Late Monday, three luxury “built green” homes were destroyed in a Seattle subdivision, Quinn’s Crossing, about 25 miles northeast of the city. The “built green” moniker, an actual certification by a Seattle area green builder initiative, seems to have offended some due to the McMansion 4,200 and 4,750 square foot size of the model homes on Seattle Street of Dream, as well as the location and building practices.
The homes, which carried a price tag of $1.6 - $2 million, had languished on the market for several months before they were bombed Monday night, with three of the four homes burning to the ground. The bomb failed to detonate in the 4th home, providing authorities with clues as to the perpetrators. All of the houses were empty at the time and there were no related injuries.
Currently, authorities suspect eco-terrorism, in part because of a sign spray painted onto a sheet at the site that read "Built Green? Nope black! McMansions + RCDs r not green" and had the initials of the Earth Liberation Front, E.L.F., scrawled in red letters (RCD stands for rural cluster development). ELF is a loosely organized group, with no clear leadership, that has been linked to a number of acts of eco-terrorism over the last 20 years, including a 2001 arson case at the University of Washington that, ironically, was in deliberation in Tacoma on Monday.
A number of Seattle residents, blogging on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer site, however, pointed to the recession and the poor showing of the houses in terms of sales, suggesting that the responsible party may have been the developers making it look like ELF. As one person pointed out, environmentalists don’t use spray paint. Others, however, were more than ready to lay the blame for the fires on ELF, but did point out that the bank and developers end up winning anyway, because now they collect the insurance and don’t have to sell the houses.
The builders have been putting updates on their website and have continued to tout the environmental credentials of the project and their shock and dismay at the outcome. Local residents had been opposed to the Quinn’s Crossing project due to its threat to local water sources and woodlands. Environmentalists had also pointed out the energy usage for a home that size as being excessive, the destruction of beaver dams, trails and runoff from the paving of the area into salmon spawning grounds. Tensions had remained during the construction of the homes and the builders suspected vandalism last fall when the engines were destroyed on two pieces of construction equipment.
The act of arson was clearly a reprehensible, criminal act, whoever committed it. This, however, is separate from the valid criticism of referring to these luxury home projects as “green” or environmentally friendly. Builders capitalizing on the eco-chic trend often say that the buyers want luxury homes of these sizes, and better to build them with some environmental consciousness. And certainly home buyers bear the brunt of the responsibility in terms of choosing smaller, less impacting homes with conservation features. However, builders also are responsible for what they build and for setting real, transparent standards as to environmental credentials. Planting drought resistant landscaping does not a green project make. Especially in rainy Seattle.
Fellow Celsias writer and green building expert, Andrew Hunt, has more to say on the greenwashing of the building trade.
Hat Tip: Treehugger
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