Will and the Waste Monster
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Transcript of Will and the Waste Monster
© Sarah Banning, HMC DFF 2014. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopy or any information storage and retrieval system without express permission from Sarah Banning and HMC DFF.
As architects, planners, and designers,
we have the opportunity to design
sustainable structures and environments,
but many of us have come to realize that
a comprehensive, positive impact on
our environment requires a major shift
in our society’s behavior and culture.
We can include features such as natural
ventilation systems, photovoltaics, natural
lighting opportunities, efficient plumbing
fixtures, and native landscaping in our
man-made environments; but often, the
building occupants, without realizing it, fail
to correctly use or embrace these green
strategies. Instead, they continue wasteful
habits.
Colleagues Pablo La Roche, Eera
Babtiwale, and Sandy Kate discussed
how to take their efforts to create a
sustainable world beyond architecture.
They saw a great opportunity to plant a
seed for behavioral and cultural change
within children, the future caretakers of
our environment. Pablo, Eera and Sandy
wished to ignite in young children a passion
to treasure and care for our planet. They
hoped that the children would share their
concern with their families, friends, and
teachers, and even encourage community
businesses to change wasteful and careless
habits — such as letting water run when it is
not needed, wasting paper, or leaving lights
on in unoccupied rooms.
We know that adults often are more
receptive to a child’s suggestions, than to
another adult’s, to change their daily habits.
We also know that behaviors are set when
we are young, and bad habits and behavior
are harder to break as adults. Our hope
is to ignite a chain reaction, as each child
encourages a change in four other people,
and then those four pass the message and
urgency on to four others. The message
and the passion for sustainability will
grow to thousands, and a new culture of
environmental stewardship will take hold.
Let’s inspire our children to bring about
REAL CHANGE!
PREFACE
To pursue a quest for a greener planet,
Pablo, Eera, and Sandy wrote a grant
request to HMC’s Designing Futures
Foundation for funds to partner with
the staff at McKinley Elementary School
and the Santa Monica Malibu School
District. The partnership would develop a
series of children’s interactive workshops
and discussions that provide a deeper
understanding and concern for our planet’s
natural resources and concepts such
as energy, water use, and waste. While
elementary schools teach the scientific
concept of energy and the natural water
cycle, the lessons may not include how our
use of certain types of energy, water, or
other resources relates to our daily actions
and continually impacts our environment.
The HMC Designing Futures Foundation,
in partnership with McKinley Elementary
School staff, created informative
workshops for elementary schools,
along with this children’s story, to explain
concepts of our natural environment
and how humans impact it. While the
workshops include many basic science
concepts and align with the content in the
Common Core Curriculum adopted by
most states for curriculum standards, the
team felt it was most important to inform
students of the consequences of human
behavior on our planet, emphasizing that
they have the power to make a positive
difference. The goal was to empower our
youth to change the direction in which our
global environment is heading.
To download these USGBC award-
winning interactive workshop outlines and
other educational activities focusing on
sustainability, go to:
http://blog.hmcarchitects.com/
sustainabilityworkshop-resources/
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
THE PARTNERSHIP TEAM
SARAH BANNINGSarah is a 23 year-old artist, illustrator and recent graduate of California State Uuniversity, Fullerton with a BFA in animation and an incredible ability to make important concepts come to life with her creative characters. Sarah is currently pursuing freelance illustration work while she completes her first graphic novel. Sarah partnered with Richard Jefferies, a graphic designer and webmaster to create the pages for this story.
PABLO LA ROCHEPablo is a professor of Architecture at Cal Poly Pomona and Sustainable Design Leader at RTKL Associates. His teaching, practice, and research are dedicated to reducing the built environment’s impact on climate change. He has taught, consulted and published extensively, recently authoring Carbon Neutral Architectural Design with a second edition under preparation.
EERA BABTIWALEWith strong design skills and passionate environmental awareness, Eera Babtiwale has delivered numerous building projects that are functional, creative, and sustainable. As a sustainable building designer at HMC she is dedicated to the research and development of advancing high-performance architecture. Eera sits on the board of the United States Green Building Council, Inland Empire Chapter.
SANDY KATESandy is an associate principal at HMC and has specialized in the planning and designing of educational facilities throughout the U.S. for more than 3o years. She strongly believes that environments can support, encourage, inspire, and even hug children – improving the quality of the experience in the spaces where they learn and grow. It is this belief that drives her passion for creating learning environments for and with children.
HMC DESIGNING FUTURES FOUNDATIONFor the past 70 years HMC Architects has built schools, hospitals, and civic and cultural facilities where students learn, patients heal and communities come together. HMC’s commitment to building community goes beyond architecture. In 2009, HMC founded the Designing Futures Foundation (DFF), a nonprofit 501(c)(3)organization. The mission of the DFF is to give back to the communities in which HMC operates and its employee live and work, by supporting social causes that align with the firm’s core values: education, architecture/design, environmental sustainability and disaster relief. Today, through HMC’s corporate and employee giving, the DFF’s scholarship and grant programs, employee volunteerism, pro bono design services, in-kind donations, and environmentally sustainable practices, HMC is designing a better future for generations to come.
SANTA MONICA MALIBU UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICTSanta Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, west of Los Angeles, serving the cities of Santa Monica and Malibu. SMMUSD is committed to providing high quality public education to every student in the district. SMMUSD is well-situated in two communities known for their exceptional commitment to sustainability. McKinley Elementary School is a Title I school serving 500 enthusiastic students in transitional kindergarten through grade 5 and 60 children in a preschool program in the SMMUSD. The school has dedicated staff who are committed to creating a sustainable culture for their school.
9 780692 385920
90000>ISBN 978-0-692-38592-0