Fletcher Farr Ayotte is committed to the development of projects which minimize their impact on the natural environment. As part of that effort, we stay up to speed with the most effective strategies and technologies to produce more sustainable designs. And we work with developers to balance these opportunities with the myriad other factors that direct a building project. This section gives an overview of some of these ideas.

Most simply, the idea of sustainability is to ensure that our actions and decisions today do not inhibit the opportunities of future generations. It means making sure that our efforts work with the Earth's ecological systems rather than in opposition to them. Given that all human actions alter the systems we live in, the challenge of sustainability is a complex issue. It includes looking at how we attain the resources we use, using them in a way to get the most from them, and eliminating the idea of 'waste' from our vocabulary. There is no way to know with certainty how complex ecological systems will react to our influence, but there is an undeniable responsibility to act with the best of our knowledge.

Some of the most important ecological issues impacted by the building process are:

• Global Climate Change - the result of increased pollution in the upper atmosphere;
• Energy: Declining sources of non-renewable fuels - and increased damage from their extraction.
• Habitat Destruction & Loss of Bio-Diversity - conversion of wildlands to human developments combined with resource extraction;
• Toxic Pollution - the over-reliance on synthetic chemicals - as an industrial by-product and to manage developed landscapes - has many consequences that have complex interactions once released.

Although public attention comes and goes, the impacts of human development on other natural systems continue to grow and compound themselves. Since many of the best ideas of sustainable design also help reduce waste and costs to building owners and managers, many of these ideas are here to stay.

While some designers and authors have picked up the term 'green building' to describe what they do (and it is a useful concept), it is important to realize that the real goal is greener buildings. Since every building project requires significant change to ecological systems and uses energy and resources, a perfectly green building is not truly possible. Instead, every building project presents the opportunity (some would argue, the responsibility) to improve its environmental performance, within the inevitable constraints of budget and building codes. As designers, we welcome this challenge.