Unless
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It's not.” ― Dr. Seuss, The Lorax
They say everything you really need to know in life, we learned in Kindergarten. There is a lot to that message in life and in business. We should share with one another and play fair. We shouldn’t hit people, and we should put things back where we found them. It is our job to clean up our own mess, and we shouldn’t take things that aren’t ours. When you hurt someone, say your sorry and wash your hands before you eat. Take some time to draw and paint and sing and dance every day. Allow yourself to be amazed, and don’t forget that first word we learned in the Dick and Jane books - LOOK!
Amongst those first books, many of us read the rhymes of Dr. Seuss and amongst the many life lessons was one that we probably should have listened to a little closer to so many years ago. That book was the Lorax, and its famous word, “Unless.”
As sustainability professionals, chances are you do what you do because you do care, and probably an awful lot. It will take everyone, one of us, working together to undo what we have been doing for over a century.
We need to look no further than the Garbage Patch in the Pacific, the deforestation in the Amazon, the loss of animal and insect habitat to see the damage that we have done. Those impacts have consequences, and those consequences are posing real risks to the world we live in. The world we invest in and the built environment around us.
Those early lessons taught us when we go out in the world to watch out for traffic, to hold hands, and to stick together. Lessons that point towards the solution to the risks around us. Lessons that might allow us to find the opportunities and perhaps even the courage to say the word, “Unless.”
Unless means paying attention to the little things. Remember that styrofoam cup that we planted the seed in. How we watched the surface every day, waiting for a green sprout to emerge. We watered it; we put it safely in the sun. We ensured the seed buried in that tiny amount of soil had protection and received what it needed to blossom.
That same attention to detail of making sure the elements are present for real impact is required of us today. The medium has changed, but that determination is still needed. The foundation lies in the data around our buildings. Taking the time to understand our impact. To understand that impact means collecting consumption that our buildings devour.
That data provides the ability to analyze the trends, benchmark the performance, and realize opportunities. Yet, that data is only as good as the accuracy of that data. This means having a mechanism in place to check for data quality and integrity. Simply collecting the bill is not enough; the data on that bill must be examined and tested for accuracy. Simplicity can be essential, with each hand-off of data introducing an opportunity for error and increasing the complexity of managing the data.
The data has to be presented in a way that provides insight into its meaning, visualized in a way that allows you to interpret its meaning both at scale and at the property level. Often I refer to this as the compass, which helps you realize where to look. Without it, we can get lost in the data itself, consumed by the scale.
With quality data in hand and a powerful way to visualize that data, having a way to understand if that data is good or bad. Benchmarking, we call it, and the more robust and contemporary the comparison set, the better. What would you rather compare against, a data set with 600 buildings, a data set with 60,000 buildings, or a data set with 300,000 buildings? The bigger the data set, the better opportunities to compare against.
Sure, you can attend lectures, you can obtain advanced certifications, you can read books with thousands of pages, yet some of the most effective approaches to making a difference are really the most simple.
This week across the United States, we celebrate thanksgiving. Traditionally it is a day of giving thanks, appreciating the harvest of our work, and celebrating the past year. In the world of sustainability, it is also a time for us to appreciate the efforts of our peers. To celebrate that they are the ones who have answered the call of “Unless.”
It will take every single one of us to make the difference that needs to be made. Those of you leading the charge in your organizations are heroes. Each and every one of you must develop a strategy that is impactful yet understandable. You are tasked with evangelizing the importance of recognizing the impacts of our actions on the environment around us. To celebrate the diversity of the employees within our organizations and the uniqueness of each community in which we have the privilege to operate.
As we take on that task, day in and day out, I would like to take a moment to thank you. Thank you for fighting that fight. Thank you for taking complicated concepts and making them understandable. Thank you for caring an awful lot.
Do not forget those simple yet fundamental things we learned in Kindergarten. What a better world we would all live in if we only took time to have some milk and cookies every afternoon and then laid down for a nap. While life may be complicated, what is meaningful and important may not necessarily be.
Portions of this post have been inspired by and quoted from Robert Fulghum’s book, “All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten.” If you haven’t read it in a while, it’s worth the read.
You can help reduce the impact of the built environment by sharing this blog with your peers. Together we can impact the 39% of greenhouse gasses attributed to the built environment. It starts with awareness, and we succeed with teamwork.
Stay well!
Chris Laughman is the ThirtyNine Blog author, a blog dedicated to reducing the impact of the built environment. When not blogging, Chris is helping the real estate industry minimize energy and water impact as the Vice President of Sustainability for Conservice, the Utility Experts. Whether Multifamily, Single Family, Student Housing, Commercial, or Military, we simplify utility billing and expense management by doing it for you. Our insight into your utility consumption provides an opportunity to identify risks. Leveraging innovation and experience, we ignite solutions with tangible impacts and track performance to ensure the trendline stays laser-focused on the goal. At Conservice, we have developed a true bill-to-boardroom solution to help truly make a difference. We have before us a tremendous opportunity. Standing shoulder to shoulder, we will get this done. Contact me at claughman@conservice.com for more information.
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