As soon as we entered the International World Trade Center, I was in awe. Partly because of the vastness and design of the building, but mainly because I couldn’t believe I was there, alhamdulillah. 

We started our day with breakfast: warm traditional oatmeal with a plentiful variety of fruits, berries, nuts, and honey to choose from. All the plates, cups, and cutlery were either compostable or washable. The first workshop we went to was a three hour summit entirely dedicated to biophilic design, or in other words, designing to increase connectivity between a building and the natural world.

We started off with a meditation, but I can’t describe in words how intensely the aura of the crowd changed before and after the meditation. It had an undeniable effect on people’s mood, thoughts, and creativity.

What I find interesting is the larger acceptance among people that we’re highly spiritual beings, yet at the same time, religion is an untouched, avoided topic on a societal level and especially at conferences. We were shown several examples of stunning, thoughtfully designed biophilic buildings.

For the last hour, we split into teams to come up with biophilic design ideas for an up and coming Garden Center aiming for Living Building certification. After reading about the native and natural history of the land, we were able to incorporate meaning, patterns, and key features within the building that beautifully connected to its history.

The attention to detail and thoughtful considerations made by everyone was profound, and I would further say, Prophetic.

It was amazing to see how beauty, biophilia, place, and equity were honored and emphasized to such a high level. And these themes would continue to be emphasized throughout the conference. 

Afterwards, we had lunch which consisted of plant based meat and vegetarian options representing a variety of cultures each day. It was certainly fitting for the conference, but also delicious and enjoyed by everyone. I then spent a few hours working and studying for my final exam which I would take in a few days and then headed right over to the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) affinity reception.

I met some very interesting people including some that work for ILFI and others that have their own startups. There was one man in particular that I believe has a revolutionary idea: solar powered tiny home trucks. He transforms trucks and vans into fully functioning, solar powered mobile homes.

Housing has become unaffordable in urban cities like Atlanta; yet, a lot of people simply don’t need much space and mainly need a car to get to work. But the tricky part with mobile homes is parking. In large cities, parking is hard to find and expensive. What he plans to do is partner with religious organizations and local governments to use Churches, schools, universities, and other public buildings to allow people to park their mobile homes in their parking lots for free.

The potential of this program is huge as it could provide a critical solution to homelessness in cities, domestic violence victims and single moms with no place to go, and low-income college students that would otherwise not be able to go to college because of the cost of dorms. 

The day ended with a keynote speech featuring Nina Albert, a Commissioner for the Public Buildings Service. To summarize, policy policy policy. At the end of the day, the only way we as a collective society will get to a point of drawdown (when the levels of greenhouse gasses in the Earth’s atmosphere begin to decline) is through policy. Policy is what will implement sustainable building, energy efficiency, and zero waste standards across the board and worldwide.

Once we get policy makers on the same page, everything becomes cheaper. Restrictions will be placed on environmentally harmful companies and products like fossil fuels, plastic, and styrofoam thereby raising the cost of those products. And simultaneously, environmentally sustainable companies and products will receive subsidies and government support thereby decreasing their cost and making them more accessible.

Unfortunately, it may seem like there’s plenty of advocacy efforts pushing for policy change, but in reality, it’s not nearly as much as you would expect or hope for. That’s why the changes that need to be made…haven’t been made. There’s simply not enough people, communities, organizations, or companies pushing for it. InshaAllah, RCM will ignite collaboration efforts among several faith communities in Georgia to push for this change. 

We started off our second day with soft spinach quiche along with some sweet honeydew and grapes. The first session I attended was all about materials and useful tools being developed to help identify and purchase non-toxic materials for construction.

This is especially useful since the Living Building Challenge requires that all materials used are red-list free (free from toxins harmful to the environment and human health), with a few exceptions. The next session, which featured speakers including Shan Arora (director of The Kendeda Building at Georgia Tech), was especially exciting. Here are some numbers they laid out for the audience:

In essence, while the upfront cost for a Living Building is higher than that of a conventional building, it is simply insignificant when considering the overall lifetime savings. Over 100 years, a Living Building saves approximately $328.1 million. That’s millions of dollars diverted from electricity and water bills to programming and community building.

Living Buildings are sustainable and regenerative at every level of society including environmentally, socially, and financially. On the other hand, conventional buildings exhaust natural resources, harm the environment and human health, and cost millions of dollars in maintenance costs. 

The next session was nothing short of awe-inspiring. A Living Building certified corporate headquarters in Connecticut was designed and constructed such that it would allow a natural rock outcropping, a creek, and animals to pass straight through the building…a testament beautifully illustrating the vast potential of this movement and what a certain mindset and values can achieve

This project team valued the preservation of the naturally occurring phenomena on their property. That’s what worked to enhance their creative thinking, the beauty of the building, and its biophilic design. All of which are things that would be unattainable had the project team’s mindset and values been different. As sessions continued on each day, the common themes kept emerging: beauty, biophilia, place, equity, and policy. Thoughtfulness and meaning were driving many of the projects we saw.

I conclude with a final reflection about the Prophet Muhammad pbuh. He lived his life in such a way that he didn’t produce waste or cause any unjustified harm to any being. He was beautiful, loving, caring, gentle, and thoughtful. He was a Living Human the same way Kendeda is a Living Building. He was regenerative in the way that he brought timeless, holistic, complete, net positive benefits and solutions for humanity. He is our example.