Save a building, fight climate change

This column is an opinion by Hamilton-based writer Sarah Sheehan. For more information about CBC’s Opinion section, please see the FAQ.

Reduce, reuse, recycle: adaptive reuse fits the sustainability mantra of the “three Rs,” but all too often we overlook the green side of architectural conservation. 

Whether it’s a Gothic Revival church, a modernist Centennial project, or a contemporary design in glass and steel, a completed structure has a huge carbon footprint. Demolishing an existing building, throwing it away in a landfill, is a staggering act of conspicuous consumption. And yet this destructive, extractive approach to Canada’s built heritage has been normalized over generations. 

Reusing