The Greening of
Southie (2008/A&E
DVD)
Picture: B-
Sound: B- Extras: C Documentary: B+
The “green” movement championing environmentalism has now reached into
traditionally wasteful industries like construction. Of course, construction in and of itself
confers immense benefits on communities by employing thousands of workers and
often improving neighborhoods and cityscapes with new and exciting
projects. However, until recently, a lot
of waste and environmental damage moved in the wake of most large construction
projects. Several years ago the U.S.
Green Building Council created the LEED certification program. According to the USGBC, “LEED, or Leadership
in Energy and Environmental Design, is an internationally-recognized green
building certification system. Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council
(USGBC) in March 2000, LEED provides building owners and operators with a
framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green
building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions.”
The Greening of Southie tracks the design, development, and
construction of a building striving for LEED Gold status. Gold status marks the highest level of LEED
certification, and consequently remains the most difficult level to
attain. Filmmakers Ian Cheney and Curt
Ellis introduce viewers to the varied cast of real-life characters behind the
ambitious project to create the Macallen Building and locate in the heart of
working class South Boston, or Southie as the traditionally Irish Catholic
neighborhood is known to its roughneck denizens.
But the formerly blue collar Southie stands in the midst of
significant changes, as massive gentrification projects and new wealthier
residents have begun to move in. At the
epicenter of these changes sits the Macallen Building. The Greening of Southie’s examination
of the transition from traditional construction to this new form of green
building does not seek to hide the challenges and problems faced by the men and
women behind the project. A lot of the
stuff that goes into LEED certification makes tremendous sense, but the
implementation can sometimes be fraught with unforeseen issues. The ultimate goal of LEED Gold status is to
create a building that wastes as little materials and energy as possible in its
construction and lifetime operation.
However, at one point, the non-toxic adhesives used to secure the bamboo
flooring fails to properly acclimatize in the cold Boston winter, and the floor
boards have to be torn up, with many of them having to be replaced. This wastes time, energy, and materials.
Another interesting juxtaposition in the film occurs when Cheney and
Ellis examine the lives of the workers on the project. All blue collar and hard working, several of
these men express some sadness at the fact that they’ll never be able to afford
to live in a place like the Macallen Building.
This highlights one of the short-term challenges of green building--it’s
expensive. Will green building always be
only for the rich? When will economies
of scale kick in and force green projects into middle and lower income
neighborhoods? These questions remain
unanswered in the film, but credit should go to Cheney and Ellis for at least
asking them.
In the end the Macallen Building earns its high LEED certification,
and viewers enjoy a behind the scenes look into what it takes to produce green
buildings. In the more than two years
since the building in Southie has gone up, it’s likely that some of the
challenges faced there have been surmounted in other green projects. The question remains: can the LEED
certification program and green buildings take hold fast enough to make a real
difference? We’ll need a lot more
Macallen buildings before we can know for sure.
- Scott Pyle
