The Greening of Southie
Independent Film Festival of Boston
Saturday, April 26, 1pm, Somerville Theatre
Sunday, April 27, 11:30am, Coolidge Corner

What goes into creating a building that’s 30% more energy efficient than most? Bamboo from China, concrete from Waltham, steel from Augusta, wood from Bolivia, tiles from Italy, and sweat from right here in Boston. The Greening of Southie, though it may seem to refer to the change in clothing color on St. Patrick's Day, is actually a documentary exploring the construction process for the Macallen Building, the relatively recent, environmentally conscious, and astronomically expensive addition to South Boston. The documentary examines the construction process in detail, describing how the building earned enough “points” for a gold LEED rating, and getting the opinions of various workers on the environmental aspects of the project.

Early on in The Greening of Southie, a group of construction workers sits around a table learning more about the “green” building they’ll be working on. One worker asks the representative from the consulting firm in charge of the project what the purpose of the LEED rating is. The businessman, taken aback, has to say that he doesn’t know. It’s just a goal that’s been set for the project, so it needs to get done. This moment reveals that Macallen’s greenness is at least as much financially motivated as benevolently motivated, and this theme continues throughout the movie.

The Greening of Southie remains relatively neutral (as a documentary should), merely portraying the building process rather than passing judgment on it. Still, there are plenty of disconcerting moments. For example, the Macallen Building gets LEED points for using “local” materials when they bring in concrete from nearby Waltham, but doesn’t get docked for using other materials from far-off locations. To the contrary, the building is rewarded for using bamboo flooring from China, dual flush toilets from Australia, and wood from “managed” (as opposed to clearcut) forests in Bolivia. All of these components are environmentally friendly, but they also have an environmental cost.

One of the environmental building consultants for the project reveals that the transportation costs for the materials that go into creating a building consume more energy than the entire building does in its lifetime. Given that staggering statistic, it seems a little disingenuous to call a building “green”—and not just green, but gold-rated green—when so many of its components came from thousands of miles away.

The reactions of the workers to the question of the building’s environmentalism are mixed, yet strikingly honest. Some workers seem to regard Macallen as just another building; others are genuinely excited about having a positive impact on the environment through their work. Billy the tileworker thinks the building is just “wasted money”; his colleague Tim predicts the green building process will “eventually” become cheaper, even though it’s currently so expensive. “I don’t know what the hell they are,” says a gruff worker of the plants he sticks in holes on Macallen’s "green" roof, while the landscaper gushes about how the hardy succulents won’t need much care once they take root.

Another worker is proud to be on the Macallen project, and dreams of telling his grandchildren he worked on one of the first green buildings. He thinks that someday "every building might be a green building." While that's a noble dream, it doesn't seem to be shared by many other workers, even those making the big business decisions. The project seems ultimately as much about profit as about preventing further environmental devastation.

In addition to questions about the “greenness” of the building itself and the purpose of the construction process, The Greening of Southie subtly stokes issues of race and class. Except for two architects, all of the building’s planners and designers are white, as are the majority of the workers. The film only portrays one potential resident of the building, and he’s white. Only one union laborer in the film is black, and though he’s supportive of the building’s environmental mission, he also lays bare the heart of the environmental class conflict. “I would love to live in this environmental building that we built,” he says wistfully, but “we could never afford this.” An ironworker, after describing the swimming pool and other fancy amenities the Macallen Building will feature, similarly professes, “I feel good about doing it… [but] I’ll never see it.”

Is “green” as related to money as it is to meretricious intent? Who does the Macallen Building really benefit—the rich people who’ll live there, or the poor people who’ll benefit from fewer carbon emissions? The sales representative for the Macallen units says, “the face of green is not going to be a hippie” (or a Southie type, one presumes), and the lone Macallen resident interviewed in the film says of green living, “it can be a little upscale… that never hurts.”

While it’d be easy to dismiss this Macallen resident as a hoity toity type, it turns out he was raised in Southie with seven brothers and sisters, and chose the building in part because he wanted to come back to South Boston. Still, the distance between Macallen and the rest of Southie can’t be denied. The stereotypical insular Southie attitude, exacerbated by recent intrusions from outsiders, is enshrined perfectly in a scene from the film. A welcoming Southie citizen drinks beer on the street and chats up the documentarians. He then invites his Iraq veteran (and Purple Heart winner) buddy to say hello to the camera. The Purple Heart says, half-jokingly, “Welcome to Southie… now get the fuck out.”

A worker from the Quiet Man pub near the Macallen Building expresses similar concern about the traditional Southie establishment’s future during the film. He wonders if the Macallen residents will come into the pub, and seems skeptical that they will. His proclamation, “In with the new and out with the old,” came true when the Quiet Man was bought out by a developer earlier this year. Does this purchase, and others like it, signal progress—or just profit?

The Macallen Building is here to stay—that much seems certain. What’s not certain is the future of green building in Boston and worldwide, and the impact that such green buildings will have on the environment. While reducing our carbon footprints is a positive goal, making environmental "green" into green money seems a little circumspect, and has the added effect of making environmentalism an issue of class, not conscientiousness. The Greening of Southie is a balanced but incisive look at a complex issue that affects us all. Check it out this weekend for a reminder that we all have a certain level of responsibility to the environment.

Welcome to Southie image from Flickr user PJ Beardsley. Boston Nature Center image from Flickr user Udall Legacy Bus Tour. Macallen Building image from Boston Globe / Pappas Enterprises.