[Greenbuilding] Greenbuilding and Univ of Michigan?

[Rob Tom]

On Tue, 25 Sep 2007 09:43:39 -0400, John E. Beeson  
<jbeeson at quinnevans.com> wrote:

> [quoting Stronzo di Nord who wrote:]
>> The job of a good school is not to plug any particular "stuff" (Green or
>> otherwise).
>> Its job is to teach its students the ability to master critical
>> thinking.
>
>> It is then the students' responsibility to acquire mastery of the "Green
>> stuff" on their own, making use of the vast interdisciplinary resources
>> available to one whose job title is "student".


> I would disagree with this.  Critical thinking is one
> part but without any 'basic training' you are a useless employee and
> more a liability than a significant contributor.
>
> Not to mention, if we all waited to acquire mastery of the green stuff,
> it WOULD NEVER happen.  It NEEDS to be taught otherwise, no one would
> ever do it or know how to do it.


I would venture that "Green design" is all about critical thinking as  
opposed to being some formulaic approach that merely regurgitates  
something that was taught or worse, becomes a matter of "design by cut &  
paste" where solutions are "found" by thumbing through a "How to do Green"  
guide or "What is Green" catalogue ... and moreso at this point in time,  
which is relatively early in the history of Green .

As for no one knowing how to do "green stuff" or it never happening  
without it being taught,
I would venture that the majority of people who currently excel in the  
field of Green design/building were not taught how to do "the Green stuff".

If they received any training at all, it was likely in conventional  
methods/materials and then a it was likely a matter of taking the  
initiative to come up with ways to do things in a better and more Green  
manner.


				*
and Sacie Lambertson <sacie.lambertson at gmail.com> wrote:

> Oh honestly, come on Steve, Rob Tom is one of the most informed, well
> educated of the participants in this forum ...

Sacie;
You left out the parts about "generous, good-hearted and good-looking"  
that I told you to say. Remember ?  As such, I feel that I should only  
have to pay you half the amount we agreed upon.

-- 
=== * ===
Rob Tom
Kanata, Ontario, Canada
< A r c h i L o g i c  at chaffY a h o o  dot  c a >
manually winnow the chaff from my edress in your reply