“Can’t” vs. “Yet”

Hi Folks:

While the title of this post sounds like something involving a court action, it’s really about a matter of perspective. In a powerful talk by Dr. Carol Dweck given at TEDxNorrkoping (below), she explains the difference between rewarding positive results (and punishing failure) vs. encouraging development. When people are given a specific endpoint and they either pass or fail, they either become used to looking for/needing rewards to keep going or become so disillusioned with their potential that they simply stop trying. Instead of that black/white approach, Carol advocates motivating and encouraging progress, no matter where we are in the moment. Doing so repetitively creates an atmosphere where the gains are internal and there is a process of life-long learning and growth. It’s definitely something we should be teaching our children, and also something we can share with others and remember for ourselves. Truly outstanding.

You can see Carol’s Stanford University profile here, and her Brainology website here.

Hugs,
M&M

Being Green – Education

Hi Folks:

Last Friday I decided to dedicate one day a week to information related to green building on the basis that I subscribe to (and hence receive) several different e-newsletters every week.  This week has been quiet in that department, but that doesn’t mean I’ve run out of things to share.  Not by a long shot…

First though, the November 2009 issue of Environmental Building News is now available, here.  And GreenBuildingAdvisor.com has a white paper available titled, ‘Stand Out from the Pack: How to Position Yourself as an Expert Eco-Builder’.  It’s available for free download, here.  Also, recently announced are the final specifications for the US EPA’s ‘Water Sense’ program.  More on that here.

Last week I wrote a little bit about Greensburg, KS, and I wanted to insert a reminder that part 2 of a webinar on Greensburg is coming up next Tuesday, December 15, 12:00–1:30 PM EST.   ‘Admission’ is free, but you do need to register in advance, here.

There are a number of places where one can learn more about green building online.  The Canadian Home Building Association (CHBA) has developed the Canadian Home Building Institute (CHBI), and they have a series of courses one can take on a number of aspects of construction, some of them online and some ‘in person’.  This includes ‘Built Greenâ„¢ BC Builder Training‘.  For more information, check out http://www.learnyourliving.ca.  Both the Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC) and the US Green Building Council (USGBC) offer on-site and online courses as well, including information on becoming LEED certified.  Two sites where one can take free online courses and earn AIA-certified credits are http://www.aecdaily.com and http://www.architectces.com.  There are webinars concerning a wide variety of products and systems, and a test at the end of each session.  That’ll get you started…

One aspect of  green building that I hadn’t thought about until I heard of it is green-certified real estate professionals.  Ecobroker.com was the first that I heard about, but since then I’ve come across some others.  GreenRealEstate.com offers courses to certify real estate people, and the National Association of Realtors has developed the Green REsource Council to offer their own certification programs and courses.

Finally for today, according to Environmental Design and Construction magazine, 29000 people visited this year’s GreenBuild conference.  There’s a series of short videos on the ED+C website, including this one, entitled, ‘Why Green?’  The others are here.

Have a great week, and if you have a link to share, post a comment here!

Mike.

P.S.  If you have people asking you why this is important, I highly recommend the TED talk by William McDonough on ‘Cradle to Cradle’ design.

P.S. II, the sequel:  Came across this short article today: “Perspectives on Sustainable Design – Sustainability is More Than a Scorecard“, by Dan Heinfeld FAIA, LEED AP