How will the recession affect green buildings, codes and development?

It’s a timely question and one I’ve been wondering about for some time. It also happens to be the topic of a panel discussion I am moderating on Thursday evening for the Cascadia Region Green Building Council at

What to do?

Seattle University.

The event features a number of great panelists: Michael Weinstein of the Urban Innovations Group, Bruce Herbert of Newground Social Investment, Jayson Antonoff of the City of Seattle Green Building Program, Ric Cochrane of King County Green Tools Program and Aaron Fairchild of G2B Ventures. Come eat, drink and discuss with us! The discussion costs $10. To register, go here.

However, our event is not the only good thing happening on Thursday evening. If you’re not at Greenbuild, here are a number of local things to keep you interested:

On Wednesday and Thursday, Alex Steffen of Worldchanging.com will host a two-day lecture to flesh out a pathway to a great sustainable future. On Wednesday, the lecture is called “A new Global Future,” and on Thursday it is called “Seattle’s Bright Green Moment.” Each lecture costs $5.

On Thursday, Tacoma will host a talk on its Center for Urban Waters. The center, an environmental research space, is seeking LEED platinum certification. The talk costs $10 at the door or $7.50 in advance. More info here.

On Friday and Saturday, the Northwest Energy Coalition is hosting its fall conference on energy efficiency. The conference features a keynote talk by Rob Bernard, chief environmental strategist for Microsoft, and multiple panel discussions. More info here.

Patricia Chase of International Sustainable Solutions sent out an e-mail recently regarding the death of Svend

Svend Auken

Auken, the Danish gentleman who helped turn Denmark into the energy efficient country it is today. He passed away in August. When Auken was last in town in June of 2008, I had the honor of personally interviewing him after his talk at city hall. My story, available here,  focuses on how Auken said green was a very tangible and possible thing as long as government set rules and got involved. He suggested rules regulating energy use per square foot of a building. I also blogged about our discussion here.

An event will celebrate his life Nov. 6 at 5:30 p.m. It will be held at the Nordic Heritage Museum, 3014 N.W. 67th St., Seattle.

Here’s what Chase wrote in the e-mail:

“I was sadly aware the last time I had the pleasure of enjoying Svend Auken’s company, that it might be the last. In spite of weekly blood transfusions, radiation, slurred speech (terrible for someone who loved to talk as much as he did), Svend insisted I come over to sit on his veranda with him, drink his favorite Barolo, and talk about everything from how grateful he was to have reconnected with the Pacific Northwest to the perilous situation with Israel and Gaza. Fully aware that all treatments had failed to halt his prostate cancer, Svend was still as optimistic and full of life as ever. He was excited about his recent speech to Congress about Denmark’s energy independence, and believed that his party, the Social Democrats, were poised to regain government. In spite of his condition, he was actively campaigning for people in his party, and was looking forward to upcoming travels. Svend was grateful that he had been able to reconnect with the Pacific Northwest in the past few years. As a student for one year at WSU, in the heady era of the Kennedy administration, Svend took his first steps in his political career as a campus organizer for civil rights in America. The people of the Pacific Northwest were very important to him, and every time he visited, he gave us 250%.”

I’ll leave you with what he said the last time he was here in Seattle: “If we want to change, we can change. We have the instruments and if we can’t do it, who can do it.”

It never fails. August ends, September begins and the green building community GOES CRAZY WITH EVENTS! It’s like the green people fall asleep sometime in mid-July and wake up after Labor Day energetic and raring to go.

Anyway. As I will be out of the office for the next week, I figured I would make a short list of what’s going

Stop sleeping green people! It\'s September!

on. Here are some (not all) of the many green things to fill your September with:

On Sept. 8 the Master Builders Association hosts an introduction to Built Green at the MBA Housing Center from 8 to 10 a.m. It costs $30. More info here.

On Sept. 9, the Univeristy of Washington Professional and Continuing Education hosts a webinar on its new certificate in low impact development. The free Webinar runs from 5 to 6 p.m. For more information, click here.

On Sept. 10, the Cascadia Region Green Building Council is hosting a workshop on zero net water buildings and super low impact development. It will be at the Wyckoff Auditorium at Seattle University from 4 to 6:3- p.m. and costs $10. More info here. (P.S. last time I went to a talk in this series it was awesome. I’m sad I can’t go to this one….)

On Sept. 15, Carol Sanford will speak about attracting, incubating and holding business and sustainability at REI. Tickets are $18. More info here.

On Sept. 17, Sustainable Industries hosts its annual Economic Forum. Paul Hawken will speak. A panel of local business leaders will also discuss the economy. The morning event runs from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. It costs $75. More info here.

On Sept. 17, the AIA hosts its latest Regeneration lecture at the Seattle Art Museum on “the architectural challenge of 2030.” Amanda Sturgeon of Perkins + Will is speaking. Tickets run from $10 to $25. More info here.

On Sept. 23, the Urban Land Institute is hosting a morning presentation on the future of the Puget Sound region and challenges in urban development. Former governor Dan Evans will speak. Tickets are $15 at the door. More info here.

On Sept. 23, SMPS is hosting a lunch panel as part of Kirkland’s Sustainable September Initiative on sustainabiity and the state of the economy. The talk is called “After the recession - where is the work, what will it look like and are you ready?” It will run from 11:30 to 1:30 at the Bellevue Athletic Club. Tickets range from $40 to $55. For more information, go here.

On Sept. 25 the Northwest Ecobuilding Guild is hosting its annual 10×10x10 green building slam at the downtown Seattle Public Library. It costs $20. More info here.

If I missed your event, feel free to post it below in the comment section. Enjoy!

Have you ever watched Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and thought to yourself, “Wow. That TV show sure is using a lot of resources. That aren’t green. Or environmentally friendly?”

Well, ReGeneration Productions is aiming to create a reality television show for you, dear reader. It’s called Sustain the Rain and it’s being billed as “Seattle’s first sustainability

Rose Thornton

makeover television show.”

Doesn’t sound like your cup of TV? Maybe you’re just imagining this from the wrong side of the fence. It turns out the TV show, which is the brainchild of Rose Thornton, pictured at right, is also seeking a host for the show and expert consultants.

Here is what the show is looking for: a green business consultant, a green transportation consultant, a green chef/food consultant, a green interior home consultant, a green exterior home consultant, a Pacific Northwest outdoors consultant and a green personal care consultant.

Everyone involved in the show must be well connected to Seattle’s environmental community, able to donate evening and weekend time during a pilot shoot this July and August, comfortable in front of a camera and passionate about the environment.

Sound like you? Then you need to e-mail Rose at rosecthornton@gmail.com to receive an extended list of qualifications. You also need to sign up to audition for a part. Auditions are this Saturday between 10:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. in the meeting room of the Greenwood Branch of Seattle Public Library, 8016 Greenwood Ave. N. Audition time slots last 15 minutes. Those auditioning for consultant spots must prepare a two to five minute description of how to “make-over” a lifestyle choice in your area of expertise.

Here’s to being a green movie star!

Ah, June. The sun comes out. It starts to feel like summer….. and there happen to be a lot of green building conferences.

Here’s some of what’s going down:

On May 28 - 29, the University of Washington will host a conference on the intersection of climate change and human rights. The lineup looks interesting with speakers including Mary Robinson, the first woman president of Ireland. Looks like it costs $115 for general admission, $30 for students and $265 for attorneys (ouch, comparatively).

On June 2, the fourth annual Construction Solutions Conference will be held at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center. The conference overview is titled “making green buildings healthy buildings” (wait, aren’t they healthy anyway? Hmm, maybe not….) It’s got some interesting looking sessions like one asking what have we learned from the first generation of green buildings? Costs $325.

On July 3, the Partnership for Water Conservation Workshop will host an event on setting water rates to promote conservation. It’s at the Carco Theater in Renton and costs $65 for members and $80 for non-members.

On Thursday, June 4, the AIA will host a water forum that looks at becoming “water independent.” I’ve been told this is the “water event of the year” and the lineup certainly makes it look that way. Speakers include Jason McLennan of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council, Paul Fleming of Seattle Public Utilities and Jon Gray of Interface Engineering. Prices are $175 for members of AIA and government, $30 for students and $255 for non-members.

Also on June 4, Cascadia will host its pre-art walk green building meet up. This is the place to be if you want to meet fellow greenies in a comfortable, building-related environment. The event runs from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. and features wine and cheese.

On June 25, Guy Battle, director of Battle McCarthy will speak as part of the Transformational Lecture Series. The topic of the talk is low energy buildings and sustainable communities: designing for the net zero economy. It runs from 5 to 7 p.m. at Seattle Central Library. I’ve been told I “can’t miss it” so I would suggest you don’t either.

This is by no means an exhaustive list so good luck ferreting out the green stuff that’s worthwhile!

Today, I got an e-mail from Robert Redford. Yes, that Robert Redford. What could Robert Redford, the dashing star of Sneakers, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid or Spy Game (pictured below), want

Robert Redford

with me, I wondered? Could he appreciate my green blogging? Could he be answering my fan mail from 1992?

No. He wanted me, along with everyone else on the nonprofit Climate Solutions’ mailing list, to attend the ginormous climate rally outside of Bell Harbor Convention Center tomorrow at noon.

So why is this event important enough to get the venerable Redford’s attention?

Well, the point of the rally (to be attended by Mayor Greg Nickels and a whole bunch of other people) is to demonstrate support for federal action on climate change. But the real business will be happening inside the convention center, where one of two hearings nation-wide will be occurring throughout the day.

The hearing, titled entrancingly “Endangerment and cause or contribute findings for greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act,” is an opportunity for individuals to comment on EPA’s proposed finding that global warming pollution is a threat to public health and welfare. The information will be used to influence future climate policy.

Unfortunately, registration for the event is now closed. But the EPA will be audio streaming the event. To listen in, or for more information, click here.

P.S. Thanks Robert, for thinking of me. Now could you reply to my old fan mail?

On Thursday evening, I attended the first lecture in AIA’s new ‘Regeneration’ series. The lecture featured Lucia Athens of CollinsWoerman, Pliny Fisk III of the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems and Jason Twill of Vulcan.

For those of you that missed it, the information was certainly presented in a unique way. Speakers discussed a number of topics under ‘headings,’ like mentors and current work. The

Regeneration is a new AIA Seattle lecture series

format allowed speakers to touch on a variety of topics and gave the audience a little more background, than is often given, into what influenced the speakers in their work. It struck me as being a more personal discussion than lectures often are. It was also a little less structured, and allowed speakers to discuss what they thought was interesting about regenerative design, architecture, etc.

For example, Athens spoke about her relationship with Fisk. It turns out Fisk is a mentor to Athens, and Athens even designed the landscape at his Austin, Texas Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems. (By the way, Athens’ book, Building an Emerald City, is due out in November. For more info on that, click here.)

The talk looked at regenerative design, what that means and how far the industry is in achieving it. Twill said as an industry, we’re nowhere near where we need to be, in part because it is very difficult to convince the higher-ups that things need to, and can, change. Green design today, he said, isn’t green enough. “I still see us designing a box and throwing in an efficient toilet and calling it sustainable.” Twill said we need to move from green to sustainable and eventually restorative design, before culminating in regenerative design.

Twill asked the audience a number of questions like ‘Have you been a part of an integrated design process,’ and ‘Have you participated in a post occupancy evaluation?’ Out of a packed room, barely anyone in the audience (other than Twill) raised their hand and responded ‘yes’ to these questions.

Because the discussion breached so many topics, I am, more than anything, left with a checklist of Web pages to check out and items to research. Here is my checklist, of Web sites, books and people, that the speakers thought were interesting and influential. Feel free to share your experience below, if you attended the event!

www.rose-network.com,  www.livingneighborhoods.org , www. conservationeconomy.net, terra preta, Bill Reed, and  Panarchy.

The Regeneration series is a seasonal event. The next one will be June 16 with Robert Pena. For more information, visit AIA Seattle’s Web site.

P.S. AIA Seattle’s What Makes it Green awards ceremony is next Tuesday, April 28, at FareStart. I’ll be there. Will you?

This morning, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. keynoted the BuiltGreen Conference 2009 at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center. It was not your typical green conference keynote.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Most talks focus on one topic and explore it. At green events, that talk is usually centered around a project, a theory or a problem that we need to fix. This talk was mostly political and discussed everything from the benefits of “true free market capitalism” (many), to how the Bush administration tore down environmental rules and tenets (disastrously), to who was who in Washington, D.C. politics (lobbyists), to how much mercury human beings have in their bodies (a lot), to how the press has covered these issues (very poorly).

Honestly, he spoke about so many different things I don’t really know what to tell you, dear reader. So I’ll start with energy.

Kennedy spoke a lot about the energy grid. The largest technical problem in weaning ourselves off oil, he said, is that we don’t have a grid that can handle new sources of energy like wind or solar. Developing a system that would reach every American home would cost $1 million per mile, he said, or $150 billion. It’s a one-time expenditure, he said, and would benefit national security. He said we’ve done it before with computers and the Internet; all we have to do is make the commitment.

He also said we need to change the way the energy business works. Utilities today, he said, benefit by creating and selling more energy. We need to redevelop it to focus on conservation. “We have to change that incentivized system,” he said, “So that they can make the same money by getting people to conserve, not consume.”

He also spoke a lot about a business he is a part of called Better Place. Better Place is a venture-backed company that seeks to build an electric car network based on today’s technology. Kennedy said the company is beginning with Israel, where it hopes to transform the market over the next three years. The company will give electric cars away for free - made by Renault and Nissan - to anyone who signs a contract with the company. Under the contract, the person owns the car while Better Place owns the car battery (which costs $20,000). The company pays itself back by charging a premium on the power the car needs to run, outlined in the contract. He said the company has similar contracts with Denmark, Australia, Hawaii and north California, and would love for all of North America to follow suit.

“The electric car is the way this country is going to go,” he said.

Kennedy also took a hit at the mainstream media, calling it “negligent” in reporting important stories over the past decade. Instead, he said the media has become entertainment rather than information, which appeals to the prurient interests in the reptilian parts of our brains. Ouch.

Were you there? If so, what did you think was the most interesting thing he said and how would you rate his speech?

P.S. The information Kennedy shared about his personal levels of mercury (if he were a woman, he said a doctor told him his children would have cognitive impairment) was pretty frightening. If you want to test your mercury levels, visit the Waterkeeper Alliance, another organization Kennedy is affiliated with, here.

It’s looking like the next two weeks are going to be busy weeks for those who attend green building events. The problem is that with so many things going on, it can get really hard to keep track of them. So, for your convenience, here is a short rundown of what’s going on:

Feb. 24, Tuesday: Resilient Community Planning in the Global Context. 5 p.m. at Gould Court, University of Washington campus. More info here.

Feb. 25, Wednesday: The Cascadia Chapter of the Congress for the New Urbanism hosts its first event at Mithun’s offices. Andrew Schmid of Sound Transit will discuss the connection between public transportation and community development. It is free and begins at 6 p.m. For more information, go here or email info.cnucascadia@gmail.com.

February 26, Thursday: Jason McLennan, CEO of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council, will give a lecture in Tacoma on green building, the new economy and the future of the building industry. It’s at Tacoma Public Utilities. Free for Cascadia members, $10 for all others. More info here.

March 3, Tuesday: The Northwest Environmental Business Council is hosting a one-day conference on stormwater at the Hotel Murano in Tacoma. It costs $145 for NEBC members and $160 for non-members. More info at www.nebc.org.

March’s WSU Innovators luncheon, called ‘Recovery or Reinvention,’ looks at how business will repond to the recession. More info here.

March 4, Wednesday: The NEBC hosts its monthly lunch at McCormick & Schmick’s Harborside. This month’s topic is air quality and nonattainment areas. Dennis McLeran will speak.

Mark Johnson from Jones & Jones Architecture and Landscape Architects will speak at the Mercer Slough Environmental Education Center on sustainable design as part of Bellevue’s Living Green Series. Talk runs from 7-9 p.m. More info here.

March 6, Friday: Built Green, 2009 Conference. $135 for Built Green members, $180 for non-members. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is keynoting the conference. More info here.

And that, my friends, should tide you over!

This week, I attended a conference hosted by The Seminar Group on sustainable development and green buildings. Among many interesting topics, one theme kept coming up over and over again: if we want green buildings and other parts of sustainability to catch on, we need to change the market.

Is consumerism the answer to a new society?

Hmmm. How to do that.

Susan Drummond of Foster Pepper said it comes down to how we make our money. Many industries, she said, make money on the idea of more. As a lawyer, she bills by the hour to make more. Utilities make more the more power they make. A developer makes more with more projects, as does a contractor.

But the production of more, she said, itself depends on the supply of natural capital, or those natural aspects we make money off of… like oil, or trees or vegetables. She said that frontier of natural capital is closing. And if it is closing, businesses need to adapt and create new, sustainable models of working.

But there are different interests - from transportation to land use to renewable energy - that need to be addressed. Together, they resemble a herd of cats. And how do you herd cats, she asked? By moving their food. So business needs to look at strategies that move the food bowl. (This is what the entire conference was about. Moving the bowl in looking at new strategies for transportation, land use etc.)

Later in the conference the idea of a changing market came up again when, A-P Hurd, a vice president of local developer Touchstone, spoke. One problem with the local market, she said, is essentially that things are too cheap. Water is cheap. Energy is cheap. And if they are cheap, there’s not much of an incentive to save it.

“We are going to have to, at the very least, reflect the cost of providing these things to the people, ” she said. “If the market is going to find the ability to innovate, it is going to need to find a way to get a payback on that innovation.”  

It sounds complex. But Drummond said it really comes down to one thing:

“Frankly, all we are doing is changing how we shop,” she said. That applies to your home, your food, your car. Instead of asking what’s in it for me, we need to expand our view and ask ‘what’s in it for humanity?’  

Is that really all it is? Changing how we shop? Can the market be transformed by thoughtful consumerism? And if so, how do you harness that change…..

What do you think?