There is no past
All ideas are new
The sentence makes sense
There is a word for every feeling
I understand you
The information is conveyed perfectly
We share equally & completely
Monday, December 7, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Building Deconstruction as Environmentally Responsible Activity Requires Economic & Educational Drivers
According to the 2003 American Housing Survey for the Chicago Metropolitan Area, it is estimated that 50% of Chicago’s housing stock was built prior to 1965 (Bureau 2003). While the construction boom of the past decade may have replaced and/or updated 10% to 15%, it remains that Chicago is a city of many old homes. The materials that comprise the structures of older buildings (e.g., old growth pine rafters, metals, etc) are often of a character and quality not easily obtained in the contemporary market. As I have written previously, deconstruction practices are currently being developed to procure these materials, divert them from the waste stream, and decrease the energy and resources required to fulfill demand with newly extracted materials. The focus here is on regulatory and social factors that are pushing the development of these practices.
Many obstacles exist to making deconstruction a standard practice in the Chicago area. The first significant barrier is a societal preference for “new.” Consumers generally equate “new” with “better.” Other noteworthy barriers are the higher labor costs and relatively cheap tipping fees in our region. These make it difficult for already struggling construction companies to justify the added time and expense of separating out materials for reuse. Material separation necessitates dedicated receptacles and management of debris hauling schedules. On residential projects, the cost of removing waste and/or recycling is directly proportional to the availability of space for strategically placing a dumpster. The common residential project in Chicago is forced to locate receptacles in the street immediately in front of a residence. This placement requires further costs for the appropriate permits. And so, without regulatory requirements and societal pressures, it is likely that financial constraints would limit material separation, recycling, and reuse.
Recognizing these obstacles, in 2007 the State of Illinois implemented the regulation that 50% (by weight) of all C&D materials leaving a work site had to be recycled. Locally, the City of Chicago has fully adopted this requirement and has allocated a budget of almost $6,000,000 for the Department of Environment to promote C&D recycling . This governmental resolve is giving rise to large-scale waste recycling operations (e.g., Recycling Systems Inc). The local government is also playing an active role in supporting groups (e.g., The Delta Institute) that are educating the public about C&D material recycling and reuse. This educational aspect is essential to overcoming the unnecessary stigma against utilizing “old” or “used” materials. At some point it may become necessary for a governmental or industry group to develop a set of grading standards for deconstruction materials similar to those implemented in 1924 by the American Lumber Standard Committee (ALSC) to help standardize the recycled materials market.
Works Cited
U.S. Census Bureau, "American Housing Survey for the Chicago Metropolitan Area: 2003." Census.gov. 12 17, 2004. http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/h170-03-22.pdf (accessed 11 24, 2009)
IRN, Institution Recycling Network. "WasteMiser Services." IRN ‐ wastemiser.com. October 16, 2006.
http://www.wastemiser.com/services.html (accessed 11 24, 2009)
Rachel Weber, Susan Kaplan, and Hannah Sokol, Market Analysis of Construction and Demolition Material Reuse in the Chicago Region. Commissioned by the Delta Institute, Chicago: College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs Institute for Environmental Science and Policy University of Illinois at Chicago, 2009
Many obstacles exist to making deconstruction a standard practice in the Chicago area. The first significant barrier is a societal preference for “new.” Consumers generally equate “new” with “better.” Other noteworthy barriers are the higher labor costs and relatively cheap tipping fees in our region. These make it difficult for already struggling construction companies to justify the added time and expense of separating out materials for reuse. Material separation necessitates dedicated receptacles and management of debris hauling schedules. On residential projects, the cost of removing waste and/or recycling is directly proportional to the availability of space for strategically placing a dumpster. The common residential project in Chicago is forced to locate receptacles in the street immediately in front of a residence. This placement requires further costs for the appropriate permits. And so, without regulatory requirements and societal pressures, it is likely that financial constraints would limit material separation, recycling, and reuse.
Recognizing these obstacles, in 2007 the State of Illinois implemented the regulation that 50% (by weight) of all C&D materials leaving a work site had to be recycled. Locally, the City of Chicago has fully adopted this requirement and has allocated a budget of almost $6,000,000 for the Department of Environment to promote C&D recycling . This governmental resolve is giving rise to large-scale waste recycling operations (e.g., Recycling Systems Inc). The local government is also playing an active role in supporting groups (e.g., The Delta Institute) that are educating the public about C&D material recycling and reuse. This educational aspect is essential to overcoming the unnecessary stigma against utilizing “old” or “used” materials. At some point it may become necessary for a governmental or industry group to develop a set of grading standards for deconstruction materials similar to those implemented in 1924 by the American Lumber Standard Committee (ALSC) to help standardize the recycled materials market.
Works Cited
U.S. Census Bureau, "American Housing Survey for the Chicago Metropolitan Area: 2003." Census.gov. 12 17, 2004. http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/h170-03-22.pdf (accessed 11 24, 2009)
IRN, Institution Recycling Network. "WasteMiser Services." IRN ‐ wastemiser.com. October 16, 2006.
http://www.wastemiser.com/services.html (accessed 11 24, 2009)
Rachel Weber, Susan Kaplan, and Hannah Sokol, Market Analysis of Construction and Demolition Material Reuse in the Chicago Region. Commissioned by the Delta Institute, Chicago: College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs Institute for Environmental Science and Policy University of Illinois at Chicago, 2009
Walking Slow...
...from the beginning opens holes in our visual field. The edges of these holes are smooth to the touch. The structure of our visual reality is facile. Once opened, simple effort will stretch the holes wider. But beyond always causes one to pause. The challenge of making sense of this reality is nearly over-whelming. Suicide is not unknown among the practitioners of alternate ways of seeing. If not outright taking one’s own life than the slow death of chemicals and slipping mentally away from love and family. It is counter to revolutionary thinking to make ones waking life calm, plain and without chaos so that your thoughts can range the multitude of extraordinary means to live and die with or without meaning. The quite is instead found in the advanced stages of chemicals metabolizing through the blood stream. Like dramatic theater as catharsis, from these highly stylized and forced moments of peace come crisp interpretations of inherently random happenings. …a part of a complete balanced breakfast. Patterns are preferred two to one over all other states of being.
Walking slowly is a cellular desire beneath patterned minds, the patterns of which are simple sub-routines laid over randomness to keep the cells propagating efficiently. However, at each cell’s core is a space un-actualize, possibly devolved free from pattern yearning. Up from these very small places feeds a feeling of the slow, undifferentiated nature of the whole.
Walking slowly is a cellular desire beneath patterned minds, the patterns of which are simple sub-routines laid over randomness to keep the cells propagating efficiently. However, at each cell’s core is a space un-actualize, possibly devolved free from pattern yearning. Up from these very small places feeds a feeling of the slow, undifferentiated nature of the whole.
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