[Photo: Courtesy of The Epsten Group]
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“Being an environmentalist could be depressing, and we need to remind ourselves that we need to keep our eyes clearly focused on good goals and uplifting actions!”
A LEED Fellow and founding member of the USGBC Atlanta chapter, the German-born Epsten has received multiple building design and achievement awards. Her firm is responsible for a broad variety of projects on several continents and speaks at conferences from Oslo to Tokyo, Melbourne, and Riyadh. She thoughtfully shares ideas on sustainability leadership:
“It takes courage to lead an organization. I have become less reactive and more strategic over the years, using a strategic plan and creating regular time for long-range planning. I try to avoid looking at daily issues in an isolated way, and rather see them as symptoms of what may be needed in the long run. I have become fairly fearless over time in leading my organization and related initiatives.”
“It helps being an optimist. When I hear a discouraging statement, sometimes I just say, ‘I am an optimist.’ And then I try to find something to say that gives the person something to work for and to look forward to. That seems to help people some. Being an environmentalist could be depressing, and we need to remind ourselves that we need to keep our eyes clearly focused on good goals and uplifting actions!”
“There is beauty all around us. I found that yoga helps me to stay focused and calm and carry me through a busy week. If I can’t stay calm, it is hard to be an effective leader. The other thing that helps is to just appreciate beauty whenever we can catch a glimpse of it—a flower in my front yard on the way to work, the sky when I turn around before I go back into the house, and the vegetables that we pick in our backyard garden for a meal.”
“Carry out an ant to the backyard. Making buildings tight to the outside, including using operable windows with screens, allows insects to stay outside where they belong and keeps them in the ecosystem. I also like to design buildings so that birds don’t hit them (there are many resources out there for bird-friendly design, and let’s please keep cats away from our songbirds).”
“Life on earth is amazing. I have traveled in more than 50 countries. We can learn much about addressing resources and climate by taking a more indigenous approach to buildings, and we should have an open eye toward adapting creative, simple ideas for current and future sustainable design and construction.”
