Takin' it Wheezy in California.

Posted only a few days ago on AZoBuild, is an (unfortunately uncredited) article on the environmental impact of construction in California. Titled Thousand of Lives, Billions of Dollars Could be Saved with the Clean Construction Rule, this article discusses the push by many to create a standard for reducing the polluting effect construction process and machinery is having on the area of California.

A startling "...20 percent of the state's diesel particulate matter pollution" is apparently created by California's construction equipment, which prompts one to think of the environmental effect construction has in our own backyard. Being so utilitarian and apparently 'necessary' one rarely thinks of the enourmous amount of resources used by our construction equipment. So much emphasis is put on the Grass Roots level of resource usage that I feel we are winning the battle but losing the war on climate change. We feel so positive when we see a hybrid car drive by or use the water from boiling our rice to water our plants that we are losing sight of the excesses that industry and the commercial world take.

Thousand of Lives, Billions of Dollars Could be Saved with the Clean Construction Rule, follows a smart stuggle for a better tomorrow. The design and construction world have generally accepted the principles of ESD, Environmentally Sustainable Design, perhaps it is time that we start to think 'ERC' Environmentally Responsible Construction?