Greenwashing

Nowadays everyone (and possibly their mother) knows what sustainability is. “Its good for the planet and if is good for the planet I might as well invent in it! Well, only if it's cheap.” I am a true believer that the build environment needs to change for good and head toward a more sustainable future - one focused on longevity and variability within the buildings we make BUT I think we have veered off course along the way. The term “greenwashing”, often used within the slow fashion industry,  is defined as “the process of conveying a false impression or providing misleading information about how a company's products are more environmentally sound”. I think users, customers and even designers in some cases have succumbed to greenwashing in the act of trying to do better whether it was good or bad intentions. We try to achieve materialistic sustainable deliverables so we can appear morally just in our design decisions without actually taking the time to approach sustainability from the roots of projects. Instead of adding green walls to our lobbies can we rethink the building grid and floor to floor height so its program can change in 50 years without having to knock the building down? Instead of lining our building with PV panels can we spend one more week in the SD phase thinking through our building envelope? These changes in our approach to architecture have a payback period but cost way less energy effort and money in the long run.