I believe that among the high core principles we find in green building is respect - respecting clients for their goals, respecting the site, respecting the building employees and patrons and respecting our current and future resources. It is also about appreciation - appreciating the green movement, appreciating information and knowledge available and appreciating the innate wisdom that fuels it all.

Green design asks us to make many incremental choices along the way and gives us the freedom to make them. Choices start with how high, i.e. how green to raise the bar. Each project has its own sense of that bar. Each in its own way contributes to the progress of sustainable design. You would first think that economics would be a major motivator but we have not necessarily seen that to be the major influence. It consistently goes deeper than that to a sense of connectedness - becoming a part of a community both in a literal sense and a broader one - the community of responsibility - responsibility to those who have come before and to those who will follow - a connectedness that we all share.

The following introduction was given by a Comanche chief, Ten Bears at the Peace Council of 1867:

"My heart is filled with joy when I see you here, as the brooks fill with water when the snow melts in the spring; and I feel glad as the ponies do when the fresh grass starts in the beginning of the year..."

This ode to the natural order of beauty and life resonates today as strong as when it was spoken. If this continues to resonate 100 years from now we will have honored our promise.

Ed Linville, AIA