I apologize for the length, scroll away if this isn't an issue of interest.

'Rain forest' can improve world
S. Richard Fedrizzi

To sustain means to continue, carry on, keep up, prolong and nourish. It is with these words in mind that I visualize the Iowa Environmental/Education Project planned in Coralville.

Visualize? I get it: “You’re getting sleepy, very sleepy…focus your mind and energy on the pretty lights.

Sustainability is not just a matter of conscious choice. It doesn't occur naturally in the environment; we have to work at it. And the first step in any worthwhile endeavor is education.

Sustainability doesn’t occur naturally in the environment? That rather depends on how one defines sustainability, doesn’t it? A rainforest doesn’t occur naturally in the Coralville environment, and couldn’t “sustain” there. A prairie, sure. A wetland, well, much of the spring. . . but no amount of education is going to put a rainforest in Coralville. Just some heavy construction equipment and a lot of cold, hard cash.

Simply put, making the choice now to support sustainable design, which is a premise behind the Iowa project, provides a global model for determining how future generations will act and what resources will be available for them.

'Simply put,' the author is asserting that 1) “Sustainable design” is one of the premises behind the rainforest, 2) Erecting the rainforest will support this concept, 3) Supporting this concept by erecting the rainforest will provide a global model, 4) Obtaining this global model by supporting this concept by erecting the rainforest will determine both what resources are available for future generations, and how these future generations will act.

Issue #1 – “Sustainable design is a premise behind erecting the rainforest. According to the National Park Service Website "sustainable design" is a concept that recognizes that 'human civilization is an integral part of the natural world and that nature must be preserved and perpetuated if the human community itself is to survive.' According to Mr. Fedrizzi, then, one of the premises behind erecting the rainforest is the concept that nature must be preserved and perpetuated. I would agree, if we were talking about saving a real-life rainforest in South America. But we’re talking here about erecting a very expensive, very artificial building to host a fake rainforest in Iowa. It could serve the purpose of educating people about conservation. Of course, the Discovery Channel does that pretty nicely already.

Issue #2 – Erecting the rainforest will support this concept of sustainable design. Again, how exactly would erecting a big building with lots of heavy construction equipment benefit the environment?

Issue #3 – Supporting this concept of sustainable design by erecting the rainforest will provide a global model. And what do you mean a “global” model? If you mean it is comprehensive or a definitive model, I’d have to disagree. Better conservation via additional construction of buildings to hold artificial replicas of nature. Is that the definitive model of conservation? If instead you mean “world wide” you’ve obviously vastly overestimated even the most optimistic projections of visitor turnout.

Issue #4 - Obtaining this global model by supporting this concept by erecting the rainforest will determine both what resources are available for future generations, and how these future generations will act. Can we say overreaching?

And this is our legacy -- not what we leave behind but what we create and how we create it. No other cause, I believe, is greater, more vital or more rewarding.

. . . Not what we leave behind, but what we create and how we create it? What kind of nonsense is that? You can create all you want, but if you don’t leave it for the future it means nothing more than empty space to the next generation.

Thanks to the Internet, cable television, the rise in popularity of programming related to flora and fauna, and the efforts of many over the past three decades, our children today have a much greater sense of the environment and preservation of natural resources, as well as how we as adults impact the availability of these precious resources.

So why do we need a $180 million dollar building with a fake rainforest?

Baby boomers such as myself grew up in an age of endless consumption, only to be shocked by the energy and pollution crises of the 1970s.

Is this is your cosmic apology for having thrown trash out the car window when you were in the third grade?

Our activism, efforts and the results achieved during the past 25-30 years have led us down some very positive paths - "green" buildings, the formation of the U.S. Green Building Council and sister organizations around the world, the development of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system and many other fine examples of sustainable development. In particular, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System - a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings - was created to define "green building" by establishing a common standard of measurement to promote integrated, whole-building design practices, to recognize environmental leadership in the building industry, to stimulate green competition, to raise consumer awareness of green building benefits and transform the building market.

I’m sure you’ve built some very nice buildings. Some of them may have even had a useful purpose. But that still has nothing to do with the fake rainforest in Coralville, Iowa.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design provides a complete framework for assessing building performance and meeting sustainability goals. Based on well-founded scientific standards, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design emphasizes state of the art strategies for sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.

Okay, I get that you’ve built environmentally aware buildings. Again, I’m sure some of them were very pretty, and some were very useful. It still has nothing to do with a fake rainforest in Coralville, Iowa.

In the last 10 years I've been part of a highly successful effort to influence some of the best minds in building development - architecture, engineering, site planning, construction, manufacturing and product development - to embrace sound environmental and sustainable building principles.

Repetition? What repetition?

The Iowa Environmental/Education Project is a tremendous opportunity for some of these minds to collectively influence all those who will come after them in a living, breathing example of "saying what we do, and doing what we say."

Yes, it will be a living, breathing example for all those future architects and builders. Translation: teach future environmentalist architects to get the money to build pretty, useful, environmentally-friendly buildings by scamming a bunch of Iowans out of $180 million dollars to look at a fake rainforest.

Whether you look into the eyes of a 2-year-old or a 22-year-old, you see limitless potential, boundless energy and enthusiasm, a zest for living and an insatiable thirst to learn more, do more, and achieve more. Imagine the mind of a child engaged as they experience scientific technology, such as 3-D molecular imaging that can show the aspects of every creature and ecosystem like they've never seen before.

I can picture that. I believe we’ll even be able to DO that, if not now, then in the near future. But it will be done remotely via computer, with or without a $180 million fake rainforest in Coralville, Iowa.

Just imagine the possibilities created and the long-term impact on our children as they gain insight and understanding about alternative and renewable sources of energy, such as fuel cells, solar, wind and geothermal, that will influence our energy consumption and dependence on foreign oil in years to come.

Again – discovery channel, anyone? How about science class in school? Or even going online and chatting real-time with kids who live in or near a real-life rainforest?

It is more than just a curious metaphor that the proposed energy infrastructure will be transparent and hence a visible part of the exhibit rather than being relegated to a room unseen. The ancient Chinese proverb reminds us that "I hear, and I forget; I see and I remember; I do, and I understand."

Oh yes. We see. We remember. We understand that the idea of a fake rainforest in Coralville is appealing but ultimately foolish concept.