We are limiting ourselves to not believe that we can incorporate natural and ecological design principles in all that we do. We already know that we can work with nature to design buildings that are heated by the sun, and treat water with plants and natural cycles, why aren’t we doing it? 

I got into green building because I felt like we could mimic the natural cycles to build better buildings, and maybe over time being more exposed to ecological principles -- and having homes that were a little more connected to nature world -- would help reconnect humans with the natural world and create healing. I care about the environment because I love the natural world and want to protect it but I also understand that humans can’t exist without it; if we poison the earth we poison ourselves.”

Maggie fell in love with the natural world when she was in high school. Not having grown up in a family that spent much time outdoors, she was suddenly exposed to hiking, sailing, and the beauty and healing solitude of nature during a time when she was depressed. The more she developed a relationship with the outdoors, the more it began to heal her and inspire her. She suddenly felt at home, having never realized what she was missing before. She began to realize that as humans we don’t have to be separate from nature; we can work together¹

Maggie lives on a five-acre farm outside of Asheville and hopes to one day live completely sustained by her land. Maggie and her husband try their hardest to farm their land and even raise chickens for eggs. The passion that Maggie holds for sustainability comes from her love of nature and her desire to preserve the earth for her children. During college summers Maggie lived on a Native American reservation. From this experience, she learned many life skills and how to honor the earth’s resources by living and working with the Native Americans. These precious experiences with the Navajo grandmothers impacted her vision of how life could be if we honored the earth and respected its natural resources instead of polluting them².   

Maggie points out that housing and buildings are the biggest users of fossil fuels and “all of our homes could be built green" but that we have just not made it a priority. “We are only limited by our own thinking, we have so many opportunities for advancement.”

She has been working with the Western North Carolina Green Building Council (GBC) since 2003The GBC’s primary goal is to educate the community on how to use renewable energy in their homes and how to build a home that is energy efficient.³ Maggie works with her local government to incentivize green building in her community, as well as homeowners and home builders. This program consists of two components. The first is a permit rebate by the city of Asheville of $200. The second is a rebate from Duke Progress Energy of anywhere from $400 to $4000 depending on the energy efficiency of the home. The home is evaluated by a computer model to determine its efficiency rating. The permit, the rebate, and the energy efficiency and inspection are the three components of green building.

Maggie Leslie is a dedicated individual. She has spent the last twenty years creating sustainable opportunities in her community and state. She helps to educate the builder, who then educates the consumer.  Then the local government and utility company create incentives for a better building. The GBC provides a free hotline to homeowners for any questions they may have about making their home a “green built home.”  Maggie says “that they are building better buildings that are built to last.” The hotline questions that are frequently asked by homeowners are about the tax credits and incentives that are available for building green and using renewable energy and how to find a healthy rental home⁴. Some other common questions: How do I find a green builder? What do you do when you need to replace your HAVC system? What is the healthiest and greenest insulation product and where can I find local and sustainable wood? Who installs permeable pavement? Is my house suitable for solar? How can I build a tiny house, and what are the codes for building using natural materials?

Maggie passionately talks about sustainability and renewable energy and states that we have the technology and the ability to build homes that do not use as much fossil fuels. She gives credence to the fact that we need green building as a society to cut energy costs and our dependence on fossil fuels.The most important aspect of Maggie’s job, she says, is how she conveys that green building overall will have great societal impacts, such as reduced waste, reduced material consumption, and cutting energy costs⁵

She describes these impacts as helping people reconnect with nature. Green building as she describes it can also include more urban green spaces, edible gardens, native plants, and building homes close to goods and services. Her advice to anyone interested in sustainability or green building is to volunteer in local organizations and do internships to see what their strengths are. Primarily, she said, we need scientists and engineers. However, we need all job descriptions to get sustainability off the ground and functioning. Maggie Leslie’s most important thought on sustainability and renewable energy is that if we would have only put more energy into promoting and studying new forms of renewable energy, instead of fracking and coal, we would be so much more sustainable than we are.