If I were to take a poll, I bet that nine out of 10 people have seen at least one episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (commonly called ABC’s Extreme Home Makeover). I have now worked on two episodes and the most recent one was the first time ever in seven seasons that they have allowed a group to completely disassemble a home to the ground. I was asked to fly out and help deconstruct a 2,700-square-foot, two-story home in 15 hours, and that is exactly what we did.

Crews gather to re-make a home!

I won’t spoil the show by giving out details, but I can say that it opened the door to reusing materials in the new building and in the surrounding neighborhood. That my friends, is exactly what Extreme Home Makeover did! They immediately found ways to incorporate the materials in their plans and much of the lumber will never be more than a block away from the property. It is true that the show has its critics. Many of them complain to me that it glorifies demolition. If I had a TV, I would watch the show on a regular basis, but the few episodes I have seen do make demolition look ‘fun’.

Hopefully, we have opened the door for them on alternatives to demolition. Each show I watch seems to have a growing focus on green building and this might be the next step for them. Given the tight timeframe allowed for demolition and site work until now, they really haven’t had a choice. Our industry offered them no solutions given their extreme situation. For me, this is all part of the path toward making green building a mainstream choice, systematically pursuing projects that we couldn’t touch years ago, until we become an option for anyone interested. Over the last 16+ years working in the green building field, I have realized that my work consists of one part natural resource conservation, one part reduced energy demand and two parts basically helping people. This is the path of Extreme Home Makeover, so keep watching and encouraging them to raise the bar higher, because that is exactly, what I plan to do.

A picture of the home\'s foundation

The numbers are down this year but spirits are high. USGBC president Rick Fedrizzi claims there are 25,000 here in Arizona but it doesn’t feel that busy.

Al Gore delivered a decent keynote last night with some witty humor and a fresh trim look. The message was nothing new but reinforced the Inconvenient truths and Our Choice to make a difference.

The exhibitor booths were in big numbers. Like previous years it was most of the large companies pitching their not so green products, although there were a few exceptions.

My personal favorite was LEEDuser.com a really cool, inexpensive tool designed to help de-mystify the myths about how to document all of the LEED V3 credits. In other words, a user guide with online experts and advice on how to fill in all the blanks that remain in the not-so-wonderful new LEED reference guide. It was developed and promoted by Environmental Building News the authors of Building Green and has some serious substance behind it. YRG consultants helped develop LEEDuser.com even though it’s ultimately aimed at taking the need for consultants away from the project (assuming project team members know the basics). The concept is brilliant, go sign up for a membership.

Trying to figure out all the ever changing details of the LEED AP continuing education program seemed to be the hottest topic. There was no shortage of confusion and frustration but GBCI had a booth of people that did a nice job helping people out. If you have questions of your own I would recommend asking to speak with Arnold or Margaret.

For those of you who couldn’t make it this year let us know why? And for those that did please share your highlights.

Yesterday I heard Eden Brukman present briefly on the updates to the Living Building Challenge - v2.0 - and was excited about the inclusion of Urban Agriculture, among other new features.

The Challenge now also includes ‘car free living’, ‘biophilia’, ‘human scale and humane places’, ‘democracy and social justice’ and ‘rights to nature’ - a few of these under the new ‘Petal of Equity.’

Not sure what a Petal is?

Urban agriculture, now a part of the Living Building Challenge

Petals are the category areas such as Site, Water, Energy, Health, Materials, Equity and Beauty. Petals are subdivided into a total of twenty Imperatives, each of which are required to achieve Living Building Status. Imperatives are renamed (formerly Prerequisites), and rightly so!

Within one performance based rating system, the Challenge covers small and large scopes of buildings and communities.  Good going guys.

From partial building renos to entire new construction projects, individual landscape to infrastructure projects and whole communities, ’scale jumping’ within the system is permitted.  It’s the bookshelf concept that USGBC is only beginning fully realize.

The performance requirement of one year of continuous operation remains the same.

Go straight to the source here, and download the new rating system today!

If you want to follow Greenbuild from a couple of other perspectives, check out John Jennings posts on the Betterbricks site:

http://blog.betterbricks.com/design/

Penny Bonda’s perspective is always fresh and engaging:

http://www.interiordesign.net/blog/1860000586.html#940050494

And if you want the party line, visit:

http://www.greenbuildexpo.org/News/blog.aspx

Amidst the energy, networking and commotion of Greenbuild, last night’s keynote by Al Gore set the stage for the attendees ramping up their time here in Phoenix.  Gore was met with laughter as he told the same old

Sheryl Crow sang at Greenbuild this year

jokes and then launched into his insightful ‘rise up and speak out’ message of finding courage in challenging times.  Whether in politics, or in the realm of development, Gore’s message was age old - find your own voice, activate it, and reach out and activate others - as we currently have the technologies and tools at hand to solve our vast global crisis.

Rick Fedrizzi’s opening message lacked the inspiration and insight of past years. The power of the founderand CEO’s opening plenary came from the mass of voices from an international stage: leaders of the Green Building Councils of countries including Canada, New Zealand, India, South Africa, Germany, Italy and others. These international voices magnified the incredible work of the USGBC to forge hope and alliances around the world.

Sheryl Crow topped off the night, bridging industries with her incredible celebrity, musical talent and lust for life to the stage.  At least I heard Sheryl ‘rocked,’ as I grabbed the opportunity to network outside the venue. The truth is, as Sheryl sings, ‘All I Want to Do Is Have Some Fun…’

Austin, Pittsburgh, Portland, Denver, Chicago, Boston…now Phoenix! Greenbuild has grown by leaps and bounds from the first year I was inspired by this movement, at my first Greenbuild in Pittsburgh. As I look around at all of the people, booths, products, educational sessions - a plethora and flurry of excitement washes over me.

Have we finally reached the critical mass to ‘main street green’ as USGBC suggests?

As usual, it’s great to touch in with practitioners from around the country who helped launch this movement over a decade ago, and to be reminded of just how much Pacific Northwest is infused in the spirit of this movement. The Lucia Athens, the Jim Goldman’s, the Lynne Barker’s and the Tom Paladino’s of the world are beaming in the glow of the energy of this place.

While we celebrate Turner’s 100th LEED building and a clinking of glasses, we recognize our job is far from done. This is just the beginning. Now is not the time to rest. Now is not the time to congratulate ourselves on a job well done.

We need to continuously pull the movement forward with hope and optimism and I’m proud to stand by the International Living Building Institute as Jason McLennan, Eden Brukman and others roll out the evolution in the way we redefine our buildings within the context of our current paradigm.

This morning I heard ‘Re-membering: the Patterns of Living Systems’ from Bill Reed, Penny Bonda, Jon Boecker, Dayna Baumeister and am reminded that again, the key to transformation is all about an evolutionary mindset. I recognize the complete mindset shift that needs to take place if we are going to save our planet from ourselves.

The messages are compelling, and I wonder, are the masses getting the right message? Let’s see what Rick Fedrizzi, Al Gore and Sheryl Crow (?!!??!) have to say tonight.  Stay tuned!

Marni Jade Evans, the Living Project

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.

Unfortunately dear readers, I will not be at Greenbuild in Phoenix this year. However, I have recruited two Seattle attendees to keep us updated with news! If anyone else is attending the gigantic annual USGBC conference and would like to contribute, please send an e-mail explaining who you are and what kind of info you would want to share at katiez@djc.com!