Environmentally Correct

The highlight of our week was a trip to Annapolis, MD. The purpose of the trip was a visit to the Philip Merrill Environmental Center, a "green" building housing the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Except it's actually better than green - it's the only LEEDS "platinum" building in the U.S. - the epitomy of an environmentally friendly building. The LEEDS (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) designations are green, silver, gold, and platinum. My understanding is that there are only seven buildings throughout the world that have been given the platinum rating. This building was constructed five years ago using recycled materials, with windows galore, solar and geothermal heating, a rainwater cachment system, and COMPOSTING TOILETS! Of course, I had to check those out. There's no flushing, no water. It's rather like an outhouse privy. A sign on the stall door says not to put anything into the toilet that you haven't eaten, except for toilet paper. Hmmmm. It was actually quite refreshing, the breeze flowing up from far below to caress one's bare nether end. After using the facilities, a handful of wood chips from a nearby pail is tossed into the hole and the composting continues. Amazingly enough, there's NO odor. How do they do that?

My opinion is that the building is definitely function over form - it does what it is intended to do, and does it extremely well, but asthetics and architectural appeal are lacking, at least for me. That being said, I was extremely impressed with the efforts that have been made to be environmentally friendly. We could all learn much from this example of less is more. We definitely need to reevaluate our consumption of natural resources in this country, this world. We can do so much better, as they have demonstrated in this exemplary building.



The Center sits on a beautiful site on the Chesapeake Bay:



A great experience, and an inspiration to go home and recycle some cans.