Reflections of a Treehugger: talking green building with Lloyd Alter

Zero Ambitions Podcast

For almost two decades transatlantic commentator Lloyd Alter has been the rarest of creatures: a popular writer of insightful articles about green building, mainly via the pioneering green living website Treehugger.com.

The day before our interview, Lloyd and the rest of the editorial team at Treehugger were told to clear their desks, due to a change in business model that focused more on search engine algorithms, and less on the kind of nuanced, considered pieces that have made Lloyd so renowned.

We caught up with Lloyd to reflect on his time at Treehugger. We set out to talk about the state of reporting and publishing in the green building sector but the discussion ended up covering a lot of other ground, ranging from perhaps the most boneheaded culture war of all – the gas cooker variety - to the shortsighted lack of design consideration for aging populations.

Roaming cross-cultural perspectives on the built environment, sufficiency, consumption, change, the language of green building, gas stove outrage, transport, adaptation for aging populations, and plenty more.

Notes from the episode

• Lloyd Alter on Treehugger
• Up Front Carbon, Lloyd Alter on Substack
• "Caledon homes come laden with luxury" the article about McMansions that Lloyd decries early on
• That Observer article about retrofit with our very own Sara Edmonds in it
• George Monbiot's wood-burning confessional
• Lloyd Alter on LinkedIn
• Fanchea Kelly was the lady from the CIH podcast; she's CEO Blackwood Homes and Care, a charity that deals with retrofit in terms of accessibility rather than energy efficiency
• Sanctuary magazine
• The Heat is On, Ryan Philp's Substack
• Goldsmith Street social housing

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