What do two green building experts, a carpet manufacturer, and The Natural Step have in common? This was a question that a recent panel addressed at this year’s US Green Building Council’s GreenBbuild International Conference and Expo.

Are there any sustainable materials? Exploring the role of materials stewardship in sustainable built environments was a lively panel discussion featuring Lindsay James of InterfaceFLOR, Gail Vittori of the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems, Jennifer Atlee of BuildingGreen,  and myself—Sarah Brooks of The Natural Step Canada. Together, we led a dialogue that aimed to break down traditional boundaries, challenge each others’ assumptions, and— in doing so—surface new solutions and new questions to evolve the conversation.

There is a belief among systems thinkers that the seeds of a solution to any problem faced by a system lie within that same system. One of the manners by which we surface those solutions is to make strange bedfellows: speak with those with whom we don’t normally; rethink what gets attention; radically experiment with the distribution of power within the system, give voice to the voiceless, and so forth.

Arguably, the built environment, with its massive impact on both social and ecological systems (consider materials extraction, processing, transportation, use, end of life, footprint, energy consumed to heat, cool, and power our infrastructure, transportation infrastructure within and around communities, personal experience within a building, and on and on and on)  is one of the major factors that may define whether human beings continue to survive and thrive on Planet Earth.  Clearly, the materials that go into our built environment are hugely significant from a sustainability perspective; they literally provide many of the building blocks of society as we know it.

The challenge for our panel was to combine many points of view and various sets of expertise and provide something useful to the dialogue around sustainable materials. What we found, through our many conversations prior to the panel itself, was that in voicing our various perspectives, we did exactly what we were hoping: surfaced new questions, challenged each other, and in so doing, were enriched as professionals in the service of sustainability.

The truth is, there are no easy answers to the sustainability challenge. Over the development of our session, we quickly understood that it isn’t possible to provide the answer to the question of the sustainability of materials. There are issues of rate and scale of use, known and unknown impacts, up-and down-stream affects, single-use attribute issues, and so forth. What we can do, however, is build our own competency and sophistication in asking different questions, in stimulating discussion around different topics, and bringing forward new and radical ways of addressing our most pressing sustainability challenges.

And couldn’t this change the world? What if, for example, we acted like our quality of life depended on Nature and each other? What if we saw money as a design problem instead of a design constraint? What if our materials contributed to creating conditions for health? What if we could have more happiness with less stuff?

These are not problems per se— these are design challenges. If we imagine the world as we wish it, we can begin to move toward it, one step at a time. But we need different solutions than those we currently have. And, to find new answers, we need to ask new questions.

What are the questions that need to be asked about material sustainability? What does material stewardship look like in a sustainable society? If these are questions that interest you, join the conversation by contacting me at sbrooks(at)naturalstep.ca. Bring your voice into the mix and let it enrich the dialogue.

photo credit - gualtiero (flickr)