired or moved up, the replacement found itself
increasingly without a reference to the issues brought by it.
This is a strata whose practice and vision has been formed by habits of
monetary management, and is in need of broadening and deepening its foundation
Long working hours, correctness, litigation, security, and increasingly
questions seeking answers, first to themselves, and increasingly to the
public; all motivate entrenchment; and really, there is no need for that.
Being members of the public themselves, they are aware of the stream of
information, and of the questions arising:
Q: Why these substances are still being used ?
A: Because contracts responding to economies of scale are still rolling,
the agreed specifications and purchase orders, were signed at the time
of commencement, consultations were made, and the appropriate package
chosen with expert advise to carry out ongoing maintenance and taking
the necessary actions to ensure that the targets set by the Decent Homes
Standard are met.
- Ahhh; . . but we didn't know then what we know now. . Did you?
The question . . Did you? ; is a call for sincerity, and a check on ethical
probity; Trust and credibility inevitably will relate to the nature of
the answers.
At present most housing officers simply share the same level of awareness
than everyone else, it is circumstantial and could be perceived as an
impasse, but truly is the opportunity to revise assumptions, do away with
abnegation, think strategies and work on plans based on face to face consensual
agreements. Easier said than made, it is a process, the time to embark
is due; distention, strength and social cohesion are the result of tackling
a common hazard, gradual cumulative learning is the way, mistakes will
be made, that's part of it, a challenge.
Without a higher
authority than authority, fatally everything disintegrates; this time
however, in place, proclaimed, delivered and official, we have a principle
ranking on level of importance with the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.
Yes; Sustainability. *
. * . ;
its understanding, and adoption, are of essence for organizations not
lapsing into rigidity and anachronism.
Housing organizations are a classic example of structures subject to limits
of growth, they are first ground for local democracy and community, the
bigger they are the less true is the face to face exchange. The creation
of Arms Length Management Organizations and Tenant Management Organizations,
express the sensitivity about the matter on part of the government. My
thought on this; restraines their size to the number of members that can
be addressed at a general meeting in a hall without power amplification.
It is assuring
at the time of this update to notice more clarity coming from the organizations
involved:
BRE: Building Resarch Establishment / Indoor Air Quality
http://www.bre.co.uk/page.jsp?id=720
REACH at HSE:
Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation & restriction of Chemicals
at Health & Safety Executive
http://www.hse.gov.uk/reach/
HHSRS: The Housing
Health & Safety Rating System
http://westminster.gov.uk/services/housing/private/housinghealthsafetyrating/
DHS: Decent Homes
Standard, evolving
http://www.cih.org/documents/news/
DecentHomesStandardsSubmissiontoSelectCommittee.pd
Campaign for
Clean Air in London http://www.cleanairinlondon.org/blog/_archives/2009/12/14/4404538.html
CHEM Trust
http://www.chemtrust.org.uk/
EPA's Guide to
Indoor Air Quality
http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/insidest.html
New Tools
http://www.wolfsense.com/directsense-iaq-indoor-air-quality-monitor.html
More
http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/06/08/16/
the_five_home_construction_materials_that_pose_the_highest_health_risk_to_you.htm
http://www.buildingmonitoringservices.co.uk/air.html
Organizations will owe their success to the ability to learn
at a rate equal or greater than the rate of change in their context. Compulsion
is counterproductive, would take away the good feeling of cleaning up
for a vital city and for our common future.
JS: 14. Feb. 06.
Revised on: May. 08. / May. 10
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