April 26, 2007

Meeting focus is how to move sustainability forward in the region

Public agency representatives from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia met with green building advocates yesterday to share information about sustainable development and brainstorm ways to solve its problems.

The meeting was part of the Cascadia Strategic Collaboration Initiative, sponsored by the Washington state Department of Ecology, Cascadia Region Green Building Council and Portland's Office of Sustainable Development. The last event of this kind happened in 1999 when 200 people from the region met to come up with an action plan for sustainable building in the region.

Yesterday the goal was to update that plan and coordinate regional efforts.

Seattle City Councilmember Richard Conlin said the next step in sustainability is figuring out how to make it more mainstream so that “everybody does (it) because it's simply the way we do business,” he said. “People are realizing this is not just an add on.”

Attendees were concerned with affordable housing, climate change, planning, transportation and renewable energy, although the need for public education overshadowed everything.

Craig Rath of Valleybrook Construction said that's the problem in Yakima. If the public were more aware of the benefits of sustainability it would propel businesses to explore new options.

“I think we private guys are going to need a little more help to push that ball forward,” he said.

Event organizers are looking to public agencies to lead the way. While some members of the private sector were present, the meeting was geared toward a nonprofit and public sector audience for that reason.

Gina Franzosa, Oregon director of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council, said both nonprofits and government are focused on public good, but businesses are always responsible to the bottom line.

“We can essentially help set the stage for environmental success in the private sector but we need to be thoughtful about how we get to that stage,” according to Rachael Jamison of Ecology. “Events like this are crucial to pull people out of their day-to-day workloads.”

Attendees broke into groups to identify problems they see such as measuring performance, training, toxins in products, energy efficiency and public awareness. Then they tried to develop solutions.

In building design, for example, it was determined that major problems are price, too many approaches to one issue and lack of training for designers. Solutions, attendees said, would include creating a single online source for information, consolidating resources for professionals and integrating sustainability into training and education.

Kathleen O'Brien, president of O'Brien & Co., said companies like hers incorporate sustainability, but still look to the government to provide leadership. At these events, she said, participants can see what other people are doing and learn how to share information.

Representatives from Washington state agencies included the Department of Corrections, General Administration, Fish and Wildlife, and Ecology. Other attendees came from the city of Seattle, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Northwest EcoBuilding Guild, Climate Solutions and staff from the offices of U.S. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell.