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In the summer of 2003, we had the remarkable blessing of being asked to design the most sustainable skyscraper in America. Even more compelling, the request came from the Durst Organization, a multigeneration family business that had previously developed the Condé Nast building at 4 Times Square – America’s first green skyscraper. “Leave this place better than you found it,” the philosophy of Jody Durst, has guided the Durst Organization through decades of sustainable building practices in New York City. Our task was to learn all we could from the first generation of green skyscrapers while pushing forward the standard in workplace performance for Bank of America, the primary tenant and joint venture partner in the building. It soon became clear that the design of a skyscraper in New York City was to speak powerfully about our generation’s goals and aspirations. We needed more than a green skyscraper; we needed to set a new standard for urban sustainability.
In our roles as teachers in environmental studies programs at liberal arts colleges, we have mentored many young people whose abiding concern for the environment and for social justice drives a deep desire to live in a manner that lives up to the ideals of the newfound “sustainability” movement. Indeed, we share these values ourselves, doing our best to do our parts as good citizens who think globally and act locally. Still, we know all too well that one individual’s decision to drive a hybrid, eat low on the food chain, or recycle a beverage container is like one drop of water in the sea of forces that are pushing our world in the direction of a socially unjust, environmentally unsustainable future.
I first set foot in India in 1985, visiting the city of Calcutta. I can still recall the thick, black smoke that hung over the city, the endless rows of bodies of people sleeping on the streets, dilapidated buildings and vehicles, and hawkers everywhere. I saw so many children, their tiny frames struggling to carry loads far too heavy for those so young. Yet in spite of the poverty all around us, we could see a vibrant, colorful, joyful society – proud of itself, struggling to survive, determined to make a better future.