When the idea for The Apeiron Institute for Environmental Living was first conceived in 1994, it was going to be based on Earthship, a passive solar home that uses little or no outside energy. But soon the idea and the institute evolved.
“We could’ve done one very particular technology, but we wanted to show off many technologies,” said Bradley Grove Hyson, Apeiron’s executive director. “So instead of using one heating system, we used four. And instead of one flooring system, we’ve used four or five.”
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The institute’s goals also began changing by the late 1990s, leading to the leadership role it now takes in advocating for “sustainable” living.
“What started the institute was the idea of building this building to demonstrate green technologies,” Hyson said. “We knew that we would also do education, but our mission evolved. Our niche went from environmental building to being an advocate” for a number of ideas.
“Looking at the growth of the green building movement,” said Hyson, “the growth of organic and holistic foods, and even cradle-to-cradle economic development [a form of sustainable development] – all of these industries seem to be exploding, so we have no shortage of work. We’re looking to try to find those leverage points where we could have the biggest impact.”
He said the institute believes one of those points is getting people to think about sustainability in their own lives.
To do this, the Apeiron Institute now offers everything from tours of its Center for Environmental Living in Coventry, to introduce people to its green technology, to environmental consulting, to after-school programs, to sustainable study sessions for adults.
“For us, it’s always about bringing it back to people’s lives,” Hyson said. “The key is people, because all of us are collectively responsible. Sustainability isn’t just about salt marshes; it’s about your life and the choices you make – whether it’s the size of the buildings that you build or the type of car you drive.”
But the institute is also involved in more direct advocacy campaigns. Its biggest successes in that area have been aiding the growth of the green building movement in the state, including helping green building legislation get passed in 2001. The legislation stated that all future state buildings must be built in a more efficient and sustainable manner.
Currently, the institute is working on a new project intended to show what a sustainable Rhode Island would look like.
The institute received a grant from the Rhode Island Foundation to create a “strategic vision” document. According to Hyson, once released, the first draft of the document will become a work in progress that will draw in ideas from “as many people as possible.”
“It’s not meant to be set in stone,” he said. “People focus on their differences, but often our similarities outweigh our differences. Part of what this document is trying to find is: Where do we agree?”
This process of inclusion goes directly to the institute’s, and Hyson’s, goal of making the idea of sustainability something everyone feels they have a stake in.
“The single thing the institute has been most successful at is catalyzing a formal and informal sustainability movement,” he said. “The heart of what we’re trying to do is making a cultural change.”
If that happens, Hyson believes, the institute would no longer be necessary. And that is something he looks forward to.
“Any nonprofit should have a view of what the world would look like, such that they’re no longer needed,” he said. “So my hope is that eventually, if you’re a builder or an architect, of course you’re going to build a green building.”
