Last week Buildings & Grounds reported that Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake, partners in the well-known architectural firm KieranTimberlake, would take a joint visiting professorship at the University of Washington, teaching sustainability. We pointed out that this was a bit problematic, given that Mr. Kieran and Mr. Timberlake are based in Philadelphia and would have burn a lot of fuel to get to Seattle every week to teach. At the time, the university and the firm pointed to each other for a solution to the problem.

Late last week, Carin Whitney, KieranTimberlake’s spokeswoman, replied to the article in a letter. She opened with a statement about the firm’s position on sustainability, the “buy local” ethic, and the global market:

“We take the question you raise about the environmental impact of the commute seriously. This is one of the unfortunate realities of participating in the global marketplace. We firmly believe that architects have the obligation to take responsibility for the impact that our buildings have on the earth, and by extension, to reduce the embedded energy of the design process and all activities related to our work. In many of our projects, sustainable measures include using locally harvested materials and labor. The ultimate consequence, however, of full adherence to the ‘buy local’ position would be the end of globalization and the inability of individuals and organizations to seek the best fit for their needs regardless of location….”

Let’s stop there for a moment. Moving people and goods around the world, and generating lots of pollution and carbon emissions in the process, is indeed one of the “unfortunate realities” of business-as-usual today. However, the last sentence of that paragraph is at odds with conventional thinking in sustainability. Full adherence to buying local would indeed mean an end to globalization and, in the minds of some who support sustainability, the beginning of a society that values and strengthens local communities and local economies.

This idea is at the heart of Michael Pollan’s writing about food and Wendell Berry’s writing about the rural economy. It’s the underlying theme of Wes Jackson’s Becoming Native to This Place, in which he writes: “Although we have told one another on bumper stickers and at environmental conferences that we must ‘think globally and act locally,’ we tend to drift toward mega-solutions. Rather than get busy, we introduce new terms such as ‘sustainable’ to apply to any perceived solution that catches our fancy. Instead of looking to community, we look to public policy. We hold a global conference in Rio.”

James Howard Kunstler, who is known for dire predictions about the looming energy crisis, has said that our unsustainable energy sources will, in fact, lead to a collapse of globalization. We won’t be able to afford to ship toaster ovens, lumber, and well-known architects across the country to get “the best fit” for our needs. He says we’ll have to make do, or start making good fits, with the resources we find around us.

We digress. Ms. Whitney, of KieranTimberlake, then went on to discuss how the partners would limit the environmental impact of their work at the University of Washington:

“To measure the environmental impact of the work and teaching opportunities we pursue abroad, we have undertaken a study of the carbon footprint of our office, including commuting. It is clear that airline travel is a significant contributor to the overall office footprint, and we are faced with a decision about how to offset what we cannot mitigate through conservation. The study will bring into focus strategies for sequestering our carbon footprint, and help us make strides in both conservation and mitigation.

“To mitigate the travel required to teach at the University of Washington, we have planned an innovative teaching model that collapses the number of individual trips into longer trips, during which we will engage the students in near total immersion for two days. In addition, we have been able combine our teaching trips with visits to see clients on the West Coast. We regularly use video conferencing in our office with our clients and affiliated firms around the nation, and we will use it for teaching purposes as well. We are optimistic that this crossdisciplinary, collaborative design studio can only have positive repercussions as the search for alternative sources of energy continues.”

—Scott Carlson