THE MAGAZINE FOR TRANSFORMATIVE PEOPLE + DESIGN

TR ANSFORMATIONAL THOUGHT

OUR CHILDREN’S CITIES: The Logic & Beauty of a Child-Centered Civilization

CHALLENGING A ‘MISSION IMPOSSIBLE’: The Hawai’i Preparatory Academy Energy Lab

TR ANSFORMATIONAL DESIGN

Disconnecting From Sewers, Reconnecting To Nature

MARGARET WHEATLEy: The Power of Community

TR ANSFORMATIONAL ACTION

TR ANSFORMATIONAL PEOPLE

issue 010L iViNG-FuTuRe.oRG

SUMMER 2011

Summer 20112

E d i t o r i n C h i E f Jason F. McLennan jason@living-future.org

E d i t o r i a l d i r E C t o r Michael D. Berrisford michael.berrisford@living-future.org

s E n i o r E d i t o r Sarah Costello sarah.costello@living-future.org

M a n a g i n g E d i t o r Joanna Gangi joanna.gangi@living-future.org

C r E at i v E d i r E C t o r Erin Gehle ering@softfirmstudios.net

C o p Y E d i t o r Katy Garlington katy.garlington@living-future.org

a d v E r t i s i n g Joanna Gangi joanna.gangi@living-future.org

C o n t r i b u t o r s Bill Wiecking, Joanna Gangi, Jason F. McLennan, Carolyn Aguilar-Dubose, Mona Lemoine, Kelley Beamer, Katie Spataro, April Knudsen, Briana Meier, Jay Kosa, Paul Werder, Jason Twill, GIna Binole

For editorial inquiries, freelance or photography submissions and advertising, contact Joanna Gangi at joanna.gangi@living-future.org.

Back issues or reprints, contact trimtab@cascadiagbc.org

suMMEr 2011, is suE 10

Trim Tab is a quarterly publication of the International Living Future Institute, a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization. Office locations: 721 NW 9th Ave Suite 195, Portland, OR 97209; 410 Occidental Ave South, Seattle, WA 98104; 1100-111 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 6A3; 643 S. Lower Road, Palmer, AK 99645.

All rights reserved. Content may not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission and is for informational purposes only.

Cover image: “Provocation”, a Living City Design Competition entry by Rollerhaus Pictureworks & Design Co.

DEPARTMENTS36

TR A NSFORM ATION A L DE SIGNBy BILL WIEkING

TR ANSFORMATIONAL DESIGN:

Challenging a ‘Mission Impossible’: The Hawai’i Preparatory Academy Energy LabBy BILL WIECkING

TR ANSFORMATIONAL PEOPLE:

Margaret Wheatley: The Power of CommunityBy jOANNA GANGI

TR ANSFORMATIONAL THOUGHT:

Our Children’s Cities: The Logic & Beauty of Child-Centered CivilizationBy jA SON F. MCLENNAN

TR ANSFORMATIONAL ACTION:

Disconnecting From Sewers, Reconnecting To NatureBy k ATIE SPATA RO

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TR A NSFORM ATION A L AC TIONBy k ATIE SPATA RO

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TR A NSFORM ATION A L PEOPLEBy jOA NN A GA NGI

TR A NSFORM ATION A L THOUGHTBy jA SON F. MCLENN A N

summer Qua r ter 2 011

contents

FEATuRES12

NuTS & BOLTSMoving upstream: Progress in the

Bioregion and Beyond!

Event Calendar

FWD: Read This!

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Living City Design Competition RecapBy GIN A BINOLE

A Change Agent’s Perspective on Green Building in MexicoBy CA ROLy N AGUIL A R-DUBOSE

What does the Nature’s Award look like?By MON A LEMOINE

Blending Affordability with SustainabilityBy k ELLE y BE A MER

A Living Aleutian HomeBy A PRIL k NUDSEN

Ambassadors Take ActionBy BRI A N A MEIER A ND jAy kOS A

Collaboration: How to Get it RightBy PAUL W ERDER

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Coming Into Our OwnBy S A R A H COS TELLO

Book Review: Ecological Intelligence: The Hidden Impacts of What We BuyBy jA SON T W ILL

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By BIL L W IECK ING

Challenging a ‘Mission Impossible’The hawaI’I PreParaTory aCadeMy energy Lab

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The words “that’s impossible” have inspired many a voyage, project and quest. Several years ago, in our first Go Green Charrette, the Living Building Chal-lenge was described in just those words – impossible to achieve – especially in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. 

For the past several years, meeting the Challenge has been our team’s goal for the Energy Lab at the Hawai’i Preparatory Acadamy (HPA). Three main tenets ruled our decisions: the Red List, Appropriate Sourcing and sustainable operations. These principles far surpassed the specifications necessary to earn LEED® 2.0 for Schools certification, which was also recently awarded to the project. 

If LEED is like competing in the Olympics, with gold, silver, bronze or “participant” recognition, then the

Living Building Challenge is like going to the moon: you either make it or you don’t. In the summer of 1969, it was hard to imagine that the United States would be the first nation to have a successful moon landing, let alone that the Russians would be second to accomplish such a feat, and the third country would be… Bermu-da! This is how outrageous our success in meeting the Living Building Challenge felt here in Waimea on the island of Hawai’i. 

I was a boy when John F. Kennedy issued his challenge to the nation in 1961 to “land a man on the moon, and return him safely to the earth”, and I watched with amazement eight years later when NASA did just that. Something changed with that challenge: our nation’s view of what was impossible changed, and with it, our sense of our own boundless capabilities. 

The Energy Lab sits atop a hill in Waimea on the island of Hawai’i.

Image © Dana eDmunDs PhotograPhy

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Kennedy’s words echoed in my challenge to HPA staff during the first design charrette: “When you come to a wall too tall to climb, throw your best hat over, for you will be motivated to follow it”. We ‘threw our hat’ over quite a tall wall by pursuing Living Building Challenge certification, and – inspired by the sense of possibility from decades ago – we made it a reality. 

Pursuing the most advanced green building rat-ing system in the world was not easy by any means. Though I attended school every day as a teacher, I felt like a student again, and as a member of a team of committed professionals I was learning the Liv-ing Building Challenge process. As visionary as the donor who enabled us to reach for something beyond our grasp, not only did we throw our hat over the wall – we followed its course.

a ‘Cathedral of the Future’Churchill once said: “We shape our buildings, after which they shape us”. The Energy Lab represents dif-ferent things to many people. To educators it is a new sort of learning space – open, collaborative and f lex-ible. To architects, it is a dynamic space that resonates with its surroundings. To engineers, it is a self-moni-toring and adaptive system that becomes more com-fortable as it is occupied.

Yet, the best evidence I see that we have succeeded with this project is that students come to the Energy Lab for a class and stay beyond the end of the session, or more importantly, they go out of their way to visit the Energy Lab without any specific purpose, as with other buildings on campus.

Ala Lindsey, a long-time practitioner of traditional Hawaiian farming, shares his knowledge about planting ‘uala (sweet potato) and kalo (taro) during the school’s International Day. Students learn about sustainability through the restoration of an ancient Hawaiian terrace adjacent to the Energy Lab.

Image © Dana eDmunDs PhotograPhy

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The photovoltaics at HPA.

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As a K-12 boarding school, we have a chance to see groups of all ages and inclinations use the building: art teachers, science classes, yoga groups, boarders looking for a quiet place to work… each group has its own sense of how this building makes them feel content or inspired. One student called the Energy Lab “the cathedral of the future”. This compliment was due less to the technology within the building and more to its sense of resonance with the ethos of sustainability.

Nothing utilized in the construction of the building is toxic in production, use or disposal. All resources are conserved through extensive monitoring, social aware-ness and ease of use. Students report that they feel dif-ferent in the Lab, as if they are enabled to do things they cannot do elsewhere. As an educator, for me this enabling of productivity defines success. Students are not only inspired by the possibilities of the Energy Lab, they own its process. Instead of badgering students to believe that a culture of conservation is important, the Energy Lab provides a platform for them to discover that conservation is everyone’s responsibility, and that actively adopting measures to protect resources en-ables each of us to feel more a part of the solution than merely a victim of unseen change.

In Hawaii tourists often stand in the surf, watching the beach. These visitors are often surprised when waves hit them from behind. At HPA, we hope to cultivate change agents in our society who not only anticipate the waves, but learn how to surf them. Sev-eral ‘waves’ in our ecological climate will confront these students: energy, water, food and culture are all common challenges in this new century. The Energy Lab demonstrates how to approach these surges and exceed expectations to achieve what is commonly thought to be impossible. This cultural change goes beyond mere conservation strategies, it empowers students to become part of the solution – one that they own – so their future will not be one of fear, but of growth. This is less a skill that can be taught or learned, but is an attitude that is embraced, and it all comes back to the inspiration of Kennedy’s spoken words a half-century ago.

PROJECT TEAM

Geotechnical: Geolabs

Civil: Belt Collins Hawaii

Landscape: Ken & RMG

Structural: Walter Vorfield & Assoc.

Architectural: Flansburgh Architects

Interior Design: Flansburgh Architects

Plumbing: Hakalau Engineering

Mechanical: Hakalau Engineering

Electrical: Wallace T. Oki, PE Inc

Lighting Design: Wallace T. Oki, PE Inc

Specialty Consultants: Buro Happold, Sustainability and LEED Quality Builders Inc

Contractor: Quality Builders Inc

Other: Pa`ahana Enterprises LLC, Project Manager

PROJECT DETAILS

Project Area: 95,832 sf

Building Area: 5,902 sf

Building Footprint: 11,535 sf

Start of construction: 09/2008

Start of Occupancy Period: 01/2010

Owner occupied: Yes

Number of occupants: 25

Number of visitors: 10 per day

Typical hours of operation: Monday through Friday from 7:30am to 5:30pm, as well as evenings and weekends for student work as needed

Summer 201110

riding the wavesOnce, when contemplating the construction of the En-ergy Lab, the benefactor of the project declared: “Every day we don’t build this is a day wasted”. He also articu-lated that “true change will happen with our children who don’t believe that their dreams are impossible”. This inspiration is what led our project team to exceed any expectations of the original vision. In an odd para-dox, LEED® and the Living Building Challenge served as guidelines for a project that would have been pio-neering regardless of certification. We strived to cre-ate a prototype of an integrated, sustainable building. It was not easy, nor was it inexpensive. For the price of our investment, the project inspires builders, educa-tors, homeowners, architects, systems engineers, and sustainability experts to devise new and innovative solutions based on our prototype. As the cathedrals of

Lucas Cohen works on the iBoat as part of the Green Technology class at the Energy Lab.

Image © Dana eDmunDs PhotograPhy

centuries past inspired “daydreaming about God”, the Energy Lab inspires daydreaming about sustainability. It is a quiet, comfortable place with all of the comforts of a normal school building while using less power than a blow dryer. 

This is one way the Energy Lab differs from other rarities: it incorporated simple, low-cost, off-the-shelf devices in creative, clever ways to yield a solution that responds to a particular set of needs and is still trans-ferable to other projects, both on our campus and in other locales.

For example, ventilation is monitored by sensors mea-suring airf low, carbon dioxide, temperature, humidity and even human presence through motion detection video systems. A recent visitor compared our project

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DR. BILL WIECkING resides in Hawaii and teaches at the HPA Energy Lab.

Bill Wiecking works with students in his e-Physics class at the Energy Lab.

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Click here to view the case study that details HPA’s journey from inspired vision to inspirational building.

team to the open source Linux movement: commit-ted volunteers creating a solution that is in many cases more elegant, nimble and f lexible than most commer-cial software offerings. Indeed, the thought process was more important than the technology used: This was an exercise in physics, neurology and engineer-ing, all woven together with the ubiquitous computer language of XML (the basis for data exchange on the internet) – a vast advancement from our initial tools, that relied on an antiquated automation protocol based on serial devices that went with the Apollo mis-sions to the moon.

Our success was based on a shared vision in a qual-ity solution instead of a more typical closed proprie-tary business model. We use gnuplot and other open source software in our telemetry, control and moni-

toring system, coupled with sensors and actuators that use the XML open protocol standard. The sys-tem was designed to encourage experimentation by our students, who are developing a program on their own that taps into the data stream to perform analysis within a completely open architecture. This academic activity parallels the project team’s process for the En-ergy Lab, reminding the students that anything they can envision is possible if they are engaged, commit-ted and passionate about the outcome.

So, where do we go from here? HPA’s mission is threefold: education, outreach and re-search. Though the Energy Lab is first and foremost a classroom, it is also a teaching tool that has led to addi-tional benefits for the students: its unique functional-ity affords the opportunity to collaborate with nearby schools and major universities; and as one of the few objective test sites for renewable energy installations with a comprehensive monitoring and telemetry sys-tem, it informs research all over the world.

Our ultimate vision is for the Energy Lab to serve as a model for others. In leading by example – both in dreaming big and in being bold in our actions – the En-ergy Lab will be much more than a building. It will be an inspiration that may metaphorically lead us further than our imagined capabilities of NASA’s first mission to the moon.

Summer 201112

By JOA NN A GA NGI

By JOANNA GANGI

Margaret WheatleyIn my twenties I was studying abroad, traveling the world, experiencing different cultures and filled with passion. It was a passion to make a difference and the desire to do something that truly matters. As I get older, now in my early thir-ties and after recently having given birth to my first child, that passion and desire has changed. I still want my work and life to be significant and matter in some way but the way in which it mat-ters is different. As you live life and grow older

things evolve, your perspective changes, maybe even your life goals change, and you discover more and more what you care about. Margaret Wheatley addresses the personal journeys peo-ple take in their life, the work they are doing and how to discover ones full potential.

Margaret Wheatley is a story-teller, a speaker, a consultant, a writer and a Tibetan Buddhist prac-titioner. In 1991 she co-founded the Berkana Insti-

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tute where she works with many different peo-ple in countries around the world to strengthen the leadership capacity and self-reliance of their communities. She consults and speaks to a vari-ety of organizations, from the U.S. Army to Girl Scout troops, about preserving their mission and effectiveness in the midst of change.

Margaret has the uncanny ability to help people realize their skills and put those

skills to action in order to be effective change agents. As she states “there is no power for change greater than a communi-ty discovering what it cares about.” Wheat-ley speaks to Trim Tab about empowering communities, her message to the green warriors who are fighting for transforma-tion and how to persevere through these troubling times of global climate change and environmental crises.

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“There is no

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communiTy

discovering whaT

iT cares abouT.”

Trim Tab: Your work focuses on helping people

and communities to reach their full potential - to

take action and create resilient places. How do

you connect to individuals in communities that are

struggling with oppressive forces?

Margaret Wheatley: You start by finding the proj-

ect, the work or the issue that people care about.

You don’t do anything artificial to build them up

or train them in certain skills. You first find the

issue that is of most concern to them. There is

no power greater than a community discovering

what it cares about. You can’t go in thinking that

you know what they care about. Through casual

conversation you discover what are the issues

of most concern. Worldwide it is really essential

if you are going to develop community capac-

ity to solve problems, you start with the women,

because they are the true change agents in their

community. With grandmothers and mothers,

then you move on to the youth. You start with

whatever is foremost in their minds. You don’t

start with a plan or an already designed program;

you start with the first set of small actions. That’s

how you build peoples self-confidence -which is

a real task. It can take several years in a truly op-

pressed situation. It’s the success of a small proj-

ect that helps women, in particular, discover that

they have capacity, skill and talent. Once they

achieve something they are much more willing to

take on bigger projects.

TT: We talk a lot about resiliency in the green build-

ing movement. What does resiliency mean to you?

MW: I can tell you what it used to mean. I think

it’s a word that I’m starting to question. We do

still use it at the Berkana Institute. We talk about

creating healthy and resilient communities and

by that we mean, communities that can develop

greater capability to withstand the next crisis.

Resiliency has had this bounce back meaning to

it. If you’re resilient you can adapt or withstand

the current dilemma, tragedy or natural disaster

and then come back. One of the things that we’re

tracking at Berkana when we use the word is

does a community, by the way it handles any one

crisis, grow in competence so people feel more

capable of dealing with the next crisis. Resiliency

isn’t a skill set that you develop easily. You de-

velop it by going through difficult things. So the

thing to measure is how do people get through

a current crisis and do they come out of it with

greater competencies.

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“if you choose To be a green warrior

or warrior of The human spiriT you

Try and find a place beyond hope.”

What I’m looking at now is not just did we learn

enough from that crisis to be ready for the next

but what are the deeper attributes of us as indi-

viduals where we feel that we can cope with the

incessant demands on us…and are not being inca-

pacitated or destroyed in our inner-being by the

amount of fear, stress and aggression that now

characterizes our world.

I don’t understand any of the decisions being made

by governments around the world today. Things

are so destructive. For all of the optimism and track

record of Cascadia Green Building Council and the

green building movement, what is happening still

around climate and government decisions is sheer

lunacy because it is so destructive of the future. A

Chilean poet created the phrase ‘undoing the fu-

ture’ to describe our current actions. So persever-

ance has become a major requirement. How do we

keep going in the face of so much fear and stress?

It is a different cut than just being resilient. Resil-

ience is just being prepared for the crises. When

you shift it to perseverance you are actually tak-

ing in the fact that this is truly a very dangerous

time. We are struggling with the potential collapse

of the planet. Being able to take that all in and feel

committed to our work is more contained in the

word perseverance than resilience.

TT: Many people attribute extraordinary power in

dedicated belief, notably “hope”. Can you describe

to our readers your feelings on hope as it relates

to social injustices and environmental crisis?

MW: Hope always brings fear with it. It’s the alter-

nate side of the same coin. If you hope that you’re

going to make a contribution, if you hope you are

going to reverse climate change then you are also

terrified if you fail or when things aren’t going well.

The place beyond hope and fear I characterize as

a place of clarity.

TT: What is your message to weary green warriors

that have become discouraged by the seemingly

insurmountable challenges of their work?

MW: This is especially poignant for the people

that are engaged with the planet because we

now know more about what is happening to de-

stroy ecosystems and the land. We need to ac-

knowledge the deep grief and acknowledge the

great loss that is going on among ecosystems,

species, cultures, and languages. If you choose to

be a green warrior or warrior of the human spirit

you try and find a place beyond hope. The place

of clarity where you can realize this is your work

and you embrace it and are willing to understand

that maybe you won’t make a difference but you

will have tried your damndest. Reaching the point

of giving up needing to have results and getting

much clearer about the value of the work itself.

You act as if it is the most important thing in the

world but you also hold it as completely unim-

portant. In our goal-oriented society we aren’t

brought up in this way of holding our work, which

is to be totally committed to it and yet to let go of

it needing to make a difference.

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TT: Your life-long pursuit of knowledge through

education combined with a broad collection of ex-

periences around the world has made you a highly

influential leader. What advice would you offer to

other would-be leaders that desire to be effective

change agents?

MW: Let go of results and get more clear about

what work feels right for you to be doing. Find-

ing that inner-knowing of accepting what our

different skills are, what our different gifts are,

what our different histories are and offering those

freely to the world. The space beyond hope and

fear is a place of liberation where you can just go

for it. When you can get over fear you can re-

lax about the level of contribution you may or

may not make. The qualities of the place beyond

hope and fear are exactly what we want - quali-

ties of clarity, commitment and motivation. So the

place beyond hope and fear is very liberating. It

is just hard to see in this culture of measurement,

outcomes and achievement. When you let go of

needing your life to mean anything then it be-

comes very meaningful.

TT: Reflecting on the early stages of your evolv-

ing career, was there any particular events, oc-

currences or people that profoundly influenced

your path?

MW: There were a number of people that have

influenced me. My activist grandmother was my

most powerful role model growing up.

The other thing that really formed me was my

time in the Peace Corps. I joined in 1966 and that

was a way to capture all of my desires to be out

in the world and to serve. I was in Korea, not long

after the Korean War, and the culture was very

traditional with no modern things. I realized that

after living in a completely different culture, with a

different alphabet and a different language, where

nothing looked familiar when you were walking

down the street – that I can go anywhere in the

world. It gave me confidence in knowing how to

be with people where culture became an interest-

ing difference but not a barrier.

TT: You recently returned from a one hundred

day silent retreat. What was your motivation

for undertaking such an extraordinary personal

sanctuary? What did you take away from the se-

cluded experience?

MW: As a Tibetan Buddhist practitioner my

teacher motivated me to do this because she

knew that it would be a great benefit to me and

it was. Now I’m back out in the world and one of

the things that still remains so clear is the quality

of mind I had when there were no distractions. I

had all this time by myself to study, meditate and

think. I discovered a completely different mental

capacity. I could remember things, I could make

connections, I could develop deep awareness and

understanding. Now that I’m back in my very full

life I don’t have that mind anymore. I walk across

the kitchen and can’t remember why I’m doing

that. Or I pick up a book and have no interest in

reading it at that time. One of the things that I’ve

really focused on is how much we have destroyed

our mental capacity. The capacity in Buddhism

is mind and heart are one. In our present way

of living that is filled with distractions and stress

we destroy 95 percent of our brain capacity. I’ve

experienced that firsthand, so now I’m adamant

“once we’re back

in our reflecTive

mind we can see

power in Things

and Think abouT

The fuTure”

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jOANNA GANGI is empowered by the fan-tastic beauty of nature residing in Seattle where she works at the International Living Future Institute as the Managing Editor of Trim Tab magazine in the Ecotone Publishing department.

To find more about Margaret Wheatley

including her books and to download

articles and podcasts, please visit

margaretwheatley.com.

wheatley’s newest book, walk out walk on: a learning journey into communities daring to live the future now, is now available for purchase.

with people that they need to find time to reflect

and find time to be quiet. That is the only way to

rediscover that you have a very fine mind. Once

we’re back in our reflective mind we can see pow-

er in things where we can think about the future

and we can encounter ethical dilemmas. Once a

week, find an hour where you go off and reflect or

find ten minutes every day to just be quiet.

TT: Everyone, every organization, every faction

can do better. From your point of view, how

could the green building movement increase its

scope of influence and be more effective in in-

voking change?

MW: The first thing is we need to focus on letting

go of the belief that someone knows the perfect

formula for creating global transformation around

green building.

The second thing is realizing that life changes from

small, localized efforts that get connected. There

is no one size fits all approach. If you look at eco-

systems it’s all different species working together.

So different projects, different experiments, dif-

ferent communities working together but doing

it their own way that is dependent on their con-

text. The more we strengthen connections among

these disparate efforts the more we have the pos-

sibility of life’s wonderful process of truly taking

things to scale will kick in.

It’s called ‘emergence’ – from many connected

parts a new system emerges and becomes the

dominant system. I think that has happened in

some aspects of the green revolution to date. But

it is still very superficial in some places. So it’s a

combination of doing your work really well at the

local level, connecting with others at conferences

and such, and then letting life handle the scale is-

sue. Then suddenly it all catalyzes and all of our

efforts emerge in a system of influence where we

have much more power and capacity as the sum of

the parts. I don’t know if I’ll live long enough to see

if our planet is giving us enough time but I know

that this is how life creates transformative change.

Summer 201118

By JA SON F. MCL ENN A N

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we know a lot about the ideal environment for a happy whale or a happy mountain

gorilla. we’re far less clear about what constitutes an ideal environment for a happy

human being. one common measure for how clean a mountain stream, is to look for

trout. if you find the trout, the habitat is healthy. it’s the same way with children in a

city. children are a kind of indicator species. if we can build a successful city for chil-

dren, we will have a successful city for all people.

—EnriquE PEnalosa

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Children’s CitiesThe logic & Beauty of a Child-Centered Civilization

Change is coming to our cities in the next 10-20 years, whether or not our culture is ready for it. As cheap oil disappears and we firmly enter the age of ‘extreme energy’1 and additional finite resources diminish to scarce levels, we will be forced to adjust to new ways of building and living with a global population approach-ing eight billion - almost exclusively in urban settings.

1. Marked by deepwater drilling, Alberta tar sands and mountaintop coal removal

Even as our cities mushroom in size, the very mega-in-frastructure projects that built them become obsolete – created in a world where cheap energy was substitut-ed for common sense and ethical planning.

During the post-World War II era we redefined and recreated communities of all sizes to support the tran-sition to an automobile age within the span of only three decades. The North American landscape was

Summer 201120

this opportunity for change as a course correction to create a healthy, vibrant and beautiful living future?

How do we begin to create a future that brings out the best of humanity and safeguards the planet’s fragile ecosystems?

PUTTING kIDS FIRSTAs simplistic as it may sound, the best way to plan our cities to function as nurturing, dynamic communi-ties for all people is to design them well as places for children first. Regardless of function or location, all re-development and new planning should be ground-ed by asking the questions – “is this good for chil-dren?” “Does it relate to a scale that children relate to?” Why is it that so much of the built environment

changed forever – and its about to change just as radi-cally, over just as short of a timeframe yet again. The types of infrastructure and planning that separate us within our own communities – urban sprawl, big box retail, interstate freeways, mega powerplants, cen-tralized sewage treatment systems and absurdly tall skyscrapers will suddenly become impossible to sus-tain. In its place will emerge a new urban landscape supported by new kinds of infrastructure responding to the new reality of energy, food, water and popula-tion – that we’ll remake civilization is guaranteed – how we’ll do it is the only question. Will we simply spiral towards the visions found in many science fic-tion novels and Hollywood movies? Will our cities be-come versions of an unhealthy, ecologically depleted, crowded, dirty Blade Runner future? Or will we use

“WILL WE SIMPLy SPIRAL TOWARDS THE VISIONS FOUND IN MANy SCIENCE FICTION NOVELS AND HOLLyWOOD MOVIES?”

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Movie still from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927).

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Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1958 vision of the future’s suburbia, Broadacre City.

is unfit for our most sensitive and vulnerable citizens? The disturbing answer is that other than dedicated school yards and some city parks, children are mere afterthoughts in the ‘serious business’ that is city and community planning. For the last sixty years we’ve designed our communities first around the scale of the automobile, and secondarily around the scale of adult men and women. By leaving children out – we have left out the best of humanity – and the chance to connect our future leaders with functioning work-able urbanism. Whole generations now have no expe-rience with how fantastic well-done urbanism can be. The best cities in the world have a walkable, relatable scale that children and adults alike can relate to. They tend to be safer, more accessible and more culturally rich. They give us greater opportunities for social

interaction as well as chance encounters and educa-tional opportunities.

Think about what makes a place great for kids: a focus on found learning2, serendipitous personal interactions with others, opportunities to interact with nature and natural systems – water in particu-lar, right-sized designs that aren’t intimidating and automobile-based, a city with an all-around gentle touch. Now consider a city that extended such con-siderations to everybody. If communities were built

2. We undervalue in our society the concept of ‘found learning’ having traded opportunities for children to be exposed to the inner workings of our communities (bakeries, factories, community infrastructure etc.) with only structured learning in classrooms. We shuttle our children from inside domain to inside domain and they miss out on learning about how the world really works.

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in ways that nurtured children rather than worked around them, all ages would be the better for it. By ca-tering our infrastructure to those among us who have the least control, we actually usher in greater oppor-tunities across multiple demographic segments.

It’s bad enough that typical futuristic images of our cities are ecologically impossible3; what’s also crazy is that they never appear to be very nice places for children. It seems that the visionaries who craft these plans of soaring buildings and concrete landscapes – or even present-day housing developments with end-less rows of identical homes– have forgotten the im-portance of what it means to just go outside and play.

3. We could never sustain cities the way they are often depicted from a resource standpoint alone.

Even many much-heralded ‘eco-developments’ seem to contain few genuine child-friendly opportunities – unless one counts the occasional recycled plastic slide in a fenced-in play area.

It’s time to turn our attention back to our children and do what makes sense for them, for us and for the en-vironment. The good news is that child-centered city planning is not simply generous; it’s practical.

DOING WHAT WE DO BEST – A SUPER-qUICk HISTORyWhile its very easy to feel defeated and pessimistic by the overwhelming evidence of energy and water scar-city, climate change and worldwide economic upheav-al, I consider it more useful to look at these significant

“FOR THE LAST SIxTy yEARS WE’VE DESIGNED OUR COMMUNITIES AROUND THE SCALE OF THE AUTOMOBILE AND AROUND THE SCALE OF ADULT MEN AND WOMEN. By LEAVING CHILDREN OUT WE HAVE LEFT OUT THE BEST OF HUMANITy”

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The scale of the automobile now dominates our cities, when it should be the scale of the child, not even the adult should dominate.

challenges as opportunities to re-imagine civilization in a way that ensures our long term place in it. Many people have a hard time believing that we can rede-sign our cities within the span of a few decades, but the truth is it will happen regardless of our intentions. The question is whether we will steer things towards the best possible outcomes or see impacts continue to move in the wrong direction.

After all, we’ve done this before. In the period fol-lowing World War II, virtually every American city, town and village modified itself to embrace the new realities of the modern age: the rise of suburbia, an expanded reliance on automobiles and the promise of the “American dream”. In creating the national high-way system, we connected our cities but rammed the

interstates through many of their cores to do so. Wa-terfronts were often cut off and historic urban neigh-borhoods were carved up – with the most impact dis-proportionately in poor communities. In our quest for the elevated fast lane, we discarded street-level scenes and structures. We exchanged a sense of com-munity for take-out and parking lots. We converted the scale of our communities from a human to a high-rise level.4 The scale of the child has been left behind in most of America.

As we began to rob our cities of structural integrity while making it easier to travel in and out from them, we very quickly began to abandon the older, central dis-

4. See “The Tyranny of the Big and the Beauty of the Small” in the Fall 2010 issue of Trim Tab.

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The great American dream of suburban home ownership has not made people happier.

tricts of cities and spread outward. Those with means wanted to live at the city’s edge where they pursued what they felt was safer, cleaner and more spacious sur-roundings. Larger suburban lots promised more im-pressive lawns, more substantial garages, more enviable status. Unfortunately the exodus of a large proportion of the middle-class took its toll on essentially all Ameri-can cities. Those who remained in the city tended to be of lower socio-economic classes, so metropolitan tax revenues plummeted and inner-city development rates dropped off. Urban crime rates began to climb, schools suffered and communities withered.

Meanwhile, suburban enclaves thrived. Housing de-velopments boomed, shopping malls cropped up in nearly every community, parking lots exploded in number because cars were now a necessity. The new American society was an automobile paradise, built to cater to people – and shoppers – of all ages.

The American dream was here. We had arrived. Or had we?

qUESTIONING THE NEW SUBURBAN NORMALStatistics now show that people didn’t actually become happier once they attained what was billed as the great American dream of suburban home ownership with 2 cars in the garage. (In their paper “Stress That Doesn’t Pay: The Commuting Paradox,” Swiss economists Bruno Frey and Alois Stutzer found that workers with one-hour commutes must earn 40 percent more money to have a sense of well-being equal to that of a person who walks or bikes to work. Longer commutes, they assert, undo any perceived emotional benefits of suburban living.5) In his powerful book, Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam explores how Americans have become more insulated in the years since we’ve fled the city. Suburban populations, he as-serts, are so disconnected from family, friends and neigh-bors that it has impoverished our lives and communities.

What’s worse, this escape from the city has actually gotten us farther from nature since suburban devel-

5. http://ftp.iza.org/dp1278.pdf

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1. How would things change if we used a child-centered ‘modular’ instead of an adult one? 2. Children need unstructured play in nature. 3. Too many hours connected to technology is changing how children interact with each other.

opments tend to eat up farmland, raze forests and drain wetlands. Residential houses have gotten big-ger and bigger6 as their occupants have become ad-dicted to debt and surrounded by bland same-ness. Our reliance on inexpensive energy is tied to an ero-sion of our former sense of place – a sense of place that used to define where we came from. In the midst of the mid-century, post world war renaissance, there was great optimism for the future of our society as well as our cities. Yet, we were too quick to shed the old ways and urban patterns that built our original communities to make way for the new.

Now nearly every North American community is sur-rounded by the same list of big-box retailers that stand at the gates welcoming visitors coming in from any direction. And children are left with residential neigh-borhoods that no longer have the cultural benefits of functioning urbanism or the ecological benefits of functioning ruralism. No wonder they play so many video games!

6. See “The Righteous Small House” in the Spring 2009 issue of Trim Tab. 1

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STEALING FROM THE INNOCENTChildren in every neighborhood – urban and suburban – have been robbed of opportunities as we’ve drained the life out of our cities and created vast sprawl of bland and unhealthy suburbia. Most profoundly, kids across all strata have lost a sense of freedom. City chil-dren have sustained a figurative loss as their neighbor-hoods’ vitality and relevance has faded leaving many without hope for the future. Suburban kids experience a more literal loss as they spend an unhealthy amount of time in the car getting from one spot to another in their over-bland environment leaving many bored, unengaged and overweight. When schools are built on inexpensive land on the edge of a community, kids from all segments of the population spend more time on buses than in their own residential surroundings.

“THE FACT IS THAT WE’VE BEEN SUCkING THE yOUTHFUL LIFE OUT OF OUR CHILDREN BECAUSE OF THE WAy WE’VE DESIGNED OUR COMMUNITIES.”

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With automobiles in dominant roles, it is less safe for chil-dren to bike, walk or play outside. Our increased isolation and lack of connection to our neighbors has made us in-creasingly paranoid (egged on by irresponsible fear-mon-gering media), prompting us to restrict our children’s abil-ity to enjoy unstructured time outdoors. Children spend more time in front of screens, substituting virtual connec-tions for personal interaction. Inner-city poverty requires parents (often single) to take on more work hours, leading to lack of supervision for urban kids already at risk. Rates of childhood obesity, depression and attention deficit dis-orders are on the rise. Funds supporting public health pro-grams for low-income city kids are quickly diminishing.

These trends feed on themselves and problems only escalate.

The fact is that we’ve been sucking the youthful life out of our children because of the way we’ve designed our communities. It’s the same thesis offered by Richard Louv in his book Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Louv believes – and I agree wholeheartedly – that we are actually dam-aging our children by disconnecting them from the en-vironment, natural life cycles and the sources of their food. I assert that we shouldn’t have to choose between the city and nature.

Admittedly, we have all suffered. But kids feel the disconnection more acutely not just because they are more vulnerable, but also because many of them know nothing else. They’ve lived either in dying inner cities or in sterile suburban settings their entire lives. Are we

We wouldn’t let our children play in a dump, yet we continue to design our communities in ways that are just as dangerous for children’s development.

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raising whole generations of Americans and Canadi-ans who have neither a personal relationship with na-ture nor appreciation for a thriving urban core? Are we raising a whole generation that does not have a chance to learn naturally what it means to be both a function-ing citizen of a community as well as the natural world? Are we in fact robbing our youth of key experiences needed for future maturity?

ADjUSTING TO THE INEVITABLEThe good and bad news is this: the age of cheap oil is almost over. The days of the suburban experiment are numbered. People simply won’t be able to afford driving everywhere and communities won’t be able to sustain the miles of sprawl that were built on specula-tion in an era of both cheap energy and cheap labor. We now have neither. The only possible response is

to return our focus on the urban core and responsible density, and in so doing, bring back the beauty that is also possible in great cities. It will take a commitment to maintain the values necessary to support truly re-generative neighborhoods.

Most importantly, it should usher in a new commit-ment to our children.

But the shift won’t stop in our larger metropolitan areas. I believe the new oil-free society will reinvigorate the small- and mid-sized towns and farming communities from which people have fled for decades. I predict a reverse mi-gration to many rural places where families can support themselves over the course of several generations.7

7. But I digress. I’ll reserve further comment for a future article on this subject

Why are most of our communities unfit for our most precious citizens?

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A traditional European street filled with activity and learning opportunities for children.

“CHILDREN ARE LEFT WITH RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOODS THAT NO LONGER HAVE THE CULTURAL BENEFITS OF FUNCTIONING URBANISM OR THE ECOLOGICAL BENEFITS OF FUNCTIONING RURALISM.”

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A universal door handle

“PLACES THAT DELIGHT AND INFORM ARE MORE LIkELy TO BE BEAUTIFUL AND BEAUTy MOST CERTAINLy OPENS THE DOOR TO GRACE – WHICH IS SOMETHING THAT PEOPLE CAN APPRECIATE AT ANy AGE.”

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the spectrum. It asks what the more vulnerable among us need, then creates designs that deliver what we all need.

It’s time to apply universally child-friendly designs to our cities.

PAINTING THE PICTUREMy own experiences as a kid growing up in an industrial community helped shape me as an environmentalist. My current-day role as a father of four only strengthens my commitment to child-friendly cities. Having spent con-siderable time in more functioning European cities, I see what our cities can and should be: healthy, safe places that nurture our youth and surround us in natural beauty.

What, then, would a children’s city look like? Here is a sam-pling of what I think we are collectively capable of creating:

RELyING ON UNIVERSALITyUniversal design offers an excellent parallel to the no-tion of child-friendly urban planning. Universal design was originally introduced to architectural practices as a way of facilitating access and use to individuals with mobility disabilities. As it became more widely adopted and solutions became more clever, universal design has often proved to improve functionality for everyone, re-gardless of physical ability or age. Thanks to universal design, many buildings now incorporate systems and designs that cater to any user. (Even an able-bodied per-son carrying a heavy load is hampered by a traditional doorknob but can easily enter a door by using an elbow to push down on a universally designed door handle.)

The beauty of universal design is that it caters to those us-ers who may have more difficulty but benefits users across

It’s time to rethink our cities through the eyes of children. If we did, what we’d see would be completely different.

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1. OppOrtunities fOr families. A child-centered city would provide a diversity of housing typologies that suits every variation of fam-ily make-up and re-instills a degree of elegance to ur-ban family living. Prices would be manageable across all types of units so that people from a mix of eco-nomic backgrounds could afford to rent or own, even when they house multiple generations under one roof. This needs to be done within the context of mixed economic neighborhoods rather than in neighbor-hoods comprised of uniform socio-economic status. Housing for working families should combine form and function, not sit like stacks of soul-less boxes with token three-foot balconies. Multi-unit structures that achieve ideal urban density should offer adequate acoustic separation as well as genuine (not manufac-tured) outdoor play spaces.

1. Living City Design Competition Second Place Winner by Atelier G40, “City.Makes”. Image © Atelier G40.2. Living City Design Competition Provocation Award Winner by [gu]; “Dense City: Biological building materials, reintroduction of wildlife, softening of hard surfaces, evolved transportation”. Image © [gu]3. Living City Design Competition Second Place Winner by Atelier G40, “City.Makes”. Image © Atelier G40.4. School children participate in a gardening lesson.

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2. Clusters Of urban serviCes. We must return our city neighborhoods to their for-mer glory as diverse multi-use environments. If res-taurants, markets, playgrounds and daycare centers filled in urban spaces, families could find what they need closer to home and we would have no need to look beyond our cities’ borders for basic amenities. Many urban centers like good essential services like grocery stores and daycares.

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3. inner-City nature. As we shifted our focus to the suburbs, we abandoned the natural capabilities of our cities. A child-centric city must offer an abundance of nature – features that can offer both practical and environmental advantages while giving children easy access to clean water, climb-able trees and fresh air. Urban tree reforestation pro-grams and the re-emergence of daylit streams bring natural systems within the urban context. The idea here is to call upon nature to do double duty, providing amenities that support urban infrastructure.

4. eduCatiOnal neighbOrhOOds. There is a nearly endless number of teaching oppor-tunities in any urban setting. Children’s cities should celebrate the natural relationship between schools and neighborhoods. Teachers and students need only to step outside their classrooms and pay close attention to the natural and built environments in order to explore the science, art, math and music that surrounds them. As described in Alexander’s Pattern Language – “Shop-front Schools” where children learn within the fabric of community should be encouraged. Every building in a children’s city can offer multiple benefits, as can every citizen. By remembering how to trust our neighbors, we can rely on them to help educate our youth.

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5. real plaCes tO play. As the automobile loses its prominence, children will be able to make better recreational use of city streets, sidewalks and squares. (We may even see a hopscotch revival!) Urbanites will gather in civic spaces that offer expansive and safe areas to sit, walk and play. (Portland, Oregon’s Pearl District offers a tremendous example.) With diminished need for ve-hicular right of ways huge opportunities will emerge to create places for recreation, urban food produc-tion and greater urban density without the need for buildings above walk-up scale.

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6. revealed systems. Today’s cities bury their infrastructures, hiding water, waste and food systems from the very citizens who rely on them to survive. Tomorrow’s cities should reveal their operations, giving adults and children alike di-rect knowledge of their societies’ inner workings. Just consider the relative impact of a dairy farm field trip versus a pamphlet about milk production. The same could be said of daily urban living. We can adhere to modern standards of health and safety without sani-tizing away our connections to municipal systems. We could all learn a thing or two from daylit streams, urban farms, community composting programs and localized wastewater systems.

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jASON F. MCLENNAN is the CEO of the International Living Future Institute. He is the creator of the Living Building Challenge, as well as the author of four books, including his latest: Zugunruhe.

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5. Children play hopscotch on the sidewalk. Image © Ilya, via Flickr.6. Girl interacts with a chicken at a local farm. Image © jakesmome, via Flickr.7. A neighborhood of three-story apartment buildings in Brooklyn, New York’s Park Slope district.8. New York City’s Central Park. Image © Jens Karlsson, via Flickr.

7. apprOpriate density. At the risk of repeating myself, I will return to a subject I’ve previously covered.8 This time, I’ll touch on the topic of density as it relates to kids. Nobody can truly believe that a skyscraper is an ac-ceptable setting in which to raise children. How can they experience a sense of community when they dwell so high off the ground? How can they connect with nature when they spend more time with pot-ted plants than with wilderness? Children’s cities should offer a saner level of density, in which people interact with the natural world as frequently as they interact with one another. There is a density sweet spot, and it remains closer to the ground.

8. See “Density and Sustainability: A Radical Perspective” in the Spring 2009 issue of Trim Tab.

8. a sOul. By thinking first of how urban plans would benefit children, we will naturally design places of greater substance. Places that delight and inform are more likely to be beautiful. And beauty most certainly opens the door to grace – which is something that people can appreciate at any age.

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Disconnecting From Sewers, Reconnecting To Nature

By K AT IE SPATA RO

In urban and suburban areas, current practices for managing wastewater involve conveying our wastes through a network of pipes to large-scale, centralized facilities where water is treated prior to being discharged back into the environment. Around the country, these systems—many of which were built in the early to mid 1900’s — are now in urgent need of repair or expansion in order to meet stricter water quality regu-lations and to avoid the kinds of catastrophic risks to public health and safety that are imminent when these systems fail.

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students at sidwell Friends school in Washington, Dc, help with the testing and monitoring of the onsite constructed wetland designed to treat 100% of wastewater from the building. the naturally-treated water is then reused for toilet flushing and irrigation.

PhotograPh courtesy oF anDroPogon assocIates, ltD.

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An onsite constructed wetland at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. designed to treat 100% of wastewater from the building.

Current practices for wastewater treatment involve large-scale infrastructure to convey and treat wastes.

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with treating wastewater for their growing popula-tions, green building proponents and others are ad-vocating for a more holistic approach to water use and waste treatment in the built environment. Smaller-scale onsite or neighborhood-scale systems—such as composting toilets or greywater reuse— are gaining greater acceptance as viable alternatives to connecting to conventional sewers for managing water and wastes. However, regulatory obstacles, cultural fears and a lack of information on costs and operational requirements still prohibit broad-scale adoption of these systems.

To help shed light on how smaller-scale treatment ap-proaches compare to conventional practices, the Interna-tional Living Future Institute embarked on an analysis to evaluate the relative environmental impacts associated with centralized wastewater treatment systems against four alternative, decentralized systems using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). LCA is a tool that evaluates envi-ronmental impacts of a product or system across its en-tire life-cycle—from the acquisition of raw materials to

PhotograPh courtesy oF FarshID assassI

The Omega Center for Sustainable Living in Rhinebeck, New york—one of the first certified Living Buildings—uses plants, bacteria, algae, snails, and fungi to treat wastewater from the surrounding campus before the purified water is then used to recharge the local aquifer.

Using water to carry away our waste, at one time in history, represented an important advancement towards protec-tion against serious and fatal diseases such as cholera and dysentery. Indeed the modern sewer system has largely allowed for urban growth, enabling our cities to support larger and denser populations by transporting human wastes farther out of sight and subsequently further out of mind. However, the same technologies and solutions that served us well over the last century are now the same ones responsible for the growing financial burden, political strife and disconnection between our wasteful behaviors and its impact on the natural world around us.

The time is ripe for a reshaping of our relationship to wastewater, respecting both water and “waste” as pre-cious resources that need to be well managed, appro-priately sourced and treated at many scales.

At the same time that cities around the country are facing tough decisions about how to meet the capac-ity needs and address the economic costs associated

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impacts associated with manufacturing, transportation, operations and use through final disposal.

The wastewater LCA study is intended to provide valu-able data on where and when decentralized approaches are preferable, providing a resource to building owners and design teams considering alternatives for their proj-ects. In addition, it serves as a tool for community leaders in cities both large and small who are taking a hard look at policies and infrastructure planning to accommodate the growing burden of wastewater management.

For the comparison, alternative systems were selected representing a wide range of scale (small to large foot-print), costs and operating energy requirements. Pas-sive, low-energy systems such as composting toilets and gravity fed constructed treatment wetlands were compared to more energy intensive biofilters and mem-brane bioreactors. An in depth analysis of conveyance systems looked at how density relates to a system’s overall environmental impacts associated with moving wastewater from its point of generation to a central loca-tion, regardless of the treatment technology employed.

The LCA results provide insight on the pros and cons of commonly proposed decentralized and distributed treat-ment systems and how they relate to conventional prac-tices at different density scales. What the study has shown is that those systems that require the lowest operating en-ergy, and therefore rely heavily on the natural processes of decomposition or gravity to treat or convey waste, are those with the least negative environmental impacts over time. Specifically, composting toilets and subsurface con-structed wetlands, the two lowest energy scenarios evalu-ated, represent between 40-44% fewer global warming impacts (measured in kg CO2 equivalents) when com-pared to centralized treatment and conveyance.

By contrast, more mechanical and energy intensive de-centralized approaches, characterized by the recircu-lating biofilter and membrane biofilter scenarios in the LCA study, represented significantly greater environ-mental impacts when compared to centralized systems, in fact upwards of 85% more. This trend of results from the LCA study is the same across nearly all environmen-tal impact categories studied including: acidification, aquatic ecotoxicity, respiratory effects, ozone depletion

When compared to centralized treatment systems, composting toilets and constructed wetlands have considerably lower global warming impacts over a 50-year life span. In the Institute’s analysis, this represents a 40% - 44% reduction in carbon emissions— roughly the equivalent of a mid-size city removing 1,000 passenger vehicles on the road annually.

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kATIE SPATARO is the Research Director at Cascadia Green Building Council and the International Living Future Institute.

and smog. A full report of the findings and analysis from this study will be available soon. Underlying this study is the invitation issued by the Living Building Challenge and similar initiatives to envision a different future of waste treatment, both in the buildings and neighbor-hoods we design and build as well as in our cities as a whole. This invitation asks that we reconnect with the knowledge of where and how our water is sourced and treated, even in densely urban areas, and evaluate alter-native systems at appropriate scales due to their lowest environmental cost, not just the lowest economic cost.

Doing so will largely require a step outside the business-as-usual approach to policies and planning around large-scale infrastructure and move towards a more restorative approach to managing water and waste. Under this vision, new technologies that minimize or eliminate wastewater from the start are coupled with distributed treatment at the site and neighborhood scales to minimize energy needed for conveyance that maximize reclamation of nu-trients onsite. By utilizing composting and micro flush/flow technologies, water is used wisely, reused and then only treated to the level necessary for its reuse purpose.

When discharged back into the environment, it is done so in a way that mimics natural systems, is celebrated as an amenity rather than viewed as a nuisance, and is clean-er going out than it was coming into the system.

While this vision represents a far stretch from the path many communities are currently on to design, regulate, and plan for the future, the concepts and technologies are simple and attainable. Many tools and resources, such as the wastewa-ter life-cycle assessment study, are available to support de-signers and decision-makers seeking to address the many obstacles to realizing a preferred path forward. When armed with a deeper understanding of the long and short term eco-logical, financial, and health risks of our current systems, we are in a better position to advocate for more resilient and re-storative approaches with respect to water and wastes.

We thank our industry partners for their support in envisioning a living future.

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Summer 201144

The Living Building Challenge is driven by one funda-mental idea: “What if every single act of design and construction made the world a better place?” This is a deceptively simple question – the very act of asking it inspires a new vision for our relationship with the built environment and the resources upon which we rely. This is not a fantasy of living without an impact; every living thing affects its surroundings, and humans are no exception. Instead, it raises the possibility that peo-ple can learn to thrive in partnership with the planet, instead of consuming its bounty to satisfy their needs at the expense of other life forms.

As a certification program, the Living Building Chal-lenge has already passed a critical milestone. To date, three multidisciplinary teams have met the Living Building Challenge’s rigorous “what if ” performance imperatives with their projects and achieved full certification. Another project earned “Petal Rec-ognition” for fully meeting the requirements of the Challenge’s Water, Site, Health and Beauty Petals. (See ilbi.org/lbc/casestudies for more information on these pioneering endeavors.) Many more teams are currently pursuing the Challenge in places as far f lung as Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Suceava, Roma-nia, Thoum, Lebanon and Brisbane, Australia. Each of these projects is having an outsized impact on its region and is spurring others to redefine their expec-tations of the built environment.

By GINA BINOLE

The Living Building Challenge has always been more than a performance standard. It is also a philosophy and an advocacy tool. It is based on the premise that by transforming our concept of the built environment and reframing our role within it, we will leap well be-yond the building scale and begin the long process of restoring our overstressed ecosystems.

In May 2010, the Living Future Institute partnered with the National Trust for Historic Preservation to launch the Living City Design Competition to expand its defin-ing “what if” question, asking: “What if we repurposed our existing infrastructure to bring whole cities into alignment with the Living Building Challenge?” “What if our vision of an urban future was shaped by hope rath-er than self-fulfilling prophecies of degradation?”

More than 80 teams responded to the Living City De-sign Competition, with entries covering 69 cities in 21 countries. In the context of an urban ecosystem, each team set out to explore how existing areas might achieve and even transcend the imperatives set forth in the Living Building Challenge. A selection of en-tries were displayed, and the winning entries were un-veiled at Living Future 2011 in Vancouver, B.C., where a seven-member panel judged them “on their ability to capture the attention and imagination of a broad au-dience and reassess assumptions about a future filled with high-tech, ecologically dislocated cities.”

LIVING CITY DESIGN COMPETITION rECaP

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Taking home top honors and a $75,000 cash prize was the team of Daniel and Maximilian Zielinski of the United Kingdom for their updated, ecologically in-spired vision for Paris. Noting the team’s deep respect for place, the judges praised the Zielinski brothers’ skillful and thoughtful balance of all necessary compo-nents: engineering, infrastructure, landscape, beauty and human connectivity.

Said the judges: “Daniel and Maximilian crafted an elegant interplay of design solutions with very real-world strategies. It achieved the end goal in a way that welcomed and incorporated the present, and instead of simply showing how the ‘natural world’ might colo-nize urban environments, it created fertile ground for people thriving in partnership with nature.”

The Zielinskis, who both work for the global architectur-al firm, Foster + Partners of London, said they have long been interested in sustainable design, and they chose Paris, in part, because they knew they would be facing an inter-

national jury. More importantly, Maximilian Zielinski says: “What we’re trying to prove is that not only emerging and developing cities can benefit from the Living Building Challenge but also existing and highly developed cities like Paris. It’s a great opportunity to develop our existing cities and make them role models for the new cities to come. Our goal is to improve the living standard and to create a beau-tiful and sustainable environment for coming generations. The Paris of the future will evolve with a real motivation to make it an ecologically sustainable city and because of that, it is in no danger of losing its appeal.”

Since winning the competition, the Romanian-born brothers have been overwhelmed by the amount of at-tention they have received, appearing on TV and radio in online and off line newspapers and magazines, in-cluding the cover story for Forbes magazine Romania.

Says Maximilian Zielinski: “We are looking forward to seeing some of our ideas implemented in the cities of tomorrow.”

Image © DanIel + maxImIlIan zIelInskI

FIRST PLACE: rEinTErPrETaTion of Paris

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A University of Washington team of graduate students captured second place and a $25,000 cash award for its entry “City Makes, City Lives,” centered in Belling-ham, Washington. The jury was impressed with the strategic nature of the team’s approach to urban trans-formation. The jury couched this entry as a cleanly conceived approach that showed a deep cultural un-derstanding of its place.

The students say the competition provided the perfect forum for them to tackle meaningful issues and chal-lenge themselves, drawing inspiration from a wide va-riety of sources, from utopian manifestos to medieval walled towns to European patterns of urban develop-ment to the history of the city itself.

Team member Rob Potish explains the breadth and depth of knowledge required to put together a compel-ling entry was indeed a challenge. “The wide range of topics covered by the seven petals seemed daunting at first, especially when considered at the scale of a city,”

Potish says. “But we quickly discovered the best way to overcome this was through simply jumping into the problems wholeheartedly. We certainly learned a lot along the way.”

The team now is in the process of bringing the ideas to local PDAs and the city of Bellingham. While the pro-posal in its entirety suggests a massive change to the existing city, Potish says the team believes it is a strat-egy that can be implemented in a phased, meaningful way over time.

As for the team, the competition forced them to ques-tion what it really means to live in a truly sustainable urban environment.

“We looked beyond technological fixes or systems de-sign and considered new lifestyles, new spaces and new experiences that simultaneously enable and are the result of a Living city,” Potish says. “We will take this with us moving forward as designers.”

SECOND PLACE: BEllinghaM: CiTy MakEs, CiTy livEs

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COMPETITION WINNERSFIRST PLACE:Team name: Maximilian ZielinskiProject name: Reinterpretation of ParisTeam members: Daniel Zielinski, Maximilian Zielinski

SECOND PLACE:Team name: Atelier G40Project name: City Makes. City Lives. (Bellingham)Team members: Andrew Brown, Jonathan French, Robert Potish, Ryan Drake

CAN-DO AWARD:Team name: Team CDAProject name: Coeur d’Alene After the ReignTeam leader: Luke Ivers

THE IMAGES THAT PROVOKE AWARD:Team name: [gu]Project name: [gu] (Seattle)Team members: Gundula Prokosch, Joshua Brevoort, Lisa Chun, Mac Lanphere, Lauren McCunney, Cameron Hall

Team name: Röllerhaus Pictureworks & Design Co.Project name: Reclaiming Nature’s Metropolis: A Living Building Language (Chicago)Team members: Kevin Scott, Alex Jack, Matthew Wagner, Carl Sterner, Trevor Dykstra

THE CITIES THAT LEARN AWARD:Team name: Ashok B Lall ArchitectsProject name: Delhi (Re)GeneratesTeam members: Ashok Lall, Shruti Narayan, Dr. Jaideep Chatterjee, Akshay Kaul, Chitranjan Kaushik

Team name: OLINProject name: PATCH\WORK PHILADELPHIATeam members: Richard Roark, Skip Graffam, Jen Toy, Jeff Goldstein, Scott Page, Leah Murphy

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AND LIVING BUILDING COMMUNITY CHOICE AWARD:Team name: Alvarez & SanchezProject name: Chamizal Connection (Mexico City)Team members: Maria Alvarez & Norma Sanchez

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD:Team name: ZGF/PoSIProject name: Symbiotic Districts: Towards a Balanced City (Portland)Team members: ZGF Architects, Portland Sustainability Institute, CH2M Hill, David Evans and Associates, Greenworks PC, Newlands and Company, Inc., Portland State University, Institute for Sustainable Solutions, and Sparling

LIVING BUILDING COMMUNITY CHOICE AWARD:Team name: The Miller Hull PartnershipProject name: Fight for Your Right of Way (Seattle)Team members: Brian Court, Mark Johnson, Case Blum, Nicole Walter, Thomas Johnston, Mike Jobes, Sarah Bergman, Adam Amsel, Adam Loughry, Jeff Floor, Julie Parrett, Nate Corimer, Sian Roberts and David Miller

LIVING BUILDING COMMUNITY CHOICE AWARD:Team name: International Sustainability InstituteProject name: Pioneer Square: Living Green+Blue (Seattle)Team members: Todd Vogel, Lesley Bain, Ginger Daniel, Kevin Daniels, Katie Doyle, Pam Emerson, Chris Ezzell, Ray Gastil, Brian Geller, Brian Gerich, Jenny Hampton, Joe Lano, Susan Jones, Anika McIntosh, Nancy Rottle, AJ Silva, Liz Stenning, Stephanie Weeks

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UNCONVENTIONAL PRIZES FOR AN UNCONVENTIONAL COMPETITIONAs it was first conceived, The Living City Design Com-petition included an additional stand-alone prize of $25,000 to be awarded to the entry that best incorpo-rated historic preservation into its vision for the future. During the review process, however, the jury conclud-ed that because all of the leading entries fully incorpo-rated the historic character of their communities, the original intent of the award was no longer warranted. Instead, the jury awarded five teams $5,000 each in recognition of their unique contributions.

Earning the Can-Do Award for its entry, “Coeur d’Alene After the Reign,” a student team from the University of Idaho was recognized for its ability to demonstrate how a post-oil world might also include healthier, more supportive and more meaningful com-munity life. The jury summed up the theme of this en-try as: “The Future’s Gonna be Fun.”

Two entries took the Images that Provoke Award: Team [GU] of Seattle and Rollerhaus Pictureworks & Design Co. of Chicago each earned high marks

from the judges for their powerful visuals. The jury noted that “these entries make the viewer feel physically transported into an imagined reality.” The Chicago team achieved this effect by “overlay-ing the prairie on the city,” while the Seattle project achieved what the jury termed: “Watershed: Re-claimed, City: Bubblewrapped“.

A Cities that Learn Award was given to Ashok B Lall Architects of New Dehli, India and Team OLIN of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The “evolving blocks” ex-plored in “Patchwork Philadelphia” and the “catalyz-ing the emergence of healthy diversity” envisioned in New Dehli both demonstrated nuanced conceptions of how the cultures and traditions developed in differ-ent neighborhoods might interact. These entries ac-knowledged cultural realities and explored how social equity might lead to ecologically restored cities.

Four other submissions were selected by attendees at Living Future ‘11 as the winners of the People’s Choice and Living Building Community choice awards. “Chamizal Connection” by Alvarez and Sanchez was honored in both categories for its regeneration of an urban zone in Mexico City. “Symbiotic Districts: To-wards a Balanced City” by Portland Ecodistricts was

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GINA BINOLE has nearly 20 years in the communications business, first as a government, business and environmental journalist and now as a PR strategist.

also selected as a People’s Choice award. “Fight for your Right of Way” by The Miller Hull Partnership and “Pioneer Square - Living Green and Blue” by In-ternational Sustainability Institute were also chosen as Living Building Community choice award winners.

JUST THE BEGINNINGThe Living City Design Competition embodied the critical first steps needed if we are to redefine our ur-ban ecosystems and their relationship with their nat-ural environment. The International Living Future Institute is dedicated to perpetuating this process, en-couraging engagement on the local level and with de-veloping a program to support education, outreach and awareness on a much grander scale.

Functioning now as the umbrella organization for Cascadia Green Building Council, the Living Build-ing Challenge, The Natural Step Network USA and Ecotone Publishing, the Institute will promote an international vision for community-driven trans-formation and help ensure the visions outlined in the Living City Design Competition are not lost, but evangelized and eventually executed and rep-licated across the globe. And of course, new chal-lenges will be issued.

“THE LIVING CITY DESIGN COMPETITION

EMBODIED THE CRITICAL FIRST STEPS

NEEDED IF WE ARE TO REDEFINE

OUR URBAN ECOSYSTEMS AND THEIR

RELATIONSHIP WITH THEIR NATURAL

ENVIRONMENT.”

The recently announced Living Aleutian Home De-sign Competition aims to inspire teams to bring the tenets and principles of the Living Building Chal-lenge to Atka, an Aleutian Island community with a population of 61 people. This contest raises the bar for innovation, challenging teams to create a prototype for affordable, sustainable residences in a rural com-munity confronted with sky-high construction costs, an extreme climate and a pressing need for adopting alternative fuel strategies.

As Jason F. McLennan, the International Living Future Institute CEO notes, “We stand a chance of battling the environmental threats we face and en-suring a future for our children and their children that is socially just, culturally rich and ecologically restorative.”

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FIRST PLACEMaximilian Zielinski | “Reinterpretation of Paris” | Daniel Zielinski, Maximilian Zielinski

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SECOND PLACEAtelier G40 | City Makes. City Lives. | Andrew Brown, Jonathan French, Robert Potish, Ryan Drake

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IMAGES THAT PROVOKE AWARD[gu] | [gu] (Seattle) | Gundula Prokosch, Joshua Brevoort, Lisa Chun, Mac Lanphere, Lauren McCunney, Cameron Hall

CAN-DO AWARDTeam CDA | Coeur d’Alene After the Reign | Luke Ivers

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THE CITIES THAT LEARN AWARDAshok B Lall Architects | Delhi (Re)Generates | Ashok Lall, Shruti Narayan, Dr. Jaideep Chatterjee, Akshay Kaul, Chitranjan Kaushik

IMAGES THAT PROVOKE AWARDRöllerhaus Pictureworks & Design Co. | Reclaiming Nature’s Metropolis: A Living Building Language | Kevin Scott, Alex Jack, Matthew Wagner, Carl Sterner, Trevor Dykstra

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PEOPLES CHOICE & LIVING BUILDING COMMUNITY CHOICE AWARDAlvarez & Sanchez | Chamizal Connection | Maria Alvarez and Norma Sanchez

PEOPLES CHOICE AWARDZGF/PoSI | Symbiotic Districts: Towards a Balanced City | ZGF Architects, Portland Sustainability Institute, CH2M Hill, David Evans and Associates, Greenworks PC, Newlands and Company, Inc., Portland State University, Institute for Sustainable Solutions, and Sparling

THE CITIES THAT LEARN AWARDOLIN | PATCH\WORK PHILADELPHIA | Richard Roark, Skip Graffam, Jen Toy, Jeff Goldstein, Scott Page, Leah Murphy

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living building community choice awardthe miller hull Partnership | Fight for your right of way | brian court, mark Johnson, case blum, nicole walter, thomas Johnston, mike Jobes, Sarah bergman, adam amsel, adam loughry, Jeff Floor, Julie Parrett, nate corimer, Sian roberts and david miller

comPetition PreSented by:

living building community choice awardinternational Sustainability institute | Pioneer Square: living green+blue | todd vogel, lesley bain, ginger daniel, Kevin daniels, Katie doyle, Pam emerson, chris ezzell, ray gastil, brian geller, brian gerich, Jenny hampton, Joe lano, Susan Jones, anika mcintosh, nancy rottle, aJ Silva, liz Stenning, Stephanie weeks

At WSP Flack + Kurtz, our mission is to ensure that today's built environment preserves the natural

environment in which we live.

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Energy and Carbon

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DID YOU KNOWBuilt Ecology is a specialty group that works exclusively with WSP F+K engineers to provide our clients with cutti ng edge, integrated, innovati ve, and deep green design soluti ons that link building systems and architecture.

Built Ecology’s focus is on:

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By CAROLyN AGuIL AR-DuBOSE

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A Change Agent’s Perspective on Green Building in Mexico

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Facilitated workshop for MLBI, IBERO, Mexico City, March 2010

First StepsIn November 2009, Jason McLennan, CEO of the International Living Future Institute, was invited to lecture at Universidad Iberoamericana Mexico City Campus (IBERO) as part of the Design of Sustain-able Communities Diploma course. There he pre-sented the Living Building Challenge and carried out a workshop with a group of forty students, comprised of professionals belonging to a wide variety of disci-plines. The enthusiasm demonstrated by the students suggested the possibility of forming a Living Building Institute of Mexico (LBIM), to spread the seed of deep green design and construction.

The Department of Architecture (DA) constituted a core team to plan an exploration workshop that would guarantee a plural and transparent participation from many sectors of the green building and design indus-try in Mexico, as well as a wide range of stakeholders interested in promoting a better built environment. The Mexican building industry is currently at the crossroads experienced by the USA over a decade ago. LEED® as a certification method is just barely building

momentum in Mexico, and the Living Building Chal-lenge is a big stretch for developers looking for high profits. It will take some years for the market to be con-vinced that LEED® is not enough. This challenge will require a forward thinking enterprise willing to sacri-fice rate of return for demonstrative value. A govern-ment agency, a foundation, a large corporation, and a non-profit organization are key to this endeavor.

The workshop was designed to offer seven facilitated di-alogue tables, four of which addressed the Living Build-ing Challenge 2.0 Petals, while the other three focused on organizational topics. The dialogue centered on the regional conditions in Mexico and how the Living Building Challenge certification method would be ap-plicable in this context, as well as on the organizational challenges associated with the creation of a LBIM.

Concerning the organization of the LBIM, an impor-tant aspect is the adaptation to Mexican conditions without losing the international touch. In a global world, quality is achieved by adjusting to high stan-dards of developed countries with respect to legal

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Jason McLennan at a workshop on the Living Building Challenge, IBERO, Mexico City, October 2010

procedures and compliance issues. The challenge is to build a process and not a static enterprise, to act as a change agent and not a certificate dispenser.

In the framework of the findings of this exploratory ex-ercise, there is still considerable work that needs to be done before LBIM can be formally established. This exercise was a unique and historic event in the con-text of the way things have usually been promoted and propelled in Mexico. Initiatives usually begin in small interest groups with personal benefits in mind and are seldom addressed with the transparency and plurality with which this workshop was carried out.

IBERO has been recognized as a leader and convener in the sustainability arena and is prepared to fulfill this role in its commitment to education, to the environ-ment and to a higher order in building practices.

Existing RealitiesBesides the intrinsic demanding requirements of the Living Building Challenge methodology, one must con-sider the extrinsic challenges of the adaptation to the

local conditions of a country not altogether in the same cultural, social, economic or geographic circumstances as the mostly anglo-saxon United States and Canada. For one thing, land use policies in Mexico are bound to plans that do not always coincide with political decisions or the speed in which infrastructure is put into place.

Historical centralization of the decision-making process has burdened water basins outside Mexico City’s own supply, causing stress and overinvestment in hydraulic infrastructure in an effort to maintain an inefficient and obsolete system. It would be necessary to formalize rules and standards that emulate the ecological performance of a watershed on the one hand, and an educational pro-gram to avoid wasteful behavior on the other.

In Mexico, one is allowed to generate energy but not sell it. Federal and local authorities have been resistant to engaging in a modern approach to energy, stubborn-ly defending a very dated government monopoly. Our most viable source of renewable energy, solar, has yet to be harnessed and change will probably come from the private sector. A key beginning for efficiency in

In a country where seventy

percent of cities are

the product of rapid

urbanization, equity and

beauty become crucial but

they are rarely discussed.

They seem elusive topics

that do not mix with the

everyday resolution of

immediate concerns like

shelter or food.

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energy use is bioclimatic design and this depends on student formation in the architecture studios at the un-dergraduate university level.

Material toxicity is an area in the construction busi-ness not really considered a priority. Although it causes a strain in the healthcare sector, there is no incentive or regulation for product and process certification, or for research. Research is being carried out at IBERO on green materials to build momentum, but more finan-cial resources need to be deployed.

In a country where 70 percent of cities are the product of rapid urbanization, equity and beauty become cru-cial but they are rarely discussed. They seem elusive topics that do not mix with the everyday resolution of immediate concerns like shelter or food. Having said that, the building of “community” is perhaps more vi-able when the formation of a neighborhood implies a collective effort during a long period of time which, in turn, guarantees commitment to, responsibility with, and social pride in achievements however small.

There is a window of opportunity that must not be missed in understanding that a self-built neighborhood has greater potential for self-improvement, as its inhabit-ants have more knowledge of and respect for each other, and are more willing to sacrifice individual interests in favor of common aspirations. A self-built neighborhood is where you find mixed use, proximity to mass transit, higher densities, amenities, formative public space, and a sense of identity, which are all conditions that foster sustainability much more than in low-income housing projects provided by private or public developers.

Bridging The GapTowards this ambitious endeavor, the Department of Architecture took a second step with the translation of the Living Building Challenge version 2.0 into Span-ish, in order to bring this outstanding methodology closer to its target audience in Mexico and be acces-sible to the rest of Latin America as well.

It is not easy to find the exact words to convey the same concepts of the English words “living”, “build-

ing”, and “challenge” when they are transported to a romance language like Spanish. Our first attempt at a title was “El Reto del Edificio Vivo”. Eden Brukman, of the International Living Future Institute, sensed the importance of this bridge between the anglo-saxon and latin ethos, and shared some thoughts about the “meaning” of these words in English, stating that in the English language the words living, building and challenge have the benefit of double meanings: “liv-ing”, meaning evolving, adapting, being; “building”, meaning creating, growing, constructing; “challenge”, meaning thought-provoking, stimulating, engaging.

The answer to this “semantic challenge” was that, in Spanish, reto means a challenge, but also a commit-ment; edificio means a physical building, but also a social structure, a production, an invention, an insti-tution, a foundation, an establishment, an elevation, an ennoblement; vivo means living, but also alive, en-thusiastic, intense, smart, expressive, persuasive, fast, bright, merry, ingenious, intense, strong, clear, real, current, remembered, ever-lasting.

The Aztecs built a city on

an island and enlarged it

through building artificial

islands for cultivation,

homesteads, and ceremo-

nial spaces, with intricate

land and water causeways.

They built dikes, sluices

and levees to control flood

waters and to separate salt

water from fresh water.

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Still trying to give the phrase a more substantive, musical and poetic meaning, and using the hidden semantic network of definitions, reto was substitut-ed for desafìo, which means a difficult enterprise to be faced, a motivation to learn, an acceptance of a code of honor. The title of The Living Building Challenge version 2.0 in Spanish is El Desafío del Edificio Vivo, which also conveys a certain “sound”, a special “music” if you will, whether you say it out loud or you read it. You may now find the Living Building Challenge in Spanish at ilbi.org/coun-tries/mexico

The translation into Spanish was formally and per-sonally delivered to Jason McLennan during his sec-ond visit to Mexico City in the framework of the Di-ploma course on Design of Sustainable Communities in October 2010. His visit was followed by the atten-dance of faculty members from IBERO at the Living Future unConference who presented the result of this workshop and IBERO’s commitment to the quest for a more sustainable world.

This translation effort, the search for the right words in languages of different backgrounds and huge idiosyn-cratic differences was a lesson in itself. Both the English and Spanish languages are the product of a racial and cultural mixture, with divergent ethical codes, a differ-ence in accent, emphasis and sound. Despite all this, there is common ground in the search for ideals and universal aspirations.

History Repeating ItselfMexico has had a long tradition of sustainability that has been ignored and is critical to bring to the fore. Our an-cient prehispanic lore encompassed a great understand-ing of and care for nature. When the Spaniards arrived in 1521, they found a formidable, Amsterdam-like urban center, surrounded by great engineering feats within a systemic understanding of the watershed dynamics. The Aztecs built a city on an island and enlarged it through building artificial islands for cultivation, homesteads, and ceremonial spaces, with intricate land and water causeways. They built dikes, sluices and levees to control flood waters and to separate salt water from fresh water.

Prehispanic Mexico-Tenochtitian mural painting by Diego Rivera illustrating the Aztecs’ use of artificial islands, dikes, sluices and levees.

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They created f loating gardens naturally anchored to the bottom of the lake by the root system of the en-demic ahuejote trees (a type of willow) planted in the perimeter to protect seeds from being blown away by the wind. They used soil from the bottom of the lake to fertilize crops, an agricultural system that is used to this day.

The European colonization effort attempted to adapt to the climatic conditions of a very diverse geography through the use of an efficient grid layout encouraged by the Laws of Indies. The system adjusted to topogra-phy and climate considering bodies of water and pro-tection from north winds.

Arcaded streets and squares would protect from the rain and the sun, fostering mixed use and mixed in-come. The inexorable uniformity of the grid would be countered by the use of local materials, conveying each city with its own identity.

The Spanish type building of Moorish influence, based on a central courtyard or “patio” was well suited to the hot and humid, hot and dry and temperate climates of the diverse regions of Mexico. The patio functions as a chimney shaft that creates a current of air and lowers the temperature by convection. High ceilings, tall windows and doorways allowed cross-ventilation, sun penetration and outdoor views. Patios also allowed proximity to plants and nature.

Plan of Mexico City in 1628

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Xochimilco floating gardens, Mexico City

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Arcaded facade square, Mazatlán Port City, 2009

Santo Domingo Convent, principal patio, 2010

Courtesy of Carolyn aguilar-dubose

Courtesy of Carolyn aguilar-dubose

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CAROLyN AGUILAR-DUBOSE, architect, M.A. urban Design, is the Dean of the Department of Architecture, universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City and is a key leader in the efforts to formalize the Living Building Institute of Mexico.

Modern Mexico City viewing the volcanoes

Courtesy of Gabriela lee

In modern Mexico, some

elements of the Living

Building Challenge, namely

Equity, Beauty, Health,

Materials, Energy and

Water, resonate with di-

verse expressions of a

Mexican historic legacy

surpassing 700 years. It is

time to honor this legacy.

IBERO continues to be the forerunner of the Living Building Challenge in Mexico and the main center of convergence of the interest in this methodology. The Department of Architecture at IBERO has the concep-tual design for a new architecture studio for advanced students, with the intention of it being an example of good practices in and beyond the campus. Technical and financial resources are still needed to put this proj-ect in motion. More information on this project and IBERO’s commitment to sustainability can be found by contacting Carolyn Aguilar-Dubose at carolyn.aguilar@uia.mx

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whaT does The naTure’s award look like?The greenest buildings on the planet.

seven petals.

one award.

one petal at a time.

By MONA LEMOINE

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Summer 201168

In the spring of 2010 the Internation-

al Living Future Institute (the Institute)

issued a call for artists, as individuals or

teams, to submit designs for the Living

Building Challenge Certification Award for

the Building and Renovation Typologies.

Buildings, Renovations, Neighborhoods,

Landscape and Infrastructure projects can

seek either ‘Living’ status (full program

certification) or “Petal Recognition” when

projects satisfy the requirements of three

or more Petals, provided that at least

Water, Energy or Materials is included.

This Award is to be presented to project

teams that achieve the defined require-

ments of the Living Building Challenge

(the Challenge).

The Challenge is comprised of seven

petals, each of which represents the es-

sence of a performance area. Express-

ing the requisite features of beauty and

inspiration while emulating natural forms,

processes, and ecosystems, the Award

needed to reflect the significance of the

certification accomplishment. Beautiful,

organic, non-toxic, and natural, the Award

would help create awareness about the

Challenge and serve as a visual symbol of

its value and innovation.

One of the difficult tasks that Award de-

sign teams faced was how to make this

Award appear complete when reflecting

Petal Recognition and still motivate peo-

ple to continue performance improve-

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ments in order to achieve full certification under

the Living Building Challenge. The Award design

should also create awareness that the projects

achieving certification are not only built using

sustainable practices but also demonstrate a

progressive and necessary movement, in thought

and design, towards a future where all new con-

struction is restorative.

Krista Jahnke and Tom Ngo have been friends

since 2002 when they started their undergradu-

ate program at Carleton University’s School of

Architecture in Ottawa, Ontario. They read about

Living Building Challenge Certified projects also receive a certificate that features artwork by

Richard Britz, an architect, artist and author living on Bainbridge Island. It is framed with FSC-

certifed Madrone from a small forest owner in Oregon. The wood was milled by hand by Baer

Charlton, a local artist who also assembled the paper-cut piece - mounted on iridescent raw silk

to reflect the changing light throughout the day.

the call for artists on the Institute’s website and

thought it would be a challenging design project

to work on together for the first time. While, the

Institute received a number of compelling submis-

sions, their entry immediately stood out – con-

gratulations Krista Jahnke and Tom Ngo on your

winning submission!

Artists’ StatementThe artists felt the Award should act as a tangible

celebration of notable achievement by the project

teams that earned it, as well as being a source of

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The Original Proposal

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krisTa JahnkE is a multi-disciplinary

designer and photographer based out of

Vancouver, British Columbia. In 2006, Jahn-

ke graduated from Carleton University with

a Bachelor of Architectural Studies degree

and in 2009, she earned a Bachelor of Fine

Art in Photography from Emily Carr Univer-

sity of Art + Design.

ToM ngo is an Intern Architect and mixed-

media artist based out of Toronto, Ontario.

Ngo graduated from Carleton University, in

Ottawa, Ontario with a Bachelor of Architec-

tural Studies in 2006 and he earned a Mas-

ter’s degree in Architecture in 2008.

MONA LEMOINE is the Director of Ed-ucation and Training for the Interna-tional Living Building Institute.

pride for the building’s inhabitants and members of

the public.

Incorporating an often overlooked design element

-the door handle- as the basis for the Award, the

winning design team made the Award a readily no-

ticeable feature to the building entrance. The con-

cept behind the Award design is that each person

entering into a certified building is literally able to feel

and personally able to experience the Award. The

functionality of the Award is such that it becomes

a tactile reminder of this notable accomplishment. It

acts as a medallion that is easily identifiable and dis-

tinguishes itself as a sustainable-designed project.

The artists’ original design concept was refined

and completed by Institute staff, Jason F. McLen-

nan, CEO, and Eden Brukman, Vice-President, and

Erin Gehle, Graphic Designer, in collaboration with

Meyer Wells (www.meyerwells.com), a Seattle–

based company that builds elemental furniture

from reclaimed urban trees. Although the type

of wood may vary depending on the location of

the certified project, the final Awards fabricated

for distribution in 2010 and 2011 were made from

Seattle, WA urban salvage locust timber and fin-

ished with a red list compliant, non-toxic material.

Each Petal that is achieved is inlayed in brushed

stainless steel to complete the flower and allows

for additional Petals to be earned over time.

Each Award discreetly includes the Institute’s name

and logo, as well as the year the project was certi-

fied and the title and version of the program.

The form of the awards for the Neighborhood,

Landscape and Infrastructure projects will be equal-

ly suitable and special. Let the beauty of nature in-

spire these designs.

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“Zugunruhe is a work of creative genius that draws

us into an engaging journey of self-discovery.”

— David Korten

Co-founder and board chair of YES! Magazine

are you ready to change?Zugunruhe, a bold and personal look at the

environmental movement.

Summer 201174

By KELLE y BE AMER

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When we use the word habitat, we usually think of an environment or specific conditions that allow an organ-ism to grow and prosper. For a salmon it is a cold, clean, ocean-going river. For the northern spotted owl, it is the cool coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest.

The word habitat is also a Latin verb meaning “inhabits, or dwells in.” It is this definition that anchors the work of Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization found-ed on the conviction that every man, woman and child should have a decent, safe and affordable place to live. Like any other species, humans thrive when provided a stable and healthy environment. Studies show that the stability for children in an owned home produces measurable re-sults in higher math and reading scores, fewer behavioral problems and higher rates of high school graduation.

The ecological and anthropological underpinnings of the word habitat set the stage for a unique partner-ship between affordable housing advocates and green building professionals to address the crucial question:

how do we expand affordable home ownership while protecting our greater ecological systems? This rela-tionship is now being forged in Central Oregon be-tween Cascadia Green Building Council’s High Des-ert Branch and the Bend Area Habitat for Humanity (BAHFH). In realizing common goals encompassed in the word habitat, both organizations are uniting to build simple, decent and affordable homes that are also healthy, efficient and environmentally responsible.

Founded in 1989, Bend Area Habitat for Humanity is the only organization in Bend that provides home own-ership opportunities for low-income families, thereby helping them to break the cycle of poverty. They are offered a hand up not a hand out. Each partner family invests roughly 500 hours of “sweat equity” in building their homes or by serving Habitat in other ways. Habi-tat homeowners also must complete personal finance and homeownership classes to prepare them for a life-time of homeownership. When the home is complete, Habitat sells the home to the selected family using a

Summer 201176

20-year, zero-percent interest mortgage. As mortgage payments come in they are used to build more homes. To date, Bend Area Habitat for Humanity has built 91 homes using this model.

Since 2006, BAHFH has been using green building techniques. All Bend Habitat homes are NW Energy Star certified and built to Earth Advantage Gold stan-dards. As a result, the homes are already 30 percent more efficient than homes built only to current build-ing code standards. Habitat homes are also using pho-tovoltaic solar panels. In an area like Bend that rests on the eastern slopes of the Cascade range, sunshine is abundant and is easily harnessed for natural light and heating. The energy efficient, environmentally respon-sible choices also happen to be affordable.

For people living on low incomes, energy costs repre-sent a significantly higher proportion of household ex-penses than for people with middle or higher incomes. Bend Area Habitat for Humanity has committed to addressing this issue by providing renewable energy sources to their homeowners.

In addition to optimizing energy efficiency in its new homes, BAHFH also wants to address sustainable site selection, materials, water efficiency and other avenues for environmental stewardship. This is where Casca-dia Green Building Council volunteers have stepped onto the scene to help. Cascadia’s mission is to “lead a transformation of the built environment toward a future that is socially just, culturally rich and ecologi-cally restorative.” With support from local High Desert Branch volunteers, BAHFH is pursuing its first LEED home. BAHFH secured a grant from the US Green Building Council and will use volunteer LEED APs

from Cascadia to achieve the certification. Ground breaking is scheduled for early March.

While building a single LEED home is a remarkable success, both Cascadia and BAHFH envision a long-term program that would allow every new Habitat home to be built to LEED standards. But they can’t do it alone. To explore the idea of creating a self-sustain-ing green building program, Cascadia and BAHFH co-hosted an eco-charrette in January. The organi-zations convened green building experts, public em-ployees, affordable housing advocates and designers in the banquet room of the Deschutes Brewing Com-pany, where a panorama of windows showcased the beautiful Cascade Mountains. The charrette process let the regular BAHFH construction volunteers and green thinkers come together to exchange perspec-tives and even ponder each other’s points of view. At the end of day, the fertile conversation and collabora-tive thinking led to general buy-in to develop a green building program that is sustainable and affordable over the long term.

The potential of creating affordable new homes that are also healthy and environmentally responsible cre-ates a ripe opportunity. We at Cascadia can help by en-gaging our community of green building experts and volunteers to support the greening of affordable hous-ing projects around the country.

Project organizers include:

• Mark Quinlan, Executive Director of Bend Area Habitat for Humanity

• John Weekley, BAHFH board member and Cascadia member

• ML Vidas, charrette facilitator,  BAHFH board member and Cascadia board member

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kELLEy BEAMER is Cascadia Green Building Council’s Oregon Advocacy and Outreach Manager. She works with the sustainability community in Oregon to create a positive environmental influ-ence through the built environment.

Summer 201178

Start the year off on the right path.

BECOME ACASCADIA MEMBER!Stand with the bioregion’s leading green build-ing thinkers and practioners. Make an invest-ment in your green building community and join Cascadia today.

• 50% of membership dollars directly sup-port your local branch*

• receive discounts on all cascadia events, including living Future

• earn up to 14 leeD ce hours, at no extra charge

• 100% of your membership contribution is tax deductible in the us**

*In the united States, Cascadia is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit; membership fees qualify as charitable contributions. In Canada, Cascadia is pursuing charitable status. Consult with your tax profes-sional to determine how you can benefit.

**Branches will receive 50% of net revenue from all annually renewable memberships. Lifetime memberships are not included in this policy.

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round heads in the square holes. The ones who see things differently...you can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. But the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things…Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

—Jack Kerouac

Morel is proud to support Cascadia Green Building Council and all who are on the fore front of green building policy and action.

503 736 0111 • www.morelink.biz

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BECoME an inDusTry ParTnEr

SPONSORSHIP

To learn more about sponsorship

opportunities, please contact

sarah Costello via email at

sarah.costello@living-future.org

or by phone at 503.228.5533.

ParTnEr WiTh us anD…

• Join a network of the most influential

green building thinkers and practitioners

• announce yourself as an industry leader

• support locally relevant and globally

inspired training, lectures, programs and

standards

Summer 201180

By A PRIL K NuDSEN

A Living AleutiAn HomeRedefining SuStAinAbiLity in

tHe LAnd of Wind, RAin & fiRe

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in a lanD MarkED by a harsh environment and sky-

high construction costs, a visionary group is re-imagin-

ing how homes are built. The Aleutian Housing Authority,

in partnership with Cascadia Green Building Council and

the International Living Future Institutesm, is sponsoring

a new Living Building Challengesm design competition,

Summer 201182

issued, project teams have proven that buildings

can benefit their environments. Our new partner-

ship with the Aleutian Housing Authority will push

the green building community even further, daring

designers to rethink everything about how build-

ings are designed, how materials are sourced and

how people interact with the built environment.”

The Aleutian and Pribilof Islands region of Alas-

ka covers approximately 100,000 square miles

extending westward from the end of the Alaska

Peninsula. This area of Alaska is often called the

“birthplace of the winds” – a 1,050-mile archipela-

go that is a treeless, windswept land of steep, high

volcanoes, flower-strewn, moss-covered mead-

ows and long, rocky beaches.

Home to some of the world’s longest continuously

occupied communities, the islands in the Aleutian

Kanaga Volcano from Adak Island

The Aleutian and Pribilof Islands region of Alaska covers

approximately 100,000 square miles and is a treeless,

windswept land of steep, high volcanoes, flower-strewn,

moss-covered meadows and long, rocky beaches.

calling for single-family home designs that are ultra-

efficient, environmentally sound and affordable. A

$35,000 prize will go to the winners, who will also

receive the satisfaction of seeing their work come

to life; the Aleutian Housing Authority has commit-

ted to building a home based on the winning design

and the winning team will have first right of refusal

for a contract to serve as the project’s architect. But

in truth there’s far more at stake: the design work

of this competition could lay the groundwork for

transforming how the Aleutian built environment is

created, inhabited and maintained.

“This competition is designed to demonstrate

that we have what we need to thrive in partner-

ship with the ecosystems we inhabit, whether we

live in dense cites or remote communities,” says

ILFI and Cascadia CEO Jason F. McLennan. “In the

five years since the Living Building Challenge was

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Clockwise from top: Atka, Alaska; Russian Orthodox church in Atka; House to be replaced with Competition winner.

Summer 201184

Top: Bald eagles nest – on the ground – throughout the Aleutian Islands, using ridges and sea stacks.Bottom: Steller’s sea lions on Little Tanaga Island.

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archipelago have been developed over the last

8,000 years by the Unangan people, named the

Aleut by their Russian neighbors. The Unangan

supported themselves with a subsistence lifestyle

for thousands of years, and while these activities

are still part of daily life in the region, residents be-

gan a transition in the 20th century to taking jobs

that provide cash income, including commercial

fishing, health care, education, and tribal/ corpora-

tion management. The communities in this region

are among the most remote in the United States,

accessible only by air or boat. Currently, all of these

communities produce electric power from diesel

oil and space heat from heating oil – fuel that is

shipped thousands of miles each year and stored

in large tank farms. In recent years as concern for

the region’s dependence on increasingly expen-

sive fossil fuels has grown, several communities

have begun to partially replace fossil fuel sources

with renewable sources like hydro and wind power.

In April 2010 more than fifty representatives of the

region’s communities, tribal organizations, civil ser-

vants and corporate entities convened the Aleu-

tian/Pribilof Islands Energy Summit in Anchorage.

The Summit was pre-dated by the work of “The

A-Team,” an informal committee that began meet-

ing in 2009, that included representatives from

Aleutian Pribilof Islands Community Development

Association, the Aleut Corp., Aleutian Pribilof Is-

lands Association, Eastern Aleutian Tribes, Aleu-

tian Housing Authority and the Aleut Foundation.

Key to the work at the two-day summit was a shared

understanding that there is an urgent need for re-

form in the region’s dependency on fossil fuels. “En-

ergy is more than the cost of electricity and gas.

It’s intricately tied to Alaska’s various economies,

and those economies are tied to the social health

of communities and to the state,” noted Gene Ther-

riault, senior policy advisor to Alaska Governor Par-

“Our new partnership with the Aleutian Housing Authority will push

the green building community even further, daring designers to re-

think everything about how buildings are designed, how materials

are sourced and how people interact with the built environment.”

— JASON F. MCLENNAN

COMPETITION OPENS

10.01.11

Summer 201186

APRIL kNUDSEN is Communications Project Coordinator and the Living Aleutian Home Design Competition Project Manager for the International Living Future Institute.

nell. Two explicit objectives came out of the summit

– first, to develop a comprehensive energy policy

and plan for the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Region for

implementation no later than spring 2011, and sec-

ond, to reduce fossil fuel use in the region by 85%.

Dan Duame, Executive Director of the Aleutian

Housing Authority (and part of the A-Team) un-

derstands the challenge of combining affordabil-

ity with leading-edge green building technologies,

and hopes the competition stimulates creative so-

lutions in both areas. “The Housing Authority al-

ready builds homes to a high standard, but given

the recent and rapid changes in building science,

materials and technology, I am convinced we can

do better in terms of costs and building perfor-

mance,” he says. “I want to make a quantum leap

forward in how we build homes in this region.”

A conversation with former Cascadia Board mem-

ber Lauri Strauss led Dan to Mark Masteller, Alaska

State Director for Cascadia. “I asked Mark what he

thought about a competition similar to the current

Living City Design Competition, but focused on

building one incredibly efficient home. We don’t

have in-house architects or engineers, and com-

missioning home designs is expensive. Instead of

going to one architecture firm and asking them to

design a sustainable home suitable for the Aleu-

tian region, why not ask lots of architects to work

on the problem?” Mark brought McLennan, the

creator of the Living Building Challenge, into the

discussion. Soon after, the Living Aleutian Home

Design Competition was born.

The Aleutian Housing Authority has identified a

home in the community of Atka that is rotted be-

yond repair and must be replaced. In keeping with

the Living Building Challenge emphasis on build-

ing only on previously developed sites, the hous-

ing authority has selected this location for the first

Living Aleutian Home. Atka is located on an island

of the same name, 1,200 air miles southwest from

Anchorage and roughly in the middle of the long

Aleutian Island archipelago. A small, mostly Alas-

ka Native population supports itself through sub-

sistence living and halibut and black cod fishing.

The community also boasts a seasonally operated

fish processing plant.

The proposed home designs must be cost-effec-

tive – and there is no doubt that combining the

Living Building Challenge 2.0 framework with the

need for affordability presents a significant de-

sign challenge. Currently, AHA spends between

$350,000 and $430,000 to construct a 3-bed-

room, 1200-square-foot home. (More detailed in-

formation regarding current home building costs

from AHA, as well as competition details and time-

line, maybe found at the competition website at

www.competitions.living-future.org/AleutianDesign.)

With this competition the Aleutian Housing Author-

ity, Cascadia and the International Living Future

Institute are planting a flag and challenging de-

sign teams to create twenty-first century Aleutian

homes. Homes that do more than just provide shel-

ter, homes that are creative, affordable, livable and

– above all – responsive to the rich environmental,

cultural and historical cues of the Aleutian region.

aleutian housing authority is the Tribally

Designated housing Entity for 12 federally

recognized tribes in 10 communities with-

in the aleutian and Pribilof islands region.

since inception in July 1977, the housing

authority has successfully developed 304

single-family homes, 65 low-rent units, and

17 fair market rentals. aleutian housing au-

thority continues to own, manage, and oper-

ate 258 housing units throughout the region.

Summer 201188

Last winter, community transformation commenced in Vancouver Island’s Comox Valley when a group of

local practitioners converged to submit an entry for the Living City Design Competition. Since then, these

Ambassadors of the Living Building Challenge have kept up a fast pace effort toward proving that the

visions for the valley’s future laid out in their competition entry are within the community’s reach. After

sparking intrigue with a well-attended public event that showcased the team’s competition design, the

group moved promptly into a month-long series of lunchtime talks on how to bring the ideas of their de-

signs to life. But they haven’t stopped at talking.

Ambassador Tom Dishlevoy recently formed a Living Building Challenge Collaborative, a local group

for enthusiasts to share insights and figure out how to put their ideas to work. Tom notes, “The process

of re-designing our place on the planet has ignited a passion in everyone touched by the idea. And it all

started with a simple notion: Understand the land where you live and shape your life accordingly.” The

emerging Comox Valley initiative demonstrates how communities might leverage the Living Building

Challenge into a visioning process that not only educates and inspires, but also moves swiftly toward

on-the-ground implementation.

AMBASSADORS

TAKE ACTION

By BRI A N A MEIER A ND JAy KOS A

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Comox Valley Ambassadors join a growing global network that includes the San Francisco Bay Area Col-

laborative, one of the first to form when the International Living Future Institute Ambassador Network was

launched in 2010. The group was founded by local industry leaders inspired by the way the collaboration

of a couple of Living Building Challenge project teams in Seattle was helping all involved to overcome

technical issues. The Bay Area Ambassadors realized that, while many firms were interested in applying

the Living Building Challenge, no single organization possessed all of the expertise necessary to succeed.

Since Summer 2010, the group has been meeting quarterly to foster a much needed—and well-received—

knowledge sharing network.

As in the Comox Valley, the Bay Area Ambassadors recognize that while inspiration and education are

important, meaningful action is essential. Mary Davidge, one of the Collaborative’s founding members, ex-

plains, “The Collaborative strikes a balance between inspiring people to push on to do deeper green work,

and finding ways to actually accomplish our visions. We recognize that we cannot succeed at this work

alone. The Living Building Challenge is a real challenge, so continually motivating one another is necessary

to move the agenda forward.”

Summer 201190

Just north of the equator in Santiago de Cali,

Colombia, architect Jose Mejia is hard at work

motivating his peers to take on the Living Build-

ing Challenge. Jose explains that the Challenge

is particularly important in Colombia because,

“this nation has been affected tremendously by

climate change, as unexpected flooding has dis-

placed entire communities, and thousands of

farms have been destroyed by heavy rains. It is a

difficult and unprecedented scenario for us.” Jo-

se’s work is jumpstarting the conversation about

how building professionals can work together to

implement new strategies, protect forests and

adapt to a changing climate. In just a year’s time,

Jose has introduced the restorative principles of

the Challenge to hundreds of colleagues, stu-

dents and government officials, sparking many

important conversations about much needed in-

dustry change.

Like the dandelion in the metaphor to which we of-

ten refer, Living Building Challenge projects help to

prepare otherwise inhospitable ground, which allow

for others to more readily emerge. Ambassadors

in Missouri are helping to catalyze the transforma-

tion initiated by the Tyson Learning Living Center

by teaching both present and future community

leaders about the project. Patrick Ladendecker,

an architectural designer with Hellmuth and Bick-

nese Architects, notes the importance of introduc-

ing young people to the principles applied in the

project: “The elementary school tours are by far the

most inspiring part of sharing the Living Learning

Center’s story. The students are so engaged – the

The work of the Comox Valley Living City Design Competition Team served as a foundation for the creation of the Living Building Challenge Collaborative.

IMAGE © ToM DIshlEvoy

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briana meier is the Community Manag-er for the International Living Future In-stitute. She supports the Living Building Challenge program, as well as the ILFI Ambassador Network.

jay kosa is the Community Coordinator for the International Living Future In-stitute. He supports the Living Building Challenge program, as well as the ILFI Ambassador Network.

complexity of their questions would surprise you.

I’ve found that it’s the demand from students that

drive changes in schools and universities. They un-

derstand the concept of sustainability, but show-

ing them how it affects the built environment is the

best way to create a lasting change.”

The above are just a few accounts of ways ex-

traordinary individuals are cultivating a move-

ment with the power to reconcile the relation-

ship between the built and natural environments.

These Ambassadors form the core of a global

network established in 2010 by the International

Living Future Institute. This Ambassador Net-

work seeks to foster the creation of Living Build-

ings, Sites and Communities in countries around

the world while inspiring, educating and motivat-

ing a global audience about the need for funda-

mental change.

We are already well on our way. Some Ambassa-

dors are leading the design and construction of

projects, while others are serving as trained vol-

unteer presenters or facilitators to local Collabora-

tives. Still others are contributing by sharing inspi-

ration and spreading the word about the Institute’s

mission through their social networking. There are

a myriad of opportunities for engagement, and no

action is too big or too small.

We have many more stories to share. Be sure to

tell us your story of how you are acting as an Am-

bassador at http://bit.ly/lTAKZU, and encourage

fellow Ambassadors in your community to get in

touch with you by adding a “pin” to our World Map

at http://bit.ly/mQUUeW. If you are a new Ambas-

sador, head to the Take Action section of living-

buildingchallenge.org and explore ways to start

making a difference today.

Those close to the green building movement know

that environmental challenges often seem to grow

more daunting by the day. The Ambassador Net-

work reminds us that we are not striving for change

in isolation. We flourish collectively when we sup-

port each other, and when we innovate, teach, learn,

persevere and celebrate together.

Architect Dan Hellmuth leads a 5th grade class on a tour of the Tyson Living Learning Center.

IMAGE © ToM DIshlEvoy © 2010 HellmutH + Bicknese ArcHitects

Summer 201192

We made a major announcement this April. The Inter-national Living Building Institute, launched in 2009 to support and promote the Living Building Challenge™ on an international stage, has been renamed the Inter-national Living Future Institute and is now the umbrella organization for the Cascadia Green Building Council, the Natural Step Network USA and Ecotone Publish-ing. This change has been a long time in coming, and makes official the evolution we have been undergoing since we were first established, over a decade ago.

A working board of green building pioneers founded Cascadia in 1999, the year that saw the emergence of the first LEED pilot projects. From the start, we dedicated ourselves to pushing the green building movement us-ing every available tool. Last year, as we began to explore our next steps as an organization, we celebrated the cer-tification of the world’s first Living Building Challenge

projects. In little more than ten years, the movement had gone from systematizing the steps needed to improve building performance to demonstrating that buildings can capture all of their own energy and water, be com-posed of non-toxic, sustainably sourced materials, and be beautiful and inspiring to the people who encounter them. We still have a long way to go, but it is worth paus-ing every now and then to acknowledge that we have travelled a great distance in a short period of time.

Over these years we also clarified our own role within the movement we serve. As green building and sustain-ability moved from the margins into the mainstream (see “The Third Age of Green Building” Trim Tab, Summer 2010), the quantity of raw data and impas-sioned opinions about sustainability and the built en-vironment ballooned. The developments predicted by E. O. Wilson, in his 1998 book, Consilience, proved to

coming inTo our own

By S A R A H COS T EL LO

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be dead on. “Thanks to science and technology, access to factual knowledge of all kinds is rising exponen-tially while dropping in cost. Soon it will be available everywhere on television and computer screens.” But as Wilson observed, facts in and of themselves have lit-tle meaning. “We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. The world henceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able to put together the right information at the right time, think critically about it, and make important choices wisely.”

Our role from 1999 to the present has been to provide the resources, incentives and tools for exactly this kind of synthesis. Over the past decade, we have consistent-ly served as a convener and gadfly, bringing the build-ing professionals, policy makers and others together to share their insights and pushing them to develop con-crete strategies for advancing the built environment.

By 2006, when we launched the Living Building Chal-lenge, it was clear that green building practitioners already possessed the knowledge and skills needed to transform the built environment. The Challenge’s core innovation was bringing all of these elements into one program and then daring the building industry to em-bark on the difficult process of drawing the best think-ing together to create a solution that is both deeply in-novative and grounded in the history and ecology of each specific site. We did not set out a prescriptive path for how the Challenge would be met, instead we de-fined a clear end goal and encouraged teams to devel-op the strategies that made sense for each community. The fearless project teams who committed themselves to our Challenge have emerged as world-class synthe-sizers, people whose approach to the environmental leadership had been fundamentally changed

As the Living Building Challenge took hold, we moved to simultaneously deepen our place-based efforts with-in the region and to expand the Challenge’s reach on a global stage. By launching the International Living Building Institute, we opened up new opportunities for people outside of our region to engage in the critical thinking process required to transform the built envi-ronment. Our Ambassador program quickly gained

ECOpublishing company

tone

Summer 201194

steam and we developed partnerships with far-f lung communities that saw in the Challenge a powerful framework for conceptualizing and addressing critical social, economic and cultural problems.

In 2010, when the Natural Step Network USA came to us to begin exploring a partnership, we saw an opportu-nity to expand our scope and incorporate a complimen-tary framework for transformation. As with the Living Building Challenge, the Natural Step does not prescribe cookie-cutter strategies for sustainability. Instead, it of-fers a structure for “making important choices wisely.”

With the additional acquisition of Ecotone Publish-ing, which deepens our ability to share the innova-tions and accomplishments of our community, we needed to create a new structure that would allow us to truly come into our own as an environmental NGO dedicated to spurring leadership. “The International Living Future Institute is best understood as a hub for visionary programming,” said CEO Jason F. McLen-nan, who announced the changes during his plenary speech at the Living Future ’11 conference. “As our pio-neering Living Building Challenge project teams have discovered – ‘green buildings’ don’t exist in a vacuum. They are part of a web of inf luences moving from the materials we build with, to the structures we create and maintain, and on to the communities we inhabit. The International Living Future Institute promotes and cultivates solutions that reach across these scales even as it addresses individual behavior and organiza-tional culture. The new institute formalizes our evo-lution in recent years and positions us to address many of the issues that will define this decade.“

On a day-to-day basis, we will continue serving the role we’ve developed over the past decade. The Institute will integrate multi-faceted research, education and advocacy efforts to advance its core programs:

The CasCadia Green BuildinG CounCil remains a strong chapter of both the United States and Canada Green Building Councils, and maintains its network of 14 branches in Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon and its promotion of LEED

and other GBC programs. It is an advocate for progres-sive green building laws, regulations and incentives. Cascadia will translate the Institute’s focus on global-scale transformation to the cities and communities of the Cascadia bioregion.

livinG BuildinG ChallenGe, as a perfor-mance-based standard, will continue to address develop-ment at all scales — from landscape and infrastructure to renovations, new construction and neighborhood-scale development. The first three projects were cer-tified in 2010 and there are nearly 100 potential Living Buildings in the design, construction or evaluation phase worldwide.

The naTural sTep neTwork usa provides the framework for transformation. It helps organiza-tions and communities take steps toward sustainable business practices through education and collaboration. It remains an affiliate of The Natural Step International.

eCoTone puBlishinG is the first publisher to focus solely on green architecture and design. As the outreach and communication arm of the Institute, it will publish books, manage content creation and dis-tribution of Trim Tab, and assemble Living Building case studies.

In a 2010 keynote address, McLennan remarked that we have entered the last decade we have in which to avert the worst effects of climate change. “The Insti-tute takes this urgency seriously,” he commented. “If we are truly in a critical moment for action, we have to take the principles that have informed the Living Building Challenge and apply them aggressively to aspects of the built environment and to the humans and organizations that shape it. The Institute’s prime directive is to do just that.”

SARAH COSTELLO is the Development Director of the International Living Fu-ture Institute.

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Summer 201196

CollaborationHow to Get it Right

By PAuL W ERDER

In order to truly make positive environmental change we all know at some level we can’t get it done ourselves. Not only do we need one another every time we sit down at the table to change the world, we need more tables of great people devoting themselves to sustain-ability. Genuine collaboration with an expanding movement of committed leaders is our only hope.

The problem occurs when we bring the worst out of one another as we attempt to work together. This only occurs when we forget to work from our hearts, which wastes precious time and isn’t the best invitation to others who are thinking about joining the table.

There are two methodologies that work really well for effective collaboration, much better in fact than the familiar “forming, storming, norming, performing” model that we’ve all heard of.

The first methodology, Appreciative Inquiry, comes from the founder of the Fowler Center for Sustain-able Value, David L. Cooperrider and his colleague Frank Barrett.1 It is a simple and elegant approach to problem solving that builds on the idea of focusing on what’s going right.2

If you want to bring the best out of people, Appreciative Inquiry is a very wise approach because we all want to be noticed for our best character traits and contributions. In-nate to the human heart is the longing to be connected with one another; we all have the longing to feel loved. Re-searchers at the Institute of HeartMath have been dem-onstrating the truth of what spiritual mystics have been

1. weatherhead.case.edu/centers/fowler2. For those who want to put this idea to work, visit our toolbox that includes a specific set of steps at lionhrt.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/LionHeart-web-2011-Appreciative-Problem-Solving-white-paper.pdf

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telling us forever: we are hardwired for collaboration. You can explore this research at www.heartmath.org. It’s just the way we are built and meant to be with one another. So why not look at and listen to our colleagues that way all of the time instead of most of the time? Great question! We forget to see the beauty in one another because we forget to see the beauty in ourselves.

A wise man once said, “When we open our mouths to describe something, our words say more about who we are in that moment than what we are describing.” In other words, when it comes right down to it, I am what I judge. In the moment I look at your performance and say you are “uncommitted,” I am being uncommitted to bringing the best out of myself and the best out of you. My judgment may be partially or completely accurate at a superficial level, but it’s not the whole story and the judgment puts up a wall between us, instead of a bridge.

We all know that on some level, we are our own harsh-est critics. In practical terms this means that when we are not at peace within ourselves, we cannot be at peace with the perceived shortcomings of others. This leaves us unable to bring the best out of ourselves and others. Why does this happen? Well, that’s a long story. Fortunately, a brief understanding will suffice. We all got cut from the baseball team, or left out of a party, or fired from a job, or “whatever” many times in our lives. Our hearts have been “broken” by moments of life we did not welcome or know how to handle. Without the ability to deal with these moments, we just carried on with those hurts to the best of our ability.

I have noticed that even the most successful among us haven’t completely resolved all of our past painful mo-ments completely. So when I say you are uncommitted, there’s a part of me that’s not at peace inside with some-

Summer 201198

PAUL WERDER, CEO of LionHeart Con-sulting Inc, is the author of Mastering Effectiveness. you can reach him at paulw@lionhrt.com.

thing to do with my own commitment – otherwise I could speak with you effectively about what happened, as opposed to getting judgmental.

The good news is that we do not need therapy to deal with our “broken” hearts because we’re not really bro-ken at all. We are simply feeling hurt and being forget-ful of who we really are.

But we do need another group dynamics model to col-laborate most effectively when our hurts and forget-fulness impede our ability to appreciate one another. This second methodology was pioneered by Scott Peck when he offered a community building model in The Different Drum in 1983. I built upon his work with Building Unity in 2007.3

Again, there is simple elegance to this work. Group dy-namics occur in four phases. We begin in Pseudocom-munity, where we withhold our upsets and pretend we have no differences. It’s being superficially friendly when inside we are not really in harmony with one an-other. The second stage is Chaos where our differences are out in the open and we are blaming and judging one another as adversaries. When this type of fighting oc-curs it is so unpalatable that we often scurry back to Pseudocommunity. The fourth phase is Unity where we can “fight gracefully” and honor our differences as we become a group of all leaders working together for the common good. It is the experience of “f low” when the team is just rocking and having fun doing what no one thought could be done.

What about phase three? That’s the tough part, but it’s the transformational active ingredient. We call it Emptying because it requires a high degree of self-responsibility as we acknowledge and let go of our own contributions to this particular conf lict or upset. To break out of Chaos we must own up to our own judgments and attitudes that inhibit harmonious and unified group dynamics and let them go – until we get back to a state where we can appreciate one another beyond our differences.

3. lionhrt.com/product-offerings/building-unity-the-book

My addition to Scott Peck’s work was focused on what we empty and how we empty it. In short, many of the personal hurts that interfere with group dynamics are lifelong phenomena that seem to be bigger than us and beyond our ability to release. The good news is that we do not need to go back and dredge up all of the times we got our hearts broken. Yuk!

Therapy is not required. All we have to do is identify how our upsets with others appear to us as problems that leave us with a (belief in a) compromised future. You know, something like, “He’s not committed, so it’s all up to me.” Then we can cross examine the truth of that statement and discover that statement is not true at all. It’s a self-imposed prison sentence that we have the key to free ourselves from when we declare, “I’m not buying into ‘it’s all up to me’ so my heart must have a better answer than that.” Sometimes that does the trick and we find a better way to address the perception of low commitment and we work through the problem without compromising anything.

Other times we need to dig deeper into our hearts with the practice of remembrance. This is a specific approach to mindfulness or meditation that calls in spiritual energy to wash away what’s troubling us. My experience is that the practice of remembrance is the most powerful tool that allows us to genuinely bring the best out of ourselves and others. But please do not believe me; you will have to do your own experiment to see if my “field research” is relevant to you. So if you are interested, here’s our step by step set of instructions to explore a new and empowering approach to both leadership and collaboration: lionhrt.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/LionHeart-web-2011-The-Remembrance-white-paper.pdf. Let me know what you discover!

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Steel Wood+It doesn’t get any

greener

To learn more about gaining the benefits of using sustainable structural steel on your next project contact our Northwest Regional Office at 206.226.7551 or email allbritton@aisc.org.

93% Recycled Content•

98% Recycling Rate•

Multi-Cycled•

Minimal Construction Waste•

Cradle-to-Cradle•

Easily Adaptable•

Regionally Manufactured•

There’s always a solution in steel.sustainable

^

Seattle City Hall, Gold LEEDTM Certified, IDEAS2 Award Winner

Structural Steel Green Facts

Photos Nic Lehoux

Building a Greener Northwest Using Structural Steel

BOOK REVIEW:

By Dan GolemanBroadway Books, New York, 2009

Ecological IntelligenceTHE HIDDEN IMPACTS OF WHAT WE BuY

By JA SON T W IL L

Summer 2011100

So reads the warning label on a common canister of paint remover found at virtually any hardware store in world. While I appreciate the notion that the man-ufacturer is trying to save my life by placing a label like this on their product, it begs the question of why something so harmful is allowed to be made in the first place. Is it really worth potentially losing your eyesight, let alone your life, to remove some old paint? A label such as this might dissuade the average person from

purchasing this product, but what about the millions of other products that aren’t labeled at all in this fash-ion? Think of all the merchandise you see today as you walk up and down the supermarket isle touting “green” or “earth friendly.” Are these products really sustain-able or are there adverse impacts that we’re not being made aware of?

How often are we actually cognizant of the environ-mental, health and social consequences of the prod-ucts we buy? More importantly, what information can be made available to establish this level of awareness? In his latest book, Ecological Intelligence: How Know-ing The Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything, psychologist Daniel Goleman not only addresses these questions, but offers us a glimpse of how information technology may very soon offer a pathway to dramatically alter our everyday purchas-ing decisions.

Regardless of how environmentally conscious you are, its still fairly difficult to be an ethical shopper these days. In the past decade, with the increased popular-

Danger! Poison! Harmful if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin. May be fatal or cause blindness if swallowed. Eye, skin and respiratory irritant. Read carefully warnings on back and side of package.”

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ity of green building rating systems, the organic food movement and general eco-product labeling, people are slowly beginning to move beyond the basic deci-sion criteria of cost and quality to a myriad of other considerations. Does it contain harmful chemicals? Is it organic? Is it cruelty-free? Was it locally made or har-vested? Is it ethically traded?

For most products, finding the answer to these ques-tions isn’t as simple as reading the label on the pack-age. Unless you put complete faith in a company’s marketing material, additional research into the true environmental and social merits of a product are war-ranted – but who has time for that? With technical guidance provided by Harvard-based industrial ecol-ogist Gregory Norris, Goleman delves into the field of Life Cycle Assessments (LCA’s) arguing that the only way we can really know the true impact of – say a TV or a refrigerator – is by assessing it over the full course of its lifespan, from raw material extraction, to the manufacturing and disposal process. He de-scribes the enormous amount of data that isn’t cur-rently disclosed to consumers about a products full embodied energy and environmental impacts. Even for something as mundane as a glass jar, the amount of data is astounding. Goleman is a proponent of the idea that only through further promotion and adop-tion of LCA’s in the materials economy will we fully begin to “understand an item’s adverse consequences in three interlocking realms” – those of the geosphere (soil, air, water, climate), the biosphere (our bodies and those of other species) and the sociosphere (the conditions of workers).

The book also addresses the glut of green products now on the shelves and how many corporations are merely “cashing in” on the green movement and rest-ing their laurels on a single planet friendly attribute that may be included in their product. Goleman calls this new suite of sustainable products the “green mi-rage” and takes on the rampant green washing issue by telling the story of a t-shirt he purchased that ex-tolled on its label “100% Organic Cotton: It Makes a World of Difference.” What this proud t-shirt maker

The book addresses the glut of green products now on the shelves and how many corporations are merely “cashing in” on the green movement and resting their laurels on a single planet friendly attribute that may be included in their product.

Summer 2011102

jASON TWILL manages sustainability initiatives for Vulcan Inc. in Seattle, Wash-ington and currently serves on the board of the International Living Future Institute.

didn’t convey was that it took almost 720 gallons of water to grow the cotton for that one shirt. That the cotton was dyed dark blue through a process that in-cluded the use of chromium, chlorine and formalde-hyde, three toxic chemicals in there own right. Fur-thermore, since cotton doesn’t readily absorb dye, there is a significant amount of contaminated waste-water run-off which is harming the entire eco-system surrounding the factory where it was made and also harming the workers themselves.

The fact that all these “negative externalities” are not made known to purchasers (for something as simple as a t-shirt mind you!) points to the more systemic issue in our economy of “information asymmetry,” a term coined by economist Joseph Stiglitz, to describe the deep inequality between companies and consum-ers in terms of key access to information. This lack of transparency and regulation is exactly how the ma-jority of corporations like to see the industry. Most will provide just enough information to legally sell their products, but certainly not enough to enable purchasers to know the full impacts of their purchas-ing decisions. Nor are they required to do so. Stiglitz stated that “wherever externalities or imperfect infor-mation existed markets wouldn’t work well” and by doing so he was essentially slapping down the “invis-ible hand” theory of neoclassical economist Adam Smith. Stiglitz won a Nobel prize in 2001 for his work in this area, yet we have only seen little, if any, eco-nomic regulatory changes since the time he first pro-posed this theory. According to Goleman, however, the major power shift we need in the global economy, from corporations to consumers, may be just around the corner.

At the heart of Goleman’s book is the notion that we are entering into an era of “radical transparency” where the power of information will be placed squarely into the hands of shoppers just prior to the point-of-sale. Imagine if, with the tap of a finger on your smart phone, you could know, with the precision of an indus-trial ecologist, the hidden impacts of everything you buy? Goleman cites the examples of companies like GoodGuide Inc. (www.goodguide.com) and the En-

vironmental Working Group (www.ewg.org), that are working to make this a reality. Founded by U.C. Berke-ley professor Dara O’Rourke, GoodGuide provides shoppers with an online database of thousands of com-monly used products that have been rated based on their health, environmental and social impacts. They even have a smart phone app so shoppers can scan the barcodes of their favorite items while in the store and instantly see how they stack up. The Environmental Working Group created a similar website for the cos-metics and body products industry called Skin Deep (www.ewg.org/skindeep).

Empowered with this level of information, Goleman sees the emergence of something he describes as “col-lective ecological intelligence” among shoppers, who, through increased ethical purchasing, will begin to shift markets and transform entire industries for the better. In an age where we have the ability to blog, Tweet or use Facebook to post detrimental informa-tion about a companies product or policies and poten-tially reach millions of people in a manner of seconds, I believe Mr. Goleman may just be on to something here. I say tweet away!

Imagine if, with the tap of a finger on your smart phone, you could know, with the precision of an industrial ecologist, the hidden impacts of everything you buy.

LIVING-FUTURE.ORG/UNCONFERENCE2012

SAVE THE DATE

Summer 2011104

UNDERSTANDING THEliving BuilDing ChallEngE

SM

learning objecTives:

• identify the key components of the living building challenge

• discuss the rationale for restorative design principles

• understand successful strategies for compliance with each performance area

• recognize financial, regulatory and behavioral barriers and incentives related to high performance design

• describe the living building challenge community resources and certification process

in-housE WorkshoPs

DESIGNED FOR YOUR NEEDS, DELIVERED TO YOUR OFFICE.

This 6-hour workshop provides an in-depth introduction to the program, and also includes discussion of contextual information such as development patterns and density, and regulatory, financial, behavioral and technological barriers and incentives.

UNDERSTANDING THE LIVING BUILDING

CHALLENGE IS APPROVED FOR 6 AIA

LEARNING UNITS AND 6 GBCI CONTINUING

EDUCATION HOURS

for inquiries on pricing, further

details and to schedule an

in-house workshop, contact

education@living-future.org.

view other educational offerings

online at www.ilbi.org/education.

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www.cascadiagbc.org/trimtab

CASCADIA’S MAGAZINE FOR TRANSFORMATIVE PEOPLE + DESIGN

TR ANSFORMATIONAL THOUGHT

The Essential Role of Women in a Restorative Future

The Living Building Challenge From Concept to Certification

TR ANSFORMATIONAL DESIGN

There’s Danger Underfoot. Where Do You Stand?

SARAH HARMER

TR ANSFORMATIONAL ACTION

TR ANSFORMATIONAL PEOPLE

issue 008cascadiagbc.org

WINTER 2011

ALSO:

The Tooth of the Lion: Beauty, Logic and the ILBI Logo

Removing the Roadblocks to Material Reuse

The Path to Net Zero: Oregon’s Story

How Do We Love More?

Leaping Ahead Without Leaving Others Behind

Book Review: Half the Sky

Trim Tab reaches an audience of

green professionals four times a year —

frEE!

liKE What You sEE? Forward this to a friend and have them sign up for trim tab.

Want to rEaCh nEarlY 25,000 lEading praCtitionErs?

contact us to advertise in the next issue!

THE MAGAZINE FOR TRANSFORMATIONAL PEOPLE + DESIGN

Summer 2011106

Moving UpstreaMMoving UpstreaM

Do you have a lead on cutting-edge green building progress in the region?

Contact joanna-gangi@living-future.org and put “Moving upstream News Lead” in the subject line.

making progress?

The Challenge

This film by our friends at FIlMThROPIC reminds

us - again - on how dire change really is in making

our planet socially just, culturally rich and ecologically

restorative.

FSC vS. SFI – The BaTTle heaTS UP

The good news is - the advocacy group Forestethics

recently announced that seven major companies,

including allstate Insurance and Office Depot, would

stop using SFI-certified paper products.

eDUCaTIOnal SPRawl

The Jasper Sustainability Club for Youth designed

this presentation to be presented at the living Future

unConference in vancouver in april of 2011. “The

term educational Sprawl relates to our contention that

unsustainable (sprawled) communities are a result

of the traditional school system.” watch part one and

part two.

hPa – wORlDS gReeneST K-12 SChOOl BUIlDIng

The hawaii Preparatory academy energy lab recently

met all of the Imperatives of the living Building Challenge

version 1.3 making it hawaii’s first living Building. If an

island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean can do it then so

can you!

RegUlaTORY PaThwaYS TO neT ZeRO waTeR

Intended for projects pursing net zero water strategies,

this report describes obstacles present within current

codes, identifies possible alternative pathways for seeking

approvals, and provides guidance to Seattle-area design

teams pursuing the goals of the living Building Challenge.

Customized support for

WHAT IS IT?This optional service is intended to improve a project’s potential to comply

with the Living Building Challenge requirements at a point in the design

process where adjustments are still possible.

HOW DOES IT WORK?The Institute spends a day with the team to learn how the project accounts

for each Imperative of the Living Building Challenge (an option for a virtual

meeting is also available). Following a review of the project documents, we

will issue a report outlining our guidance for the team to improve their ability

to succeed. It is possible to receive feedback on the Imperatives within a

single Petal, select Petals, or all seven Petals of the Living Building Challenge.

HOW DO I GET STARTED? For more information on fees and scheduling, email: certification@livingbuildingchallenge.org

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT GUIDANCE

WHAT IS IT?To steer teams toward innovative yet feasible solutions for their Living

Building Challenge projects, the Institute offers an optional service to lead the

kick-off meeting or “charrette” and help define fundamental, strategic goals.

HOW DOES IT WORK?The charrette should take place at the beginning of a project when the

potential to explore is at its fullest. The one-day meeting format focuses on

fostering an interactive dialogue that allows participants to consider each area

of impact. The two- or three-day format allows time for a deeper examination

of promising ideas. The Institute designs the agenda, facilitates the session,

and provides a follow-up summary.

CHARRETTE FACILITATION

Living Building ChallengeSM is a philosophy, advocacy tool, and certification program that addresses development at all scales. It is comprised of seven performance areas: Site, Water, Energy, Health, Materials, Equity, and Beauty.

At the International Living Future Institute, we believe that a compelling vision is a

fundamental retirement of reconciling humanity’s relationship with the natural world.

www.livingbuildingchallenge.org

Measure Twice, Cut Once.

The Early Bird Gets The Worm.

Designed for your needs, delivered to your office.

IN-HOUSE WORKSHOPS WHAT IS IT?Customized training is available as an optional service for organizations

and project teams to ensure that everyone has a shared fundamental

understanding of the Living Building Challenge or particular Petal area.

HOW DOES IT WORK?Whether there is a specific area of interest or a desire for a private

presentation of an established curriculum, the Institute can bring the

education to you. The most common workshop requested is a full-day

introduction to Living Building Challenge that also includes discussion of

contextual information such as development patterns and density, and

regulatory, financial, behavioral and technological barriers and incentives.

event Calendar JULY – SEPTEMBER 2011

for compleTe deTails, please visiT www.cascadiagbc.org/calendar

Events And Workshops Presented By Or In Partnership With The International Living Future Institute

BuilDing grEEn WiTh lEED: lEED CanaDa for nEW

ConsTruCTion

Vancouver, BC – 07/11 through 07/15

unDErsTanDing ThE living BuilDing ChallEngE

Portland, OR – 07/13

ThE living BuilDing: TaCoMa’s nExT ChallEngE

Tacoma, WA – 07/20

rEsPECTing ThE PrinCiPlEs of susTainaBiliTy: ThE

naTural sTEP fraMEWork

Webinar – 07/21

inTroDuCTion To ThE naTural sTEP fraMEWork

Webinar – 08/09

unDErsTanDing ThE living BuilDing ChallEngE

Atlanta, GA – 08/25

unDErsTanDing ThE living BuilDing ChallEngE

San Francisco, CA – 08/30

o+M 251: unDErsTanDing ThE ExisTing BuilDing

oPEraTions + MainTEnanCE lEED raTing sysTEM

Portland, OR - 08/16 through 08/18

lEED 201: CorE ConCEPTs & sTraTEgiEs

Portland, OR - 08/16 through 08/18

workshops, lectures + other

opportunities throughout the

cascadia bioregion and beyond.

TransforMaTional lECTurE sEriEs: yanCy WrighT

Eugene, OR – 09/06; Bend, OR – 09/07; Klamath Falls,

OR – 09/08

TransforMaTional lECTurE sEriEs: kaThlEEn

o’BriEn

Bellevue, WA – 09/06; Kelowna, BC – 09/07; Nelson,

BC – 09/08

hiDDEn assETs in Plain sighT for susTainaBiliTy:

ThE naTural sTEP

Webinar – 09/15

unDErsTanDing ThE living BuilDing ChallEngE

Chicago, IL – 09/20

TransforMaTional lECTurE sEriEs: sTEPhEn

kEllErT

Portland, OR – 09/20; Seattle, WA – 09/21; Vancouver,

BC – 09/22

Other Events

EnErgy, innovaTion anD ThE fuTurE of DEsign

Seattle, WA – 07/13

norThWEsT ECoBuilDing guilD 10x10x10

Kenmore, WA – 09/10

BEsT fEsT ‘11

Portland, OR – 09/12

JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER

What you don’t knoW about green tech - but should

North America does not have to import any oil: we made an active choice to

import oil and that decision costs us billions annually. It’s true, and it is one of six green facts that few people know.

architecture for humanity founder cameron sinclair becomes advisor to President obama

The committee will help the present administration deal with the decisions

and interactions surrounding aid given by the uS government to private organizations providing assistance to people in need around the world.

the JasPer kids rock out

One of the many special moments from Living Future 11. The Jasper Sustainability Club kicks

off its 15 Minutes of Brilliance with a cover of Arcade Fire’s Sprawl II.

a 3x3x3 meter eco-home

Check out this little video about this little home. Dr. Page’s design that is modern,

comfortable, and has minimum impact on the environment.

the ban on the yelloW Pages – finally!

San Francisco, Seattle and cities across the nation are beginning to ban the distribution

of the yellow Pages, otherwise known as a tree of a phone book. San Francisco receives almost 1.6 million yellow Pages phone books annually, which creates nearly 7 million pounds of waste annually. Seattleites, you can put your name on the opt out list as well.

fWd: read this!

click

click

click

click

fWd: read this!If you have something that should be included here please send it to us at trimtab@cascadiagbc.org.

click

are you of the opinion that community action picks up where rhetoric leaves off?

are you someone who leverages common ground to inspire innovative solutions?

are you a steadfast steward of the natural environment and its resources?

are you tired of waiting for a living future?

are you an ambassador?

WE arE all aMBassaDors.

The international living future institute ambassador network supports a variety of opportunities for individuals to engage with the living building challenge:

• join or form a collaborative, a community-based group of living building challenge

enthusiasts who share knowledge and enrich human habitat.

• introduce the living building challenge to new audiences as a trained volunteer presenter.

• share ideas, art and imagination – essential contributions that are as much a part of transforming

the built environment as brick and mortar – across multiple online platforms and in-person with

other local advocates.

ambassadors, play a critical role in inspiring, educating and motivating action within our communities. Thank you for doing your part.

To take action through the ambassador network, visit

www.ilbi.org/action/network where you can place yourself

on the ambassador world map.

connect via the living building challenge facebook page.

for more information, visit competitions.living-future.org.

CASCADIA-IN-THE-HOUSE

Green Building Education Designed for Your Needs, Delivered at Your Office

Is your organization looking for customized green building education? Check out Cascadia’s menu of targeted educational topics. We’ll bring expert practitioners right to your office and get you and your colleagues caught up with the tools and know-how you’ll need to create Living Breathing BuildingsSM.

SAMPLE TOPICS OF COURSES AVAILABLE INCLUDE:

• living Building challenge roadshow• site Design• energy• materials• Water• Business• leeD• Process

Please contact us at info@cascadiagbc.org for inquires on pricing and further information, or pick up a copy of our program guide.

let us know if there are other topics you are interested in and we may be able to help!

Living Breathing BuiLdingssM

FORWARD TO FRIENDS:

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ADVERTISE:

Want to rEaCh nEarlY 25,000 lEading praCtitionErs? Contact us to advertise in the next issue!