Green Options

Contrary to popular opinion, bicycling can potentially damage the environment due to the increased longevity of people engaged in physical activity, says Karl Ulrich, a Wharton Business School professor.

Ulrich argues that the greatest environmental peril society may face is the looming prospect of slowing the aging process, and bicycling potentially contributes to slowing aging.

Put simply, Ulrich says there is an underlying conflict between human-powered transportation, longevity, and environmental impact, which needs to be highlighted as the world seeks to find [...]

At the heart of all building projects are the materials, the stuff, the bricks and sticks, the elements that are assembled to build a building. Different materials have different impacts on the Earth. Some require extensive resources for their manufacture. Steel and other metals need to be refined from ore and processed into their final forms, often several operations, all taking great amounts of energy. The choices that go into selecting building materials have long range ramifications in a number of ways.

The materials we use in our buildings have an enormous impact on the Earth. Choosing materials with a lower impact can be an important criterion, but the matter needs to be looked at with proper long-term perspective. Careful use of materials with a long useful life (rather than materials which merely stick around for a long time after they have reached the end of their useful life, like vinyl siding) can result in a building that serves generations. Densities of use found in modern cities are only realistically possible when using higher impact materials such as steel. However, the offsetting benefits coming from the use of those materials helps to make this a more reasonable choice.