2005
Colin Coyne

At ULI’s recent Washington, DC conference, I had the pleasure of hearing Jonathan Rose speak about the importance of location in determining smart green development. During his presentation, Jonathan emphasized the principles of knowledge, justice, governance, spirit and commons as the cornerstone of community. For centuries that is why we find city centers built around a common square bordered by a library, a court building, a legislative structure like the town hall, and a church. The town square, Jonathan said, mirrors the values of our society. Sustainability (or “green”) transcends the buildings we build. In Jonathan’s lexicon, it means the communities in which we live and work and play. Yet I am struck that even this isn’t broad enough. To my mind, sustainability is a state of mind…a metaphysical phenomenon more than a physical place. It is the legacy we leave behind, the mark we leave (or perhaps more importantly, don’t leave). It’s what we feel, the values we teach our children. In many respects, sustainability is the decisions we make when we don’t have to. (Who said, “Character is what we do when no one is looking.”?) Listen to anyone from Melaver talk, and sustainability is….an emotion. Like fear, or happiness, or sadness, sustainability flows from within. And not unlike those emotions, I believe sustainability is an intrinsic emotion, something with which we are born…not something that is taught. In fact, I would argue that in modern America, decades of education systematically “untaught” us to care less about our natural gifts, and care more about….more. More wealth, more cars, more building, more production. At what point, I am left to ponder, did our emotions quit defining our actions and we let our actions define ourselves? While we are born with this emotion of sustainability, we’ve all learned to bury it to one degree or another. Like an abused child who chooses to hide her feelings, we’ve neglected our sustenance…yet we live with it inside of us…and it yearns to be let out again. I truly believe most everyone is naturally drawn to “green”…we just need to given that opportunity. Hope is not lost. A few months back, my children angrily condemned the clear-cutting of trees that preceded the development of a housing project adjacent to their elementary school. I looked at them with pride, finally being able to say, “And that’s what makes dad’s company different!” My pride was short lived, however, as they looked at me as if there was no other logical way to do it. You see, while Melaver’s way of doing business really may be different, the point is: it shouldn’t be. As strange as this sounds, I hope that what we do at Melaver today soon will become boring and mundane, that others will copy our “differentiation” as quickly as possible. There are other ways to be different; Dallas and Ariana only have one planet to leave my grandchildren.