User talk:Sherb1/sandbox

Green development is a real estate development concept that carefully considers social and environmental impacts of development. However, it requires a multi-faceted definition because it can manifest itself through various different ways. For example, some projects may show more discernable signs of green development than others, (solar panels are more visibly “green” than the use of local materials). Nevertheless, green development is based on solution multipliers: features of a project that provide additional benefits, which ultimately reduce the projects’ environmental impacts. More specifically, green development can be defined by three sub-categories: environmental responsiveness, resource efficiency, and community and cultural sensitivity. Environmental responsiveness simply respects the intrinsic value of nature, and minimizes damage to an ecosystem. Environmental efficiency refers to the use of fewer resources to conserve energy and the environment. Community and cultural sensitivity is the component that deviates from concrete environmental elements. It recognizes the unique cultural values that each community hosts, and carefully considers them in real estate development.

The above green development concepts have been derived from the all-inclusive tome released by The Rocky Mountain Institute, entitled Green Development: Integrating Ecology and Real Estate.

History
Green development emerged as a result of the environmental movement in the 1970’s. Green development in real estate however, had its infancy in 1897 with a report from the World Commission on Environment and Development, entitled Our Common Future. The report includes 16 principles of environmental management, designed to foster green development. It also discusses the traditional model of macroeconomic growth, and it disregard for environmental consequences. From this initial movement, the future experienced a back-and-forth relationship with green methodologies; environmental issues often came second behind purely economic factors. Incessant environmental concern and legislation, including in real estate development began to emerge, i.e. Green development.