Sip Coffee Inc

Truly was only there about a dog that needed help. Animals are the exceptional reason to open oneself up to the folks shouting about missing middle and bike lanes

Two corrugated black plastic signs with white text on metal stands sit outside a slotted wood fence in a small strip of grass next to a sliver of sidewalk. Both signs have QR codes. The text reads "We support bikes... we also support not sitting in traffic" and "Parking removed... data pending", respectively.

This was posted on Nextdoor w/ the reply "they're so close to getting it". How long will we stay in the do loop explaining that just as induced demand means more lanes/drivers, a vanishing demand also exists, climate benefits of less driving & quality of life improvement from accessible safe routes

One day we will look back at the anti-envt & anti-human quality of life regs of today w/ extreme embarassment. Our cities that stymied private investment toward reduced stormwater, urban heat island, noise + more insulation, distributed energy & longer roof life while repeating empty talking points

Yikes is right

Modern car ✔️
Non-street facing antenna of 2' ✔️
Non-street facing security light ✔️

The roof guide makes total sense:

-use light colors on flat roofs to ⬇️ air conditioning & ⬇️ urban heat island
-encourage envt sustainable practices, incl living roofs in min visible locations

Transported

This hurts. While building & bricks saved for reuse is best, barring that demo brick can be used for rammed earth walls & in earth block construction

Saint Louis rammed earth wall from demo brick
www.instagram.com/p/DG4MrzKvIWU/

Brick demo waste earth block additive
www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/15...

See also: your solar panels and living roof cannot be visible from the public right of way b/c the historic fabric will be torn!

But they did spend almost 2m to open a climate office for the climate emergency

People will throw stones, so build w/ them.

Folks in industry scoffed at our plan to use ♻️ stone for concrete yet we made an awesomely strong version w/o new material -- a monument to greener building & one that will beckon others to consider what they can build w/ the stones people throw at them

Early EV lease was silly expensive (2012/13). At the end, switched to walk, bike + #carshare & saved $250+/ month. People should have all those options + high quality transit & we should find a way to get car share back -- who's game for a co-op?

I don't want to do a whole long rant on this, so I'll just say: the reason fossil fuels & other aligned incumbents don't want to transition to clean energy is that it will *damage their material interests*. And folks, they understand their own material interests. Really well!

Nicwly done! Love how the vibrant color, pattern and different species move your eye around

This. Diverse audiences (incl higher ed/tech school gen) willing & ready to transform industry given room. More diversity would lead to ⬆️ creativity to address wicked problems like climate change through construction materials & methods shifts b/c assumptions & culture aren't so entrenched

A turquoise-colored contractor pick up truck with company branding has a bed loaded up with buckets of tan-colored river rocks excavated from the site.

The best contractor meetings are the serendipitous ones where you find out they 💚 reuse as much as you do & offer to take 12 buckets of rocks off your hands. Happy to support the rare 🏳️‍🌈 construction business w/ a love of old buildings & fiendish devotion to #salvage window #reuse

Gashes and holes caused by the toothed bucket on the skid steer and mini excavator along an interior shared cinderblock wall.

Do we need #bollards inside buildings now too? #bollardsforconstruction #bollardssavewalls

Do car-free zones hurt disabled people? We asked experts. City planners and advocates are seeing "accessibility used as a political football."

“…disabled people are actually less likely to drive than nondisabled people and more likely to get around by walking and rolling and taking transit. Car-heavy cities are also disproportionately dangerous for disabled folks…”— @nondriver.bsky.social

Don’t use accessibility “as a political football.”

It's also incredibly gross to use other people's disabilities to ensure your preferred modes of travel and development patterns remain status quo. Advocating vs co-opting

Another reason we need high quality transit with excellent headways & more dense housing. Livabilty means she should have the choice to take a tram or live closer in so a car (EV or not) isn't necessary day-to-day

That perspective: a world full of treasure awaiting discovery. A 🌎 full of treasure is also unequivocally a world worth protecting. From the historical glasdware finds at the trash dump to the smallest amphibian species. So much to discover, cherish & enjoy

The end of that being devastating, what a model to others. There's much value both physical & intrinsic / knowledge gained from exploring & valuing our past.

The newest find on site: an antique ink well. It will be preserved w/ the other glass & ultimately displayed in the future space

Every mayor, city councilor or county board could make solar easy & fast for a #distrubtedenergy #solar boom. Local is key scale for small renewable.

Related from the #SustanableDevelopmentCode (b/c holism) ⬆️ infill, small lot & transit oriented dev, quality transit incl active, parking maximums

Locally available natural material (stone, clay, wood, straw) + knowledge of passive heating, cooling & ventilation + a high level of craft.

Building here for decades of o&m vs there for centuries of quality & healthfulness

Slightly more than a dozen crocuses are shown. The crocuses have a mix of lighter and darker colored purple petals. The stamen and pistil are deli mustard yellow-colored. The crocuses have emerged from a dense layer of brown leaf litter. Most of the leaves are not yet decomposed, with their individual characteristics including tree type stll identifiable. A pale grey stick and pods from another tree are mixed in with the leaves. Blades of grass appear next to the crocuses.

Crocuses are a harbinger for #spring. They've emerged through the fall's #leaflitter*. Happy #SundaySpringDay

*Leaf litter is an important habitat for pollinators & even mammals, it regulates moisture in soil, reduces erosion & benefits soil health

This is a key point. While sourcing ♻️ rock to replace virgin, there was a biz that said it ♻️ stone. It takes rock rejected by the quarry (~90%). It takes a lot of raw material, ecological disruption (the enormous diesel equipment), transport emissions to get an order -- all before the waste on site

People ask us about that tradeoff as if this project can go on forever b/c it's a pet project. Every day that a small business isn't open is a challenge. Yet we are building w/ the same ethos as the normal biz, prioritizing ecosystems & human health. Those values take more time in this environment

In construction every day the choice to prioritize #deconstruction over demolition; #reuse & salvage over new high embodied energy; the logistics & navigating networks to design & source lower emissions concrete, reclaimed lumber & salvage windows; giving away or ♻️ for 0 waste site = more time

As you highlight, native plants are a biodiversity benefit. It's nearly the time of year here for the annual native plants sales from local orgs. A time to plant for native bees, birds, bats & the other pollinators who frequent our gardens & which thrive in our climate w/o intensive maintenance

Understand 2nd and 3rd order effects. Understanding that buildings lock in time, embodied emissions. If we keep building more of the same today, we limit our ability to get what we need tomorrow. This is true from roads to housing. Every built system has a lifecycle.

More bollard. Maybe SNL will make a sketch

Seriously. Today a large SUV w/ a solo driver hit a FedEx truck. One of those was definitely doing commerce & logistics. What is the point of having a large vehicle for non-commercial or industrial applications in an urban area?

In building it's critical to document & apply lessons learned. From our 1st to 2nd pour, we added less than a gallon of retarder to require less overall water & a vibrator to ensure less potential for pockets where there wasn't concrete around the rebar. Planning for the 3rd pour starts tomorrow