“Conservation” is a term most often associated with saving species, forests, reefs, old media and art, and old buildings. However this amazing term applies to economics, fuel sourced energy, and many other resources. As we discuss “high performance” as a response to sustainability and resilience we need to rediscover the essential role conservation plays in our future. Currently many publicized “sustainable” projects tend to cost a great deal more to design, to build, and to operate than baseline buildings of our day. This is unfortunate for everyone because sustainability is founded on conservation of our resources meaning fuel based energy, materials, and capital. The Brundtland Commission definition of sustainability, “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”, describes conservation in all but name. Our work as architects should be founded on the ideals of conservation to meet any reasonable measure of sustainability. If our designs do not save land, fuel based energy, embodied energy, and embodied capital we are not preparing for the future. Architects are by our very nature futurists, everything we do is about the future and most of our decisions will outlive us all. As a class, we owe it to those we serve and care for to take our role seriously as the ability to overcome what faces our civilization will be directly proportional to the seeds we sow today. Happily conservation as a concept is embraced by people of most political persuasions so the wind is in our sails whether we know it or not.