Trim Tab v.8 - Winter 2011 by Michael Berrisford

CASCADIA’S MAGAZINE FOR TRANSFORMATIVE PEOPLE + DESIGN

WINTER 2011

TR A NSFORM ATION A L THOUGHT

The Essential Role of Women in a Restorative Future TR A NSFORM ATION A L DE SIGN

The Living Building Challenge From Concept to Certification TR A NSFORM ATION A L ACTION

There’s Danger Underfoot. Where Do You Stand? TR A NSFORM ATION A L PEOPLE

SARAH HARMER

A L SO:

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?

issu e 008 c ascadi ag bc .org

Leaping Ahead Without Leaving Others Behind Book Review: Half the Sky

T R A N S F O R M AT I O N A L D E S I G N b y amanda sturgeon Editor in Chief

Jason F. McLennan jason@cascadiagbc.org

e d i t o r i a l d i r ec t o r

Sarah Costello sarah@cascadiagbc.org

M a n aging Editor

Michael Berrisford michael.berrisford@cascadiagbc.org

C r e at i v e D i r ec t o r

CopY editor

T R A N S F O R M AT I O N A L action b y j oel p. sisola k

Katy Garlington katy.garlington@cascadiagbc.org

A dv er t i sing

Contributors

Erin Gehle ering@softfirmstudios.net

Michael Berrisford michael.berrisford@cascadiagbc.org

Amanda Sturgeon, Nathan Benjamin, Sara Feldman, Jason F. McLennan, Joel Sisolak, Mark Masteller, Kira Gould, John LaRose, Michael Berrisford

06 28

Departments 06

TR ANSFORMATIONAL DE SIGN:

The Living Building Challenge: From Concept to Certification By amanda sturgeon

For editorial inquiries, freelance or photography submissions and advertising, contact Michael Berrisford at michael.berrisform@cascadiagbc.org

Trim Tab is a quarterly publication of the Cascadia

Green Building Council, a nonprofit, tax-exempt

Ave South, Seattle, WA 98104; 1100-111 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 6A3; 643 S. Lower Road, Palmer, AK 99645.

TR ANSFORMATIONAL THOUGHT:

The Essential Role of Women in a Restorative Future By jason f. mclennan

organization. Office locations: 721 NW 9th Ave Suite 195, Portland, OR 97209; 410 Occidental

Sarah Harmer By michael berrisford

Back issues or reprints, contact trimtab@cascadiagbc.org W INT E R 2 011, I s s u e 8

TR ANSFORMATIONAL PEOPLE:

TR ANSFORMATIONAL ACTION:

Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Danger Underfoot. Where Do You Stand? By Joel p. sisola k

Winter 2011

contents W I N T E R Q u a rter 2 011

T R A N S F O R M AT I O N A L P E O P L E b y michael berrisford

T R A N S F O R M AT I O N A L thought b y j ason f. mclennan

Features 36

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

Removing the Roadblocks to Material Reuse

The Path to Net Zero: Oregonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Story

By jason f. mclennan

B y nathan ben j amin

the tooth of the lion by JA S ON F. MCL ENN A N

B y sara feldman

How Do We Love More?

Leaping Ahead Without Leaving Others Behind

b y Kira G ould

Nuts & Bolts 66

Moving Upstream: Progress in

FWD: Read This!

Event Calendar

b y mar k masteller

Book Review: Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

the Bioregion and Beyond!

B y j ohn larose

LIVING FUTURE

2011

SAVETHEDATELF2011 Vancouver, british columbia APRIL 27 – 29, 2011

Our Children’s Cities: Visualizing a Restorative Civilization

www.cascadiagbc.org/living-future/11 Winter 2011

Are you ready to change? Introducing Zugunruhe, a bold and personal look at the environmental movement. “Jason’s opinions will provoke you, his personal stories will inspire you, and hopefully his book will prompt you to act with all the urgency you can muster. Required reading for anyone who desires a future our children and grandchildren can thrive in." — Kathleen O’Brien Green Designer, Writer, Educator “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 “He presents a blueprint for a courageous, peaceful, and nurturing relationship with our planet. Heed this green warrior’s words, and act – the world needs you.” — Thomas Crum Author, The Magic of Conflict: Turning a Life of Work into a Work of Art

Buy yours today at ecotonedesign.com.

Founded and operated by green building experts, Ecotone Publishing is the first book publisher to focus solely on green architecture and design. The company is dedicated to meeting the growing demand for authoritative and accessible books on sustainable design, materials selection and building techniques in North America and beyond. trim tab

T ransformational D E S I GN

by amanda sturgeon

THE LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE

From Concept to Certification

fig. 1 fig. 2

fig. 3

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FIG. 1: Eco-Sense FIG. 2: Tyson Living Learning Center FIG. 3: Omega Center

Designing and building a Living Building Challenge project is no small feat. Creating a Living Building takes grit, determination and a conviction that does not waver when the going gets tough. It takes people who are committed to the concept of hope, who know that a better way forward must be possible and who are willing to take a leap into the unknown. The people behind the first three projects to be certified under the Challenge share the virtues of hope and optimism that form the common thread between these very different projects.

All three projects are relatively small in scale, ranging from 2700 square feet to 6250 square feet in size, but it would be a mistake to assume from this that these small-scale projects have had an easier time achieving the Challenge. Each team faced challenges and obstacles. Some issues were unique to the scale of the project but many were the same ones that a project of any scale would face such as code barriers and cost. The success of these projects was not due to their size; it was reliant on the commitment of unique individuals. No challenge was great enough to stop their determination to create a Living Building. As the new Certification Director for the International Living Building Institute™ I had the pleasant and rewarding job of visiting each of the three projects, meeting the teams, and spending a day getting to know the amazing commitment that lies behind creating a Living Building Challenge project.

Ann puts it best. “We wanted to create a home that functions as a part of the eco-system where there is no line that separates where the dwelling ends and where nature begins.” Eco-Sense Project Statistics: • • • • • • • •

Date of completion: December 2008 Annual water consumption: 20,872 gallons Rainwater cistern size: 10,000 gallons Annual Electricity generated: 2,469 kWh Annual Electricity used: 2,154 kWh Annual Energy used: 24,998 kWh kBtu/ft2/yr: 108.78 Renewable energy system: 2kW PV array

Eco-Sense Project Team: • Owner: Ann and Gord Baird • Geotechnical: C.N.Ryzuk • Plumbing: Byron Merriam (A-Tech Plumbing), and Gord Baird • Electrical: Mike Isbrucker (Alternative Electric) and Gord Baird • Structural: Kris Dick, Building Alternatives • Designer: Ann and Gord Baird • Contractor: Ann and Gord Baird

Eco-Sense: Living Within Your Footprint Spending a day at Ann and Gord Baird’s cob house in the Highlands of Victoria, British Columbia is the type of experience that leaves a smile on your face. Whether you have dreamed of building your own earthen home or have dismissed cob and other alternative building methods as a relic from bygone eras, this house will fill you with a calm spirit. You just can not help but gently run your hands along the earthen walls and softly slide your feet on the warm mud floors, finished smooth with linseed oil. This house is visceral and it breathes a life that connects the visitor back to the earth. Ann and Gord Baird inside their home, Eco-Sense.

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Photograph © gord baird via his flickr stream

Interior of Eco-Sense: the dining room, living room and kitchen are all incorporated into a very livable space.

Ann and Gord hand-built a multi-generational house for themselves, their children, and Ann’s parents. In total it is 2500 square feet for six people set on a 7.5-acre site. Many might assume that building a cob house by hand would be prohibitively expensive but this is an affordable house, coming in at about $148 per square foot including a fair labor rate for the Baird’s labor. The affordable feature of this house teaches a lesson that must be replicated if we are to survive as a species on this planet. We must do more with less. The Baird’s made sustainable choices with their home. Rather than build bigger, they chose to build a house that produces its own energy and treats all its wastewater on-site. Their two-kilowatt photovoltaic array can produce enough electricity for their home because they have reduced their electricity load to a minimum. They have no clothes dryer, use LED lighting and have

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an energy-efficient Sundanzer chest refrigerator and freezer. They have minimal electrical appliances in the house, use solar hot water, hydronic heating and have no bathtub to save on water use. Rather than pay for an expensive composting toilet system they have a home-spun bucket system and a composting pile they rigorously monitor for temperature and pathogen content. Instead of a complicated or expensive grey-water system they have a home-made worm bin that filters and discharges the water to their gardens. The Baird’s discovered the Challenge midstream and, as a consequence, achieved “Petal Recognition” rather than full “Living status,” achieving all petals (site, water, energy, health, materials, beauty, equity) except energy and water. They did not conform to the net zero energy requirements under the Challenge as they use

propane for cooking and have a wood-fired gasification boiler for heat. They also had some challenges with the materials petal in sourcing 100 percent forest stewardship council (FSC) certified wood and obtaining all their materials from a local source.

immediately get a sense of the cohesive team commitment to the values and intent of the Living Building Challenge. It is a commitment that is solidly grounded in a determination to create an ecologically restorative world.

However, they were able to overcome the code barrier challenges for alternative construction methods, solar hot water and wastewater treatment. Rather than fight the local jurisdictions, Ann and Gord did it right and set a path for alternative construction in their region for others to follow. They took the approach of embracing their building inspector as a partner in their project. They took the time to get to know him, understand his concerns and, in return, he did the same, resulting in a positive outcome under the alternate compliance path. The Eco-Sense project has become much more than just a house for their family; it has become a transformational advocacy tool for their region.

The power of the Challenge as an advocacy tool is fully demonstrated in the Tyson project. Breaking new ground by overcoming challenges became a consistent theme. Early on, for example, the project team identified a barrier to the goal in the St. Louis County Code to use only captured rainwater for potable use, and treat and infiltrate the building’s grey-water on-site. Using a strategy similar to Eco-Sense, the team chose to meet proactively with the St. Louis County Public Works Department to explore how the project goals could be achieved under the existing code restrictions. They reached an agreement to submit the project under the Alternate Compliance path. The path was ultimately successful and paves the way for future regional projects to implement the same The Tyson Living Learning Center: strategies. As a result, rainwater is collected from the roof The Advocacy Approach and treated through particulate and ultra-violet (UV) An oasis in the suburbs of St. Louis, the 2000 acre Ty- bacterial filtration to supply all water for the building. A son Research Center site is part of the Ozark Plateau region of southern Missouri and an outpost of the Washington University of St. Louis. The Tyson Living Learning Center, a 2,900 square foot building set on Tyson Project Statistics: the research center property, reflects the strong align- • Date of completion: December 2008. ment between the center’s mission of creating a living • Annual water consumption: 13,000 gallons laboratory for ecology and environmental biology and • Rainwater cistern size: 3000 gallons the Challenge’s own amibitious innovation and re- • Annual Electricity Generated: 22,985 kWh search agenda. • Annual Electricity used: 21,291 kWh While the Living Learning Center is simple on its face – it contains two classroom spaces and four offices – the project delivery within an institutional framework and funding process could have been a barrier to the project’s ability to achieve the Challenge. This project was successful in achieving full Living status, as Kevin G. Smith, Associate Director of the Center puts it, “because of the exceptional commitment and full dedication of the team.” Spending a day with Kevin, and Deborah Howard, the Interim Director of Sustainability at Washington University, and Dan Hellmuth from Hellmuth+Bicknese Architects, you

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• kBtu/ft2/yr: 105.59 • Renewable Energy system: 23.1 kW PV array

Tyson Project Team: • • • • • • • •

Owner: University of Washington, St. Louis Geotechnical: Grimes Consulting Civil: Williams Creek Consulting Landscape: Lewisites Structural: ASDG LLC Architectural: Hellmuth+Bicknese MEP: Solutions AEC Contractor: Bingman Construction

The Tyson Living Learning Center displays the electric meters at the front door

HDPE pipes and all wiring in the building is RHH, a rubberized coating alternative to PVC. The wood siding and flooring in the building was milled on-site as part of a larger restoration project throughout the site While researching the Materials Red List, the team dis- to control the explosion of sugar maple and eastern red covered potential difficulties and then solved them by cedar trees from the Ozark forest. sourcing salvaged materials with the help of Planet Reuse. Early on they realized that the brass used in door The team faced significant cost challenges, amplified hardware contains lead, and because of this ingredi- by the small scale of the project, and underwent several ent they used stainless steel or salvaged hardware and value engineering exercises to bring the project back cores. They could not source any rigid board insula- into budget. Additionally, the necessary opening date tion that did not contain halogenated flame-retardants for the newly established research programs to begin or any new wood doors that were 100 percent FSC provided a constricted project schedule. Fortunately and did not contain any formaldehyde so they used they received a willing construction partner, Bingman salvaged insulation and doors. Instead of poly-vinyl Construction, in the goal to become one of the first chloride (PVC) pipes they have used both copper and Living Building certified projects. Clivus Multrum M12 unit composts all toilet waste and the urine is drained and used for its nitrogen qualities as a fertilizer throughout the centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grounds.

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The final challenge came for the team once the building was occupied. It became apparent that the building was not on track to become net-zero because the energy consumption was about 30 percent in excess of the energy model prediction. The team analyzed the building performance and decided to tighten the building envelope, fine-tune the heating and cooling operations, and add several tracking photovoltaic panels that had been value-engineered out of the original building design. This re-design brought the total photovoltaic production up to 23.1 kilowatts and the project to net-zero. Tracking the energy of the building has become an educational component of the research program; a real-time monitoring system shows electricity used and generated on their web site and in the lobby of the building. The Tyson Living Learning Center embraced the call to action set by the Challenge, and became an active participant in the research and commitment needed to make a pathway to a restorative future.

The Omega Center for Sustainable Living: Turning Waste into Beauty Skip Backus, the CEO of the Omega Center located in upstate New York, has a contagious enthusiasm for his new building. Zipping around the 195-acre campus in a golf cart with Skip in the New England fall it is easy to see how the creation of the Center for Sustainable Living has impacted his campus. He has transformed the problem of how to daily treat up to 52,000 gallons of sewage coming from the retreat center’s 120 buildings into a new educational opportunity and a work of beauty. The sewage is treated in a natural biological wastewater treatment system without chemicals, all powered by a 46.3 kilowatt hour photovoltaic system. Designed by BNIM architects and built by David Sember Construction, the Omega Center is the largest of the certified buildings. At 6250 square feet its main purpose is to treat the over three million gallons of wastewater per year that are generated from the campus. During the creation of the project a secondary purpose emerged to create a classroom and a new educational program around the Living Building concept, now called the Sustainable Living program.

Tyson Center solar panels.

Without a doubt the most powerful part of the building is the 4500 square feet Eco-Machine™ room. Filled with the scent of tropical flowering plants and the sound of bubbling water, one could mistake the function of treating sewage for a botanical garden exhibit. Designed by Natural Systems International in partnership with the renowned biological water treatment guru John Todd, the system has to treat not only large quantities of wastewater but also an unknown mix of pharmaceuticals and chemicals that could be flushed down the system by the center’s guests. This requirement resulted in the need for five biological treatment steps before the water is released back to the aquifer through a dispersal field under the adjacent parking area. The wastewater has already completed three of the steps outside, through an anoxic tank and sub-surface constructed wetlands cells, before it enters the lagoon inside the building. The process to treat the water takes about 2.5 days. Skip enthusiastically dem-

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Omega Center exterior.

onstrates the automatic monitoring system in the glass walled control room that doubles as an educational opportunity for visitors. The building itself uses as little water as possible; the toilets are flushed with roof runoff collected in an underground 1,800-gallon cistern and treated on-demand by a UV sterilizer.

turers were unable to tell them what their products contained. The level of detail and accountability demanded by the Omega, Tyson and Eco-Sense teams has contributed to the beginnings of a transformation in ingredients disclosure among the building materials industry.

As with the Eco-Sense and Tyson projects, the OmeSimilarly to the Tyson project, the Omega Center team ga Center has emerged with an unexpectedly rich used Planet Reuse to source some salvaged alternatives educational program that is truly integrated with the to products that they were unable to obtain. An example building and its systems. These three teams, by takis the weathered cypress siding that graces the exterior ing leaps into the unknown, have created a new and walls of the building and was salvaged from a nearby brighter future for all of us. We now know the pathmushroom farm. The teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest hurdle to sourcing way to an ecologically restorative future is not only Red List compliant materials was that many manufac- possible but proven.

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Start the year off on the right path.

Become a Cascadia member! Omega Center interior.

Omega Project Statistics: • • • • • • •

Date of completion: May 2009 Annual water consumption: 16,476 gal/yr Rainwater cistern size: 1,800 gallons Annual Electricity Generated: 38,994 kWh Annual Electricity Used: 37,190 kWh kBtu/ft2/yr: 64.76 Renewable Energy system: 46,305 kWh photovoltaic array rooftop and ground

Omega Project Team: • Owner: Omega Institute for Holistic Studies Architect: BNIM Architects • Civil: Chazen Companies • Landscape: Conservation Design Forum • MEP: BGR Engineers • Structural: Tipping Mar • Commmissioning agent: EME Group • Specialty Consultants: Natural Systems International and John Todd Ecological Design (Eco-Machine) • General contractor: David Sember Construction

Stand with the bioregion’s leading green building thinkers and practioners. Make an investment in your green building community and join Cascadia today. • 50% of membership dollars directly support 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 professional 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.

Amanda sturgeon, AIA, is the Certification Director for the International Living Building Institute. As an architect she has spent the last 15 years exploring how the natural world can inform our buildings.

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by michael berrisford

SARAH HARMER Despite the environmental degradation evidenced by the scars and sicknesses affected on the planet, there is much good in the world. Good organizations, charities, communities and grassroots groups, comprised of well-intending people â&#x20AC;&#x201C; uniting together to reconcile our collective transgressions against nature. Good people from all walks of life are responding with verve, joining the environmental movement. Individuals who previously had no apparent connection to the environmental movement are

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now engaging in causes close to them. Like never before, citizens are recognizing the inherent value of the natural world, its precarious condition and their connection to it. People are getting involved and finding their voice. Canadian born singer-songwriter Sarah Harmer is one such example of the diversity of the growing legion of natureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s allies. Harmer is the youngest child of a large family born to Clem and Isabelle Harmer, growing up on a one

T ransformational P E O P L E photo credit: ANITA DORON

hundred-acre farm located in rural southern Ontario. At age seventeen, Sarah joined the Toronto-based band, The Saddletramps. Later, Sarah formed her own band called Weeping Tile, while studying philosophy and women’s studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. Her group recorded several albums before Sarah recorded a special collection of favorite songs as a Christmas gift to her father. The resulting Songs for Clem compilation, recorded in 1999, kick-started her solo career. The 2000

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release of her break-thorough album titled You Were Here was referenced in TIME Magazine as one of the year’s best albums and sales went Platinum in Canada. Subsequent albums, All Of Our Names (2004) and I’m a Mountain (2005) led to a long list of accolades including a 2006 Polaris Music Prize nomination and numerous Juno Award nominations in 2007. In 2010 Sarah Harmer released her latest, and long-awaited album – a mixture of urban and rural influences – titled Oh, Little Fire.

“I’ve learned that with a lot of passion and commitment one can often become more knowledgeable about a case than the supposed experts. Passion and patience can go a long way.” What does this richly-talented, hip musician have to do with the environmental movement? Quite a bit it seems. Sarah is thoughtful about nature and the future, understanding that everything is connected – and she cares enough to get involved. Read on to learn something of her passion for things living – how nature inhabits her music – and how her actions sometime speak louder than words. TRIM TAB: Describe where you grew up and your family situation?

SARAH HARMER: I grew up on a farm outside of the bedroom community of Burlington, Ontario. The farm is atop Mount Nemo, in an ostensibly protected area called the Niagara Escarpment, a rock ridge corridor running for hundreds of kilometers that UNESCO designated a World Biosphere Reserve in 1990. Growing up there was great, with lots of space – woods, ponds, and fields. There was an obvious rural/suburban divide but we were close to a couple of larger cities – Toronto and Hamilton – so we got some culture here and there. I am the sixth child and have four older sisters and one older brother. My family is very close. TT: Your song “Escarpment Blues” reveals your deep-rooted connection to nature that led to some hands-on environmental activism. Can you tell us about your involvement? SH: In 2004 it was made public that industrial giant LaFarge/Nelson Aggregate had purchased some lots and several farms on Mount Nemo and was gearing up to apply for a license for a below-water-table quarry, to remove the living world and blast a massive 200-acre hole in the ground to crush for gravel. Neighbors and local citizens came together to get involved and started a com-

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munity group called PERL – Protecting Escarpment Rural Land. LaFarge/Nelson had been operating a 640-acre open pit quarry in the middle of the Mount Nemo plateau since the 1950s. The aggregate industry refers to the Grade A agricultural soils, significant forests, Provincially Significant Wetlands and habitats for Species at Risk of the area as “overburden”. TT: What have been your “take-aways” from the PERL experience regarding the politics and the people involved? SH: I am still putting in and taking away. The marathon continues as we have just begun a Joint Board OMB/ERT (Ontario Municipal Board/Environmental Review Tribunal) hearing. What I have learned generally is that citizens can get involved, although to do so is often prohibitively expensive. The world is ours for the shaping. On local levels especially, with integrity and hard work, there can be successes. Also, I’ve learned that with a lot of passion and commitment one can often become more knowledgeable about a case than the supposed experts. Passion and patience can go a long way. TT: While hiking the Bruce Trail and spending time in the forest, did you learn anything about the ecology and habitat exchange that made you think “WOW… that’s amazing”? SH: Water has been wearing down the hard limestone of the Niagara Escarpment for 440 million years. There are caves, conduits, springs, underground fissures and voids that are good for the imagination. North America’s oldest trees east of the Rocky Mountains cling to the escarpment’s cliff faces. Mount Nemo hosts trees that are over 700 years old! The oldest-known white cedar tree on the Niagara Escarpment started growing in 952 AD. WOW!

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Protecting Escarpment Rural Land ( PERL) )

PERL is a non-profit advocacy group that is dedicated to ecological, social and economic sustainability, especially as it relates to the Mount Nemo area of Burlington, Ontario. The organization works in concert with local, regional and provincial governments to ensure the protection of the Niagara Escarpment and rural areas of Burlington from unsustainable and harmful human activities. PERL’s primary initiatives include protecting endangered and threatened animal and plant species; the safeguarding of rural water tables, wells, and corresponding regional wetlands and watersheds; the permanent creation of a Mount Nemo Natural Heritage System (NHS) and Cultural Heritage Landform area; and to ensure that the integrity and spirit of the continuous natural corridor is upheld in the Niagara Escarpment’s UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve designation. PERL is committed to actively facilitating a sustainable future that considers the betterment of the social, economic and ecological attributes of the Burlington Escarpment and Halton Region in Ontario. Please visit www.perlofburlington.org for addition information about current initiatives and news.

photo credit: LEANNE CALIBABA

The Niagara Escarpment TT: What advice do you offer to the building industry about land development and how it often results in habitat loss and species loss? SH: Develop a Green Gravel standard with the Aggregate Industry and Environmental stakeholders that ensures that our cement and gravel does not come from Natural Heritage areas, Species at Risk habitats, and significant ecological systems. FSC Certification has been an important development in the forestry/lumber industry. We need a similar initiative for the industry that supplies the concrete building materials of our homes, offices and public buildings. TT: What environmental issues resonate most with you personally and might bring you to advocacy again? SH: The living world resonates with me and I will continue to be vigilant and advocate for it as much as my time and energy will allow.

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TT: There seems to be some parallels between where you grew up and where you chose to hang your hat. What does your sense of place say about who you are now? SH: I like to have space. I like wild animals. I have a larger carbon footprint because I need to drive most places. I am a bit of a recluse. TT: Historically, musicians have shared a similar kinship with the environment. Pearl Jam, Green Day, Sheryl Crow, and many Canadian artists like Bruce Cockburn, Neil Young, the Bare Naked Ladies, and Joni Mitchell have passionately given their support to environmental causes. What do you think the connection is between musicians and nature? SH: The relationship between nature and the imagination is a time-honored tradition. The power of music is portable and can get into nooks and crannies to inspire, enliven, transport, and entertain. Musicians often have pret-

the niagara Escarpment The Niagara Escarpment is a massive limestone ridge that runs most prominently through Ontario, Canada for more than 725 km from the Niagara River to Georgian Bay and rises up in places more than half a kilometer above sea level. Burlington’s Mount Nemo is at the same elevation as the observation deck of Toronto’s CN Tower. The entire Escarpment extends 1,100 kilometers from western New York to Niagara Falls, across southern Ontario to the Bruce Peninsula, under the waters of Georgian Bay, and down the western shore of Lake Michigan. The most spectacular sections are recognized by UNESCO as a World Biosphere Reserve. The Niagara Escarpment is the result of geological processes that were set in motion more than 400 million years ago when the limestones, dolostones, and sandstones of the Escarpment bedrock were formed. In geological terms, an escarpment is a ridge composed of gently tipped rock strata with a long, gradual slope on one side and a relatively steep scarp or cliff on the other. The present appearance of the Niagara Escarpment is sult of erosion that has occurred over the past 250 million years. With incredible rock cliffs, breathtaking waterfalls, underwater caves, and 1,000-year-old cedar trees, the Escarpment is the longest continuous natural corridor in densely populated southern Ontario and it reveals a fascinating story of the natural and human history of the region.

ty flexible schedules so we can get involved in a variety of events and issues. TT: The lyrics of “Escarpment Blues” speak to encroaching development at the expense of habitat and water quality. This encroachment seems to be happening in all of our backyards. What words of advice would you offer to someone who was thinking about activism? SH: Get involved. It’s rewarding and fun!

TT: You are performing and speaking in Vancouver at Cascadia Green Building Council’s Living Future Conference in May 2011. “Living Future” sounds like a good theme for a song… What do you think? SH: I hope we all respect those systems that allow us to survive: protected aquifers, intact forests, bountiful wetlands, biodiversity, and prime soils… we have an obligation to the future. I hope to live well into the future…

TT: Please tell us about the projects you are working on now. SH: More songs, PERL fundraising, and learning a few old songs of my former band Weeping Tile for our Annual Rock show for the Salvation Army Winter Relief Fund in Kingston, Ontario.

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michael berrisford is the Director of Ecotone for Cascadia Green Building Council and the Managing Editor of

Trim Tab Magazine.

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T ransformational T H O U GH T

The Essential Role of Women in a Restorative Future The absolute necessity of gender balance for true transformation

by jason f. mclennan

The stronger sex? “A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult. It’s complicated by the fact that in most nations women receive substantially less education than men.” —Melinda Gates

“Women are the real architects of society” — Harriet Beecher Stowe In many ways the environmental movement is the child of women. Female leaders helped conceive the concept of sustainability and have often shown us how best to nurture and shape it as it has grown. The green building movement is an industry that seems to reflect human gender balance better than most, with women occupying key roles at all levels of our organizations with many “sustainable design champions” in large architecture, engineering and construction firms being women. And we are better for it.

In many countries, women are the key to resource use and resource conservation. Time and again it has been proven that the better educated the female population, the stronger the societal commitment to the environment and social justice. Such global issues as population growth, the spread of disease, and water use all correlate geographically to the way women are treated and educated and in regions where women hold leadership positions – within government, business and advocacy groups – there tends to be healthier, more environmentally-friendly progress.1 Women are slowly taking their place in our movement and others, but the global statistics regarding women and girls are still alarming:2 • Women are twice as likely to be illiterate than men. • Two-thirds of school-aged children who do not attend school are female. • Only 19 percent of global parliamentary seats are held by women. • Women perform 66 percent of the work but earn only 10 percent of the global income.

But the green building movement is an exception. The vast majority of institutions, corporations, govern- • Women on average receive only 76 percent of men’s ments and societies around the world have yet to empay for comparable work. brace the value women bring. More significantly, they have not discovered the dramatic benefits of giving • Women own only 1 percent of the world’s property. equal weight to the contributions of both sexes. Until this happens, I believe we will achieve neither genuine • Up to 70 percent of women globally experience social justice nor true global sustainability. Profound pain, violence or rape from men in their lives. change for an entire population depends on the partici1. For more information on the global impact of educating and empowering pation of all of its citizens – not merely 49 percent of females, visit www.thegirleffect.org. them (men). 2. From Girl Scouts of America

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A feminine touch

particularly in its leadership. But the same can not be said of related fields. While women are slowly gaining “If men and women are to understand each other, to en- traction in architecture, engineering, the sciences and ter into each other’s nature with mutual sympathy, and even construction, they are still woefully under-repreto become capable of genuine comradeship, the founda- sented in these vocations. Interestingly, when women do occupy management positions in such professions, tion must be laid in youth.” they often oversee sustainability efforts. —Havelock Ellis Women in Green – Voices of Sustainable Design3, a book The environmental and green building fields are lucky that I commissioned several years ago, raises the questo have had women paving the way as thought leaders tion: Is there a greener gender? In the book, authors and idea makers. Rachel Carson founded the modern Kira Gould and Lance Hosey refer to studies that show environmental movement. Jane Jacobs introduced the how women are more likely than men to support ennotion of the humane city. The specialized contributions vironmental causes through voting, activism and conof many women such as Janine Benyus and Wangari sumer choices. Gould and Hosey also explore whether Mathai and many others have helped redefine our goals sustainable design holds special appeal for women and and reprioritize our efforts. Researchers such as Jane whether women, in turn, offer something unique to the Goodall and Diane Fossey broadened our views of our field. Not surprisingly, they find that women’s contrirelationship with nature. butions to the green movement have changed how we all approach our work. There is something about the green movement that appeals to women and accommodates gender balance, .3. Available through www.ecotonedesign.com.

We are all simply better when women are empowered.

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Over the next few decades our society will be reshaped in dramatic ways in relation to the realities of an overpopulated and under-resourced world.

photo © waterdotorg via flickr

Turning the tables

Here are a few points that need to be clarified:

“The true republic: men, their rights and nothing more: women, their rights and nothing less.”

No Tokenism

I do not believe in tokenism when it comes to women or underrepresented community. I do, however, be—Susan B. Anthony lieve that women and men tend to bring different complementary strengths to their work. Obviously, this is Einstein famously stated that no problem can be solved not true to the person; some women think in typically from the same level of consciousness that created it. I “male” ways and vice versa. But as a group, each gender believe this supposition can be said of the necessary offers a distinctly valuable energy. Put one hundred reimagining of our global societies as we strive for sus- women in one room and one hundred men in the next tainability. While harsh to say, it is accurate that men room, give them a common problem to solve and the mostly created the mess we are in; we now need wom- processes they use and the solutions they propose will en to have at least an equal or possibly slightly greater be extremely different. Put fifty men and fifty women voice as we attempt to solve our significant environ- together, however, and their problem-solving methods mental problems. The balance is long overdue. will, I believe, be more effective because their perspec-

Winter 2011

tives will tend to be more richly and holistically considered. The point is that we need both the male and female viewpoints to approach problems holistically. this is about excellence, not charit y

I do not believe in granting power or influence solely in the interest of charity or affirmative action. Sometimes a population is so disadvantaged that this affirmative action becomes a necessity. However, I prefer to re-channel this conventional thinking. This balancing is not an argument about fairness (although we need to be fair). This is an argument about excellence. We are all simply better when women are empowered (and the same is true for issues of race and culture and diversity). I believe that every level of every organization would benefit from gender equity that most organizations are sorely lacking. In turn, the communities and customers they serve would benefit as well. Without gender leadership balance, our systems are diminished and we risk failure. No men ba shing

I do not believe in men bashing. Gender equity is not about one sex being better than the other; nor is it about taking sides in the interest of fashion or political correctness. If the world were dominated by women for the last two hundred years, we would likely have a different – not necessarily better – set of problems on our hands. We need both halves of the human whole to be the best we can be. In my opinion, our civilization is unhealthy because men have disproportionately dominated and women have disproportionately suffered. (One can make the same assertion about how certain cultures are subjugated.) Such imbalance breeds weakness and the loss affects all. Alternatively, when masculine and feminine energies are aligned, great things happen. Mine is perhaps a post-feminist argument that I tread into lightly: Women should retain inf luence and opportunities equal to that of their male counterparts not simply because it is the “fair” thing to do – but because it is the smarter thing to do for the sake of our families, communities, businesses and environments.

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Putting the ideal to work “I, with a deeper instinct, choose a man who compels my strength, who makes enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness, who does not believe me naive or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman.” —Anaïs Nin Cascadia is a fitting example of a green organization with strong female stewardship. Women hold 62 percent of our staff positions, 67 percent of our staff director positions and make up 25 percent of our current board leadership, including the chair of our board.4 We are stronger for it, as our gender balance leads us toward discussions and strategies that reflect and benefit the entire population. We have the advantage of incorporating multiple perspectives into the decisions we make. We have also gone out of our way to respect the work-life balance of our female employees. Having children often can have a negative impact on a woman’s career. We find creative solutions that work for those who want to take time off, scale back hours or work part-time from home to accommodate the demands of family. If they want to retain their positions with us, then we do what we can to keep them here (though everyone has to “pull their weight”). In spite of the legitimate costs to do so, it has proven of greater strategic value because we have not lost the expertise and experience of these team members or our investment in their viewpoints. And we have not contributed any more than possible to the tension many professionals – both male and female – experience as they balance childrearing and work. It is not a burden; it is an opportunity to change a patriarchic corporate paradigm. When viewed through the efficiency lens, it is an obvious choice. We have also built our commitment to gender equity into the guidelines for our annual conference, Living Future. New policies state that 51 percent of our sessions must have female presenters in order to corre4. Cascadia’s board is elected and is often close to a 50/50 gender balance – with 3 of the last 5 Chairs being women.

spond with global population figures unless submissions and quality simply can’t support it. Once again, this rule was not designed as a way to be politically correct or to give women some sort of advantage. Instead, it is an acknowledgement that without equal representation, we are diminished as an organization and we do a disservice to our members. Too many conferences are filled with pontificating white-haired caucasion men. Living Future attendees insist on a quality event, so we insist on gender balance. We want the white haired, caucasion males – but not exclusively!

The roots of my perspective “What is most beautiful in virile men is something feminine; what is most beautiful in feminine women is something masculine.” —Susan Sontag

I was privileged to grow up in a family where women’s voices were as clear and valued as men’s. I was raised by a strong mother, influenced by powerful aunts and inspired by intelligent sisters. I had a father who was not Old-school thinkers need only look at gender equity in threatened by intelligent and thoughtful women and this way: Giving women an equal say in corporations/in- encouraged his daughters to never settle for second and stitutions/movements/communities is actually more self- to strive for excellence. I am married to an extremely serving than it is women-serving. Do not do it in the name bright and sensitive woman and I am the proud father of feminism if you want; perhaps do it in the name of capi- of an amazing and beautiful little girl (who brings a talism. Many corporations are now learning that increas- wonderful change in energy to a home that she shares ing the feminine voice greatly improves the bottom line. with three older brothers). I want the best future possible for them all. I have also been lucky that many of my male mentors have taught me the importance of following female leadership. I have practiced in firms and served organizations that value women, even when it meant going against the traditional male-dominated grain. For a gender-balancing sea change to occur, men must actively participate. In fact, the greater burden falls on men due to our disproportionate level of power and control. Since men unfortunately cause most of the suffering that befalls the world’s women, it is up to us as well to stop the injustices.

“In my opinion, our civilization is unhealthy because men have disproportionately dominated and women have disproportionately suffered.”

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What to do?

An integrated effort

“To me gender is not physical at all, but is altogether insubstantial. It is soul, perhaps, it is talent, it is taste, it is environment, it is how one feels, it is light and shade, it is inner music.”

“There isn’t a theologian in the world who can argue with me on this. God has no gender. If that’s the case, then everything needs to be rewritten now, right now.”

—Jan Morris There are many things members of the working world can do to help level the gender scales: Look carefully at your hiring practices. Make sure you fairly consider women for traditionally male roles and men for traditionally female roles. In fact, erase the notion of a male or female role. There are simply roles.

—Susan Powter Neither half of the human brain would function well without the other. The same is true of well-run societies. When we disregard or undervalue half of our population, our companies, communities and environment suffer. Women and men complement one another and do more together when their contributions are in balance. Gender equity gives more to all of us.

Over the next few decades our society will be reAudit your employee roster to see how close your gen- shaped in dramatic ways in relation to the realties der balance is to 50-50. If it is not, ask yourself why and of an overpopulated and under-resourced world. We are going to need to learn to think differently and act what you can do to change it? differently, and what we value will have to be comExamine your pay structures to ensure fairness and pletely changed to avoid the worst consequences of what is possible and to achieve the most that humanequity. ity has to offer. None of this will be possible without Make sure you value the input and experience of your the help of women and their perspectives and wiscolleagues, whatever their gender (especially if their dom. For the sake of our future, we need to support the global rise, empowerment, safety and leadership gender and viewpoint is different from yours). of women. Men, we can not do it without them – not If you are a man, get in touch with your feminine side even close. by asking your wife, mother or female co-workers whether you are fully integrating their ideas. (You “Man is not the enemy here, but the fellow victim.” may need more help with this introspection than you first realize!) —Betty Friedan Remember that motherhood is not a roadblock to professional success; it is sometimes simply a change of course that has huge societal value. Providing female employees plenty of wiggle room during pregnancy and the early years of parenting is essential. You will not regret it and as our children move into adulthood they will inherent healthier attitudes toward the work/life balance.

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jason f. mclennan is the CEO of both the Cascadia Green Building Council and the International Living Building Institute. He is the creator of the Living Building Challengesm, as well as the author of four books, including his latest: Zugunruhe.

by J O E L P. S I S O L A K

Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Danger Underfoot. Where Do You Stand?

T ransformational action

In 1962, Rachel Carson challenged the practices of agricultural scientists and the government. While she was roundly criticized and branded an alarmist by the chemical industry, her resolute message exposed the perils of pesticides and toxins to the public. Forty years later, Film-maker, Judith Helfand, in the tradition of Carson, took on the similarly powerful chemical lobby and challenged the production for and use of polyvinyl chloride in and on our buildings. I remember watching Hefland’s documentary, Blue Vinyl, at a viewing party hosted in a brewpub by a local NGO. It was standing room only. The film depicted the sobering hazards of bio-accumulating plastics present in most every aspect of our environment. Between sips, we gasped at the ubiquity of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in our homes and lives, and were outraged by the effects of PVC production, use and disposal, on workers, families, and the planet. We finished our beers and went home. Home to buildings that literally were filled top-tobottom with PVC – what groups like the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, Greenpeace and the Healthy Building Network call “the poison plastic.” It was present in our siding, pipes and windows. It was in our gutters, wiring, blinds and shower curtains. It was underfoot in our carpets and flooring. PVC is installed in more homes everyday and in our offices, autos, busses; its poisons are accumulating in our bodies, creeping in via the air we breathe, the water we drink and the foods we enjoy. So why do we keep using it? For years now, the chemical industry lobby has spent millions working the halls of Congress, popular media, and even school assemblies to fight the perception that the production of PVC and its by-products are dangerous. High paid public relations firms have advised the chlorine product industry to “mobilize science against the precautionary principle” and “stay ahead of the activists”

“Young children are subjected to the highest exposure to phthalates from PVC floors because their breathing zone is closer to the floor and they have a larger volume of respiration than adults per kilogram of bodyweight.”

by meeting with the media and opinion leaders. This The building industry embraces PVC because it is ineffort is continued by industry groups like the Vinyl In- expensive and durable. But the real costs over its lifestitute, which calls vinyl “the global plastic of choice for cycle clearly outweigh the benefits. infrastructure and diverse applications.” 1 PVC’s Toxic Legacy And the building industry has gone along. The production of PVC includes chlorine and carcinogenic vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and ethylene While other nations including Sweden, Spain and Ger- dichloride. Communities surrounding American vinyl many have been moving to limit or eliminate PVC in chloride production facilities, like the one in Mossville, their buildings, its use in North American buildings is Louisiana, suffer from toxic pollution of their water and growing. Piping, vinyl siding, and vinyl flooring are the air and resulting accumulation of dioxin levels in their largest and most familiar uses of PVC. Roof membranes blood that are three times normal. are a growing area. It is also used in electrical wire insulation, conduit, junction boxes, wall coverings, carpet back- PVC plastic also requires toxic additives to make it ing, window and door frames, shades and blinds, shower more pliable. These additives are released during the curtains, furniture, flues, gutters, down spouts, water- use of PVC products, exposing humans to dangerous stops, weatherstrip, flashing, moldings and elsewhere.2 levels of phthalates, lead, cadmium, tin and other poisons. 1. Morris, J., “In strictest confidence…” Houston Chronicle, Sunday, October 25, 1998 2. www.healthybuilding.net/pvc/facts.html

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Disposal of PVC poses additional dangers. More than one hundred municipal waste incinerators in the United States annually burn 500 to 600 million pounds of PVC each year, forming highly toxic dioxins that are released into the air, widely dispersed and disposed onto the ground as ash. Land disposal is no better. Toxic additives leach into groundwater and release toxic emissions, combining with other landfill gases. Between two and four billion pounds of PVC are discarded every year at some 1,800 US landfills. Most PVC in construction and demolition debris ends up in landfills, many of which are unlined and fail to divert any contaminants that seep out. THE PATH FORWARD Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring, led to the US ban of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and the formation of the US EPA. So far, Judith Helfand’s work in Blue Vinyl has not produced a similar groundswell; however, there are hopeful signs of change in the air. On October 28, 2010, the US Green Building Council (USGBC) launched a new pilot LEED materials credit for “Chemical Avoidance In Building Materials.” This credit, which addresses the specification of pthalates and halogenated flame retardants, joins an earlier credit for “PBT Source Reduction: Dioxins and Halogenated Organic Compounds” in addressing the toxic legacy of PVC. The Healthy Building Network has been working hard for years to educate designers and builders on the dangers of PVC and to offer alternatives for use in everything from homes to healthcare facilities. The Cascadia Green Building Council supports the USGBC and other leaders and organizations like the Healthy Building Network in their efforts to break the building industry from its PVC addiction. Cascadia is also reaching out to design firms across North America to ask them to avoid specifying PVC f looring and to educate their clients on why this is an important step towards protecting the health of our communities.

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“Between two and four billion pounds of PVC are discarded every year at some 1,800 US landfills. Most PVC in construction and demolition debris ends up in landfills, many of which are unlined and fail to divert any contaminants that seep out.”

Alternatives to PVC Flooring Linoleum Vinyl and linoleum flooring products look and behave similarly. True linoleum flooring is made from solidified linseed oil (linoxyn) in combination with wood flour or cork dust over a burlap or canvas backing. In use since the mid-nineteenth century, linoleum is flexible, durable, water resistant and anti-microbial. Available in many designs and colors, linoleum is a relatively economical flooring option, suitable for a variety of applications throughout buildings. It should always be installed with low- or no-VOC adhesive.

Bamboo Bamboo flooring is widely thought of, and marketed as a highly durable and beautiful flooring choice. The bamboo plant (which is actually a grass) has a fast re-growth cycle, hence its reputation as a rapidly renewable resource. There are some potential shortcomings to using bamboo. It often must be shipped from Asia, incurring both added financial and environmental costs associated with long distance transport. Plus, there is no current reliable certification process that assures that the bamboo is being harvested in a sustainable manner.

Ceramic Tile Ceramics are made from 100 percent natural (and plentiful) raw materials that are usually found in close proximity to manufacturing facilities, thus reducing fuel consumption and transportation costs. Ceramic tiles do not absorb or emit pollutants. When installed and maintained properly, ceramic tile can last for the life of a building. Ceramics are relatively durable, easy to clean using warm water and pH-neutral cleaners, and are available in a vast array of colors and patterns. On the down side, ceramics can be prone to chipping.

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Natural Fiber or Polyolefin Backed Carpet Carpets and rugs made of natural fibers do not off-gas volatile organic compounds (VOCs) like many synthetic carpets. It is important that the backing of the carpet and underlay pad also are made of untreated natural materials. For example, look for pads made from untreated wool or camel’s hair felt that are sewn, not glued, to jute backing. Similarly, natural latex backing is better than foam rubber, synthetic latex, or plastic. Polyolefin is currently the backing Cartersville, Georgia-based Shaw company applies to its carpets. It is made in a dry process that uses post-industrial content – mainly plastics – to create the backing. It is also stronger and easier to install and remove than PVC products. According to Shaw, polyolefin backing also is 40 percent lighter than a PVC backing, and has a higher lamination strength.

Wood Hardwood flooring comes in three basic varieties: strip, plank and parquet. The individual segments in wood strip flooring are usually about 1 ½- to 2 ¼-inches wide. Plank flooring strips are wider and parquet floors are composed of individual squares that make up a geometric pattern. Wood floors are durable and often considered a valuable amenity for their warmth and beauty, though they do require occasional refinishing. FSC certified wood flooring comes from forests that are independently certified – meeting the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). FSC is the only forest certification system that is supported by all major environmental groups and is the only certification system endorsed by Cascadia and the International Living Building Institute’s Living Building Challenge.

Cork The material used for cork flooring is actually tree bark naturally shed every nine to fifteen years. Cork flooring is hypoallergenic and resistant to the mold and mildew commonly associated with other types of flooring. It neither off-gases nor sheds micro-fibers that would otherwise compromise indoor air quality. The acoustical properties of cork also dampen sound, creating a more intimate space and require little maintenance. Cork is available in many natural tones and man-made colors. Cork can also be used as sub flooring to provide “spring” beneath hardwood and carpeted floors. When used as a flooring surface or sub-surface, it provides cushion and “give” not provided by less flexible flooring materials, including ceramic tile, hardwood and cement. Potential drawbacks of cork include cost and its vulnerability to water damage from wet mopping.

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Concrete Decorative concrete flooring is low maintenance, durable and can function as both slab and finished floor. Decorative techniques such as coloring, staining, stamping, stenciling and polishing provide unlimited design versatility, including the ability to mimic more traditional materials such as tile or slate. Known for their thermal mass and ability to retain heat, concrete floors are useful for passive solar designs and can be used with energy-efficient in-floor radiant heating. Concrete sealers and coatings are available in low-odor, nontoxic versions.

Why flooring? Flooring is often an afterthought. Not many of us went to architecture or engineering school to choose carpeting or kitchen and bathroom flooring. And yet, flooring covers a substantial amount of surface area in our buildings, is in direct contact with the occupants – and is big business! In 2006, the US flooring industry stood at approximately $25 billion USD, or approximately 28 percent of the global market.3 PVC is used in flooring products because it provides inexpensive, easy to clean surfaces and is especially practical in kitchens, bathrooms and children’s playrooms. PVC flooring is constructed from soft PVC that has been plasticized using phthalates (phthalate esters). Phthalates do not bind to PVC chemically, but are present as freely mobile and leachable components of the plastic matrix. Phthalates are gradually lost from PVC over time by volatilization to the air (off-gassing), leaching into water, or migrating from PVC flooring to house dust. Human exposure to phthalates may also occur from direct skin contact with PVC floors. Young children are subjected to the highest exposure to phthalates from PVC floors because their breathing zone is closer to the floor and they have a larger volume 3. www.mindbranch.com/Laminate-Vinyl-Flooring-R460-160

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“Flooring covers a substantial amount of surface area in our buildings, is in direct contact with the occupants – and is big business! In 2006, the US flooring industry stood at approximately $25 billion USD, or approximately 28 percent of the global market.” of respiration than adults per kilogram of bodyweight. Children also ingest approximately 100 milligrams of house dust per day, five times greater than adults, as they play or crawl on carpets. This finding is of great concern given that infants and children, with their developing organs, are generally more susceptible to toxic insult from chemical exposure.

What can we do? Consumers and specifiers can choose from among the variety of PVC-free floor covering options. Linoleum, bamboo, ceramic tile, carpeting with natural fiber backing or polyolefins, reclaimed or FSCcertified sustainably harvested wood, cork, rubber, and concrete are all better choices. What we can not afford to do, as Helfand argues in “Blue Vinyl,” is to continue to use human beings – ourselves and our children – as laboratory rats in an experiment to see how much poison we can absorb before a regulatory agency finally steps in and bans PVC outright. j oel p. sisola k , MUP LEED AP is the Advocacy and Outreach Director for Cascadia Green Building Council. He resides in Seattle, Washington.

Movie stills from Blue Vinyl. Images via www.bluevinyl.org.

A study in Norway revealed that children living in homes with PVC floors were found to have a higher incidence of bronchial obstruction than children living in homes with wooden floors. Phthalates have been found to deposit in the fatty tissues of the body, where they act as anti-androgens. Recent studies suggest that these phthalates play a role in human disorders and disease like male reproductive dysfunction, breast growth and testicular cancers. Phthalates also have been associated with excema, rhinitis, autism and asthma. In October 2010, HealthyStuff.org released a study of flooring and wallpaper products. They found that most vinyl flooring contains four phthalate plasticizers recently banned in children’s products. Yet PVC flooring and PVC-backed carpeting is still in wide use.

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www.withamanddickey.com Call Libby Upham at 503-736-0111

by jason f. mclennan

Winter 2011

THE TOOTH OF THE LION beauty, logic and the ilbi logo

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People often wonder why a common dandelion features prominently in the logo of the International Living Building Institute (ILBI). “Isn’t that a weed?” some have asked. “And what does a lawn menace have to do with green building?”

ates future opportunities for other plants to benefit by growing first where other plants cannot initially grow. It is a good companion for shallower-rooted crops and also attracts pollinating insects, which benefit many other species.

We are glad you asked and we are happy to explain.

The dandelion endures. This little marvel is a true survivor, challenging our notions of what is and is not desirable in the natural world. We devote incredible amounts of water and energy and petrochemical fertilizer to irrigate the typical American lawn in climates where it would never grow naturally, and then attack the thriving Taraxacum genus with toxic chemicals to rid our landscape of so-called weeds. This is another metaphor for many things in our civilization that we covet that are actually hurting us and degrading our environment. We need to rethink what we value and the dandelion is a powerful symbol of that paradox.

We carefully and intentionally chose the dandelion1 – Taraxacum officinale – as the symbol of the ILBI because it stands for many of the same things we do. It is a perfect metaphor. The ILBI is committed to creating truly restorative structures and communities, generating global discussion about the need for transformative change in our built environment and flipping conventional wisdom on its head. Our logo’s beautifully stubborn flower helps us convey all that and more. Think it’s a weed? Think again. The dandelion symbolizes strength. Derived from the French words meaning “lion’s tooth” (used to describe the shape of the leaves), the dandelion’s very name implies natural leadership. Just as the proud lion symbolically leads the animal kingdom, the ILBI seeks to guide the human effort toward a restorative future. The dandelion is collaborative. People think that the dandelion is merely an opportunistic invader. Quite the contrary. With its deep taproot, it has the ability to break up hard earth and bring nutrients up from below the reach of other plants. It literally cre1. The idea was first presented to us by Richard Britz, an outof-the-box artist, architect, activist and author, who also helped us create the ILBI and Living Building Challenge logos.

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The dandelion is simple. In the name of progress, humans have a habit of developing complicated technologies that end up being harmful to the planet and its inhabitants. Yet the simplest solutions – such as vegetated roofs, rainwater collection systems or composting toilets – usually deliver the most powerful results. The straightforward nature of the dandelion is similarly commanding – a small flower that can grow just about anywhere. The dandelion is curative. How could something so packed with vitamins, calcium, potassium, iron, magnesium and zinc be considered a nuisance? The dandelion has been used for a source of nourishment in the form of salads, wine and tea. It has

also been shown to have healing properties in the treatment of many medical conditions and has been used as a medicinal plant by many cultures for hundreds of years. Anything with such restorative potential, whether it is a plant or a revolutionary approach to green design, deserves our attention and respect.

gene pool that are as elegant. Why are there so many delightful photographs of children blowing dandelion seeds? We think there is something primal and beautiful about blowing the seeds off a dandelion â&#x20AC;&#x201C; just like we want spreading the word about Living Buildings, Sites and Communities to be so enthralling.

The dandelion generates no waste. All parts of the plant may be put to service, just as all systems in a Living Building Challenge project should be models of integrated systems. Whether used for medicinal or culinary purposes, the dandelionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s roots, leaves and buds all offer distinct and often delicious advantages.

The dandelion is a weed to some people, but to us it represents the possibilities of a restorative future. What, after all, could be more naturally beautiful than a reproductive cycle that relies on the winds of change?

The dandelion spreads elegantly. A gentle breeze is all that is needed for the seeds of the dandelion to take flight before settling in nearby soil and beginning a new phase of growth. In the entire natural world there are few methods of spreading the

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by nathan benjamin

Removing the Roadblocks to

Material Reuse

The sustainable design industry has made a strong and growing commitment to reusing and integrating previously manufactured materials in a wide range of innovative projects. Design teams are recognizing that the utilization of reclaimed materials not only extends the life of resources, but also can contribute aesthetically and, in many cases, structurally to the overall quality of a project. However, finding firstrate materials, of suitable quality and quantity can pose significant challenges. It is difficult enough to find new materials that are within the required distances to project sites for high-level projects striving for LEED certification or participating in the Living Building Challenge™. While new materials are generally well-publicized and widely distributed, sourcing reclaimed material options are not. So how are project teams to overcome the barriers associated with material reuse? Instead of thinking of reclaimed materials solely as decorative elements that are added so that one can employ use of the word “reclaimed” as a description in the specifications or on the drawings for

a project, they need to be integrated into the process from the initial project idea through to project completion. This fuller integration will help ensure that these buildings have a reduced carbon footprint. Many projects that are currently in design or construction and striving for “Living Building” recognition are working through this exact issue – how to incorporate reclaimed material options into their projects. While suitable quality reclaimed materials may often be available in sufficient quantity and located within acceptable distances for a given project, the real problem rests in project teams knowing the availability of the needed materials and how to access them for their projects. Roadblocks in the reuse of materials center around old habits and ideas that the industry has reinforced for years: the convenience of specifying new materials that are available in any quantity whenever we want; misperceptions that reclaimed materials are always more expensive; uncertainty of the unknowns of re{Image on right} The main hallway of the Omega Center for Sustainable Living clad in reclaimed beech wood, trimmed with reclaimed Douglas Fir, and with reclaimed doors.

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Photograph copyright ÂŠ Assassi

Photograph via Wikimedia Commons, © whitehouse.gov

U.S. Capitol and Barack Obama inauguration stage where dimensional lumber and plywood was sourced from for the Omega Center for Sustainable Living and for the 5200 Dauphine project in New Orleans.

use; and many more. But now we are able to reference and learn from the first three “Living” projects and cite examples of successful design teams that are pushing the boundaries of industry standards. Where did the teams find materials? How did they source them while meeting tight design reviews and deadlines? And how do we learn from those projects to make it easier for others in the future? The sustainability movement is remarkably transparent. The sharing of ideas, solutions, challenges and triumphs is carried on throughout Cascadia’s annual Living Future conference and this type of sharing needs to continue throughout the global design community when it comes to reclaimed materials. Over the past three years, we have seen many projects take new approaches, changing the way we look at materials and projects. Comments like “let us know what is available” and “we’ll build the materials you have available into our project design” have become increasingly frequent for materials brokers and consultants in the reuse industry.

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PlanetReuse, a reclaimed construction materials broker, had the privilege of sourcing reclaimed materials for two of the first three “Living” projects. Assisting with both the Omega Center for Sustainable Living and the Tyson Living Learning projects, PlanetReuse was brought in at different phases of each of the projects, but was able to work with the architects, contractors and owners to help source reclaimed materials such as rigid insulation board, beech wood paneling, interior doors and hardware, trim work, toilet partitions and accessories, plywood, and dimensional framing. The project teams found it very beneficial to have a partner to locate the materials, coordinate logistics, manage for quality control, and arrange for delivery of materials to the jobsite on time. “We could not have done it without their help…when we were not able to find a material option that would fit our tight timeframe in new material…reclaimed was a great alternative,” commented Daniel Hellmuth of Hellmuth + Bicknese Architects in reference to Washington University’s Tyson Living Learning Center.

Photograph Courtesy of PlanetReuse

Framing structure under Inaugural Stage.

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Photograph Courtesy of PlanetReuse

“I wish we would have known about a reclaimed material locating service like yours earlier in the process as we could have explored even more reclaimed material options with the structure and envelope,” said Laura Lesniewski of BNIM Architects on the Omega Center project. The earlier in the process that reuse materials are thought of the better the opportunity to incorporate reclaimed options into the design. With the tight radius requirements for sourcing materials, it helps to work with consultants and brokers with broad networks of contacts who can share their knowledge about existing and upcoming options. It also allows for great material histories and stories for educational outreach and to communicate to people visiting completed projects about the value of material reuse. For example, the Omega Center features reclaimed dimensional lumber and plywood from the President Obama Inaugural stage platform and structure.

We often hear ideas about “easing the percentage or the mileage requirements” for reclaimed materials to help achieve Petals or Credits for certifications. These Documentation of the use of reclaimed materials in fif- types of compromises could come at a cost to genuine teen projects throughout North America appeared re- sustainable design. Sustainability should not exist as a cently in Public Architecture’s Design for Reuse Primer.1 scorecard or a checklist. Rather, it is a way of providing The publication documents challenges and successes design and construction methods with future generaon projects that incorporated reclaimed materials into tions in mind. Though it may be easier to lower certitheir designs. Many exceptional owners, design firms, fication requirements, as an industry we need to look and construction companies are showcased as they at materials in another way. Introducing reclaimed worked to develop sustainable projects that incorpo- material options earlier in the project process as well rated many reclaimed materials. Among the projects as expanding the types of reused materials will divert highlighted in the Design for Reuse Primer that involved more and more materials from landfills. Thinking outthe assistance of PlanetReuse are the Omega Center side of the box by expanding to more materials is one project in upstate New York and the 5200 Dauphine of the most sustainable things we can do. And once we project in New Orleans, LA. On the 5200 Dauphine incorporate reclaimed materials into projects, we need project (currently under construction and striving for to spread the word about the changing industry and to LEED Platinum), there were numerous materials used share the many ways we can reuse materials and divert from the existing buildings that were deconstructed them from landfills. on the project site as well as from other buildings in the neighborhood and we were able to help source reNATHAN BENJAMIN, LEED AP, is the claimed timbers for the roof framing from within a 500 president and founder of PlanetReuse. mile radius at a cost savings. Reclaimed framing from the Inaugural Stage and warehouse in Omega Center.

1. The Design for Reuse Primer is available for free online at: www.designforreuse.org/Design_for_Reuse/default.htm.

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by sara feldman

The Path to Net Zero:

Oregonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Story

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Hood River Middle Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s science and music rooms. Photo courtesy of Opsis Architecture.

Imagination, ambition and sheer grit – participants in the International Living Building Institute’s Living Building Challenge must have all three. Those who pursue the Challenge envision a building as something more than just a resource-hungry structure of concrete and steel. They see it as an integral component of the natural environment. To make these innovative concepts a reality, however, they must also be resourceful.

Energy Trust accepted 15 pilot projects of varying sizes and complexity, located throughout the state. To be eligible, projects had to be in the schematic design phase or earlier and commit to achieving energy-efficiency savings of at least 50 percent beyond 2007 Oregon energy code, with combined energy efficiency and renewable energy savings of at least 60 percent beyond Oregon code.

Once approved, the pilot projects became eligible to receive incentives for holding a comprehensive early One of the most high profile elements of the Chal- design charrette, conducting energy modeling, inlenge is energy use. Buildings must generate all of their stalling equipment and systems and monitoring and own renewable energy on-site. This requirement – as reporting during post-occupancy. Energy Trust engiwell as the resource constraints challenging owners neering and technical staff also lend their time and exand designers interested in advancing this practice pertise to each project to assist teams in fulfilling the – caught the eye of Energy Trust of Oregon, an inde- project requirements. pendent nonprofit that provides technical support and cash incentives to Oregonians who invest in energy Energy Trust’s technical support and financial assisefficiency and renewable resources. In 2009, Energy tance made the goal of net-zero attainable for a wide Trust decided to take an active role in this movement range of projects that did not have the financial resourcand launched one of its most ambitious initiatives to es or the technical expertise to build to such a high date: the Path to Net Zero pilot. Designed for owners standard. Each project has its own unique story, but the who construct buildings with exceptional energy per- themes of environmental and social responsibility are formance and strive for net-zero on-site energy use, it common to all. Three of these stories follow, providing helps fund design approaches that support the energy a glimpse into the creativity, collaboration and determination it takes to create a net-zero building. component of the Living Building Challenge.

image courtesy of siteworks design build

An exterior walkway at Ecoflats in Portland, Oregon.

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image courtesy of siteworks design build

Ecoflats East elevation.

EcoFlats EcoFlats, slated for occupancy in spring 2011, combines twenty apartment units with ground floor retail space on North Williams Street, within Portland’s Interstate Urban Renewal Area. Developer Jean-Pierre Veillet, owner of Portland design/build firm Siteworks, and his partner Doug Shapiro set out to reinvent an underutilized property as a model for sustainable, community-orientated and affordable high-performance design. On track to achieve a net-zero energy standard for the residential portion of the building, the project encompasses energy-saving and power-generating tactics, including a common hydronic heating system, a 20 kilowatt solar electric array, an energy-efficient building envelope, ample day-lighting and thermal collectors to provide hot water for the entire building. The apartments are also accessible from an exterior loggia, which helps avoid the high heating and cooling costs typically associated with internal circulation spaces. While the building exemplifies sustainable living, one looming variable keeps the partners up at night: the

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future residents. Will they operate as a community to do, as Veillet says, “what’s right,” in terms of meeting the net-zero energy goal? Betting on peer pressure to encourage responsible energy use, Veillet plans to install a visual energy monitoring system inside the main building entry. Each unit will be monitored individually against a baseline energy goal, with every unit’s usage visible to all. Along with the power of peer pressure, the partners are considering an incentive system to reward those who meet energy goals, as well as individual energy consultations for those who want to slash their energy use but are not sure how. “If we truly want to decrease energy use, we have to target buildings. But we can not just focus on machines and technology, the individual has to participate,” says Veillet. “It’s this social piece and getting people to work together that will make the building a success. This is a prototype for other designers and builders to get people to participate in the pursuit of a common goal, which is simple, guilt-free living.”

image courtesy of nye architecture

The Norwest view of June Key Delta House in Portland, Oregon.

June Key Delta House The Portland Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, a professional sorority of African-American women, has been operating out of a former service station in north Portland’s Humboldt community for more than ten years. The Chapter provides valuable public services such as tutoring and scholarships to young African-American women. As programs expanded, the nonprofit outgrew its current space and began considering major renovations. From the very beginning, the organization wanted its new space to exemplify community responsibility and be a sustainable teaching tool for the neighborhood. Mark Nye, Principal of Nye Architecture, steered the chapter towards the Living Building Challenge. With completion planned for February 2011, the new June Key Delta House Community Center is on track to meet its goals. Nye Architecture developed a design that incorporates both aesthetic and ecological objectives. The renovation of the existing service structure included repurposing shipping containers as bathrooms and a kitchen. To achieve net-zero energy use, the team specified a ground-source heat pump for heating and cooling, a high-performance envelope, energy-efficient lighting and abundant day lighting. A planned 18-kilowatt hour solar electric array is briefly on hold as the Chapter tries to secure more funding.

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Truly a grassroots labor of love, the renovation is the result of tireless fundraising on the part of the Chapter. “We hope that our building will demonstrate to other small nonprofits that anyone can reach the highest level of sustainability,” said Chris Poole-Jones, Project Coordinator. “We also plan to use the center as a teaching tool for the community, with classes focusing on sustainable living and efficient energy use.”

Hood River Middle School A growing student body necessitated major renovations of the historic Hood River Middle School in Hood River, Oregon. Teachers had already established a curriculum that incorporated sustainable concepts, so when a bond was passed to build new music and science classrooms they knew exactly what to do – create a building that would be a teaching tool to illustrate sustainable ideas in practice. Portland’s Opsis Architecture was selected to design the 5,600-square-foot building to LEED® Platinum standards with net-zero energy and water use. The team employed numerous techniques to save and generate energy, including a geo-exchange system of underground piping and a radiant slab, displacement

image courtesy of opsis architecture

Hood River students enjoy the new science and music rooms.

ventilation and a 35-kilowatt electric solar array. A nearby stream provides irrigation for the slab, allowing it to “borrow” coolness from the water during warmer months. Unfortunately, the team ended up scrapping their net-zero water goals due to stringent state and municipal treating and testing regulations. The building is now occupied and awaiting LEED certification. Meanwhile, Hood River students are receiving a hands-on education in sustainability. Science teacher Michael Becker, the building’s original champion who helped steer the community towards sustainable design, has incorporated the building and energyuse monitoring into his lesson plans.

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Those who pursue the Challenge envision a building as something more than just a resource-hungry structure of concrete and steel. They see it as an integral component of the natural environment. When asked about the project and lessons-learned, architect Chris Brown of Opsis stated, “The best advice I can give is to aim high. We tried to do as many things as possible, and while some didn’t work out, many did. It’s worth trying to do it all.” As Chris’ statement suggests, a net-zero building is as much a product of imagination and determination, as it is the result of good design. Energy Trust’s Path to Net Zero pilot helps teams overcome technical and financial barriers to meet the energy requirements of the Living Building Challenge. But it is the pioneering spirit of these owners, project teams and community members that is propelling net-zero forward.

sara feldman is a freelance writer in Washington State. She can be reached at sara@oliocommunications.com.

by kira gould

HOW DO WE LOVE MORE? Research for Women in Green: Voices of Sustainable Design (Ecotone Publishing), which I co-authored with architect Lance Hosey, consisted primarily of interviews with generous and amazing women and men active in sustainable design in the United States and beyond. One of the most generous and amazing people we talked to was architect Gail Lindsey. One of the anecdotes I repeat often about the book focuses on Gail. Lance and I asked her and Joel Ann Todd if they would be willing to participate in a dialogue about work patterns in sustainable design, given that they had co-authored a book about charrettes and integrated design. Gail responded to us quickly and enthusiastically. As we settled into the discussion, it was clear that Gail had another agenda in mind. “What really makes sustainability work?” they asked, and then they talked about love. In many ways, this was exquisitely appropriate. For many people, Gail was the beating heart of the sustainable design movement itself. Today, this memory, and the memory of Gail’s infectious, vibrant spirit, is bittersweet; she died in March 2009 after fighting cancer for several months. We miss her greatly, and see traces of her influence and brilliance in many places, organizations, and projects. I am personally honored and humbled that her voice is part of Women in Green.

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“What really makes sustainability work?” ask architect Gail Lindsey and environmental consultant Joel Ann Todd. “What are its deeper core values, core purpose, and core process?” Having worked with many organizations and co-authored a guidebook to integrated design charrettes, they are experts on facilitation, so we asked them about working with people. Instead, what they talked about was love.

What’s love got to do with it? Everything, as it turns realized, but always struggled for, at least by most of out. In The Sacred Balance, geneticist David Suzuki us.” Others suggest that it’s not merely like love. “Suswrites that love binds together everything on earth. tainability is love,” write Patsy Benveniste of the Chi“Built into the fundamental properties of matter is the cago Botanic Garden and Jan Kaderly of the Wildlife mutual attraction that could be thought of as the ba- Conservation Society. sis of love. For human beings, love, beginning with the bond between mother and infant, is the humanizing How can we realistically begin to translate “sustainforce that confers health in body and mind. Receiv- ability is love” into a workable set of strategies? If trying love releases the capacity for love and compassion ing to understand sustainability seems challenging, that is a critical part of living together as social beings.” dissecting love seems virtually impossible. Described Such love should also be the basis for design, accord- as “an ineffable feeling of affection,” it is by definition ing to Jane Talkington, who is pursuing her doctorate indefinable. That may be the point – care that knows in sustainability. Everything is energy, she says, and no bounds. But care for what? For the earth, each hand-hewn keepsakes affect us differently than mass- other, and ourselves, says Donna McIntire, the U.S. produced artifacts. “When items are handcrafted with State Department’s liaison for sustainability. “We’re great intention and care, those objects are embedded disconnected from nature now more than ever, and with ‘embodied love.’” Call it the emotional version of we’re also disconnected from our inner selves. But we are all connected to one another. How do we tap the technical term “embodied energy.” into that?” In his famous 1992 talk to the United NaElizabeth Sawin, a biologist and systems analyst affili- tions, Haudenosaunee Faithkeeper Chief Oren Lyated with the Sustainability Institute, lists three sim- ons spoke of giving thanks to “All That Sustains Us” ple steps toward sustainability: “let reality in,” “speak and described his people’s “compassion and love for the truth,” and “stay in love with what you love, even those generations yet unborn… We were instructed when it hurts.” Of the last, she continues, “As long as to love our children, indeed, to love ALL children.” we stay in love with our world, there’s really nothing to Humanity, he said, can be judged by how we treat our do but keep on trying to figure out how to live within children. Echoing this sentiment, architect William its limits.” Sociology professor Denise Lach of Oregon McDonough condenses all of sustainability to one esState University writes, “Sustainability is like love and sential question: “How do we love all of the children democracy – multiple meanings, not always perfectly of all species for all time?”

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Put another way, these descriptions of sustainability sound like maternal love. Architect Bob Berkebile tells us that’s exactly what it is. “We are learning how to love one another and our environment and the next generation. That requires more femininity and nurturing – more leadership from women and from the feminine side of all of us. There are damn few men who will be able to get us there.” He points to biologist Janine Benyus as someone who understands the integration of science and spirit. “She sees that we are informed by energy we have yet to understand. That openness and ability to love takes courage and integrity.” Benyus tells us, “I think what I’m carrying is love for the natural world. It’s sacred fire.” As Lindsey and Todd describe below, this sacred fire is the answer to sustainability’s questions.

The real magic is that you need people pushing forward in their own ways. When you bring that together, it’s more powerful than having everyone in lockstep. It’s messier and more difficult but much richer. We need emotion and reason. We need it all.

todd

It’s a balancing act. Let us all be whole and let us all be integrated. It’s a cultural challenge. Kids are incredibly intuitive, and it seems that our education system is training them away from intuition and connections with nature. Are we cutting down that real knowledge and connection to nature?

lindsey

Things in nature just automatically do their best. The ant is carrying leaves, and the plant is reaching for the sun. We’re the only ones making a conscious decision not to do whatever we can do, the best way we can do it. todd

I spoke on a panel at a conference recently, and a student asked, “What can we do to make l i n d s e y What we really mean by sustainability is a huge change very quickly?” The panelists mentioned making our highest and best choices, every day with several important things – fuel efficiencies, technology, every thing. daylighting and passive strategies, and so forth. And I said, “All we have to do is love more. Love ourselves more. w i g How do we decide what’s highest and best? Love the ecosystems more. Just love more.” I had been a little afraid to say it, but I think that is the crux of it. The l i n d s e y People ask me about how to deal with people who think their best choices are McMansions. I bestudents really responded. I got a standing ovation! lieve we respect everybody where they are. We might find out that what we’re doing now is not, after all, wom e n i n gr e e n Why were you afraid to say it? highest and best. You have to be open – respect everyl i n d s e y Our society is left-brain dominated. The logical thing and continually question. and scientific have primacy. In the context of that, it sometimes sounds strange to ask, “How do we measure love?” todd That’s how we learn more about what’s highest and best. There’s the highest and best for me perjoe l a n n todd People wish for an easy technical sonally, and then there’s the highest and best thinking fix that our left brains can understand. But this issue is more broadly. really about a change of heart – changing the way we live, not just the way we design buildings. l i n d se y Thinking broadly involves understanding implications. When consequences are revealed, people get it. l i n d s e y A mentor once told me that to change the world, I should change myself. But that’s hard! Sustain- w i g Are you saying that sustainability itself needs to ability is most profound when you find it personally. be questioned? Once you respect and love yourself, you start respecting and loving and valuing everything else – other people, t o d d There is the possibility that we may not be the planet – because you know that you are connected. doing the right things at all. We talk about this all the ga il l i n dse y

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time, as we travel by airplane to conferences all over the world. We’re still not behaving holistically and thinking beyond the building. An energy‑efficient building may be having negative effects on its community for some reason, and that’s certainly not sustainable. You’re both talking of left- and right-brain thinking. Is this related to men and women, respectively?

w ig

l i n d s e y Yes, but also to cultural and other differences. The Japanese encourage women and men both to engage in right- and left-brain thinking, but American culture emphasizes the left brain. If someone is a great deal more intuitive, whether female or male, that is likely to be discouraged in our school system. todd One thing I love about working in this field is that there tends to be less stereotypical division along gender lines. You find men who are very open to the spiritual side of the work and are very articulate about it, too.

This field does seem to be very trusting and open – it’s a very good community. lindsey

People tend to be very collaborative instead of competitive. todd

more about its relationships to community. That’s when we’ll include professions that are more diverse. l i n d s e y It may also be that we are not yet working closely enough with other groups, some of which are very diverse. Some of the groups just coming into this field are more diverse. And student populations are more diverse, too.

How can people with diverse backgrounds, views, and agendas work well together?

w ig

It may be that we all have masculine and feminine sensibilities and this topic empowers us to cultivate both parts. lindsey

Diversity of any kind is critical – then the effort functions like an ecosystem.

You start by having the conversation with people you trust. And then you provide opportunities for the conversation for other people. Community visioning workshops are one of those opportunities for people to talk about their values, what they really want for their community. It’s up to people organizing these events to provide a trusting and comfortable environment.

w ig

There appears to be greater gender balance in sustainable design than in the design industry at large, but racial and ethnic diversity are still very low.

Look at where you agree and disagree and look at the ways to work on that. How do we get something positive out of resolving the differences?

Diversity is growing, but it’s still low. What will change that is when we stop thinking about green design as the technical side of things and we start thinking

lindsey

I definitely have both – I want to know how to measure how well we’re doing. todd

lindsey

todd

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todd

Look at what we want to accomplish together. What we all need now for positive evolution is the highest energy we can have. Tapping that energy is critical.

I think most people that are doing this kind of work have these impulses within them. We’re a bunch of do‑gooders even if most of us won’t admit it. Most people welcome a comfortable opportunity to have these discussions.

todd

w ig

I gave my “love” talk to a policy group – lots of three-piece suits. The first guy that zoomed up to me, a retired military guy, said “I loved your talk. We need more love in everything.”

I think if you open up, others will too. Remove the judgment and have the conversation openly.

It would be great if we were having more conversations about what it really means to love more. If people were thinking about that personally and professionally, things would really shift.

How do you begin to talk about sustainability with someone who has never considered any of these issues?

lindsey

People will surprise you. Gail and I have worked with people you might think would be hard to convince and they get it quickly, with a depth we didn’t expect. todd

[Environmentalist] David Brower once told me, “Whatever you do, make it fun. If you are passionate and you want others to join in, make it fun.” I heard that before age six we laugh 400 times a day, but as adults we barely make it to four.

lindsey

The two of you have worked hard to demonstrate what an integrated process looks like and how it relates to what you call the core values and purpose of sustainability. What is the distinction between values and purpose?

w ig

Values are the basis on which you construct a purpose to go forward or a purpose to do something. They are the basic underpinnings of everything you do.

todd

Joel and I are working with different universities. Yale is viewing sustainability from the biophilia perspective – their purpose is to engage the human connection to nature. But at MIT, they are focused on infrastructure and technologies that enable sustainability. These groups can have very different core purposes but shared values. lindsey

Our goal is to get people talking about values, not just the technological fix. Most of our conversations happen to be about making a building more effitodd

cient, but if we start talking about values, we can probably get to a much better place.

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lindsey

todd

kira gould co-authored Women in Green: Voices of Sustainable Design with architect LanceHosey.Sheisdirectorofcommunications for William McDonough + Partners, a design firm with offices in Charlottesville, VA and San Francisco; she lives in the Bay Area with her husband and son.

Women in Green: Voices of Sustainable Design Purchase your copy today at ecotonedesign.com/womeningreen.

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by mark masteller

LEAPING AHEAD WITHOUT LEAVING OTHERS BEHIND (Green) Building: The Social Justice Bridge

Sarah Costello, the Development Director for Cascadia Green Building Council, summarized my question succinctly. “You mean, how do we leap ahead without leaving others behind?” That was exactly what I was getting at. How do we apply our accumulated knowledge and expertise to help those people who are most in need and, in some cases, are facing the most challenging conditions? We were discussing the fantastic news that the Living Building Challengesm – the most advanced green building standard ever developed – had recently been “proven” by innovative project teams in New York, Missouri and British Columbia. Buildings that have achieved net-zero energy, net-zero water, and utilize far fewer toxic materials are truly ground-breaking! With seventy-plus Living Building Challenge projects currently in various stages of development, there is more great news about Living Building advancements soon to be realized. However, my excitement about high-level sustainable design is tempered by my concern that often the potential stakeholders most in need of highperformance buildings have the most difficulty marshalling the resources for such projects. Two examples that play prominently in Alaska are:

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Remote high-arctic villages – often called “ground zero” for the impacts of climate change. The people of these villages routinely face severe weather conditions, exorbitant fossil energy and transportation costs, and skyrocketing asthma rates. In Alaska these are largely First Nations villages with energy requirements up to 20,000 heating degree days (HDD) – and where heating fuel can cost $8 per gallon and electricity can cost up to $1/kWh. By comparison the energy requirements for Washington, Oregon and California average out at 3226 HDD.1 Non-profit groups – with limited budgets – addressing a huge variety of social and environmental injustices, ranging from domestic violence, racism, and sexism to persistent toxins and climate change. It is widely recognized that the green building industry is a fundamental part of the environmental movement. The built environment has tremendous impacts on our life-support systems, primarily through energy and materials consumption, production of toxins, and greenhouse gas production. Through our work, 1. U.S. Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Review 2009 Table 1.9 (August 2010)

the green building movement has terrific potential to achieve significant and near-term reductions in these negative impacts. However, time is not on our side and therefore we need to urgently evoke profound changes. One strategy to help bring about these needed changes is to create, foster, and strengthen alliances among individuals, groups, and organizations that share concerns for social justice.

middle-class individuals, and concerned about climate change and clean energy while the social justice movement is more racially and socially diverse and most interested in tackling an entrenched infrastructure of injustice including poverty, violence, sexism, racism and impacts to health. Nevertheless, some inspiring examples of efforts highlighting connections between environmental and social justice can be found. To this end, check out the work of visionaries like Majora For example, in recent years, various leaders of the en- Carter, Van Jones, Thomas Linzey and Paul Hawken. vironmental and social justice movements have begun But to further the cause, the question remains: How seeking ways to work more closely together. However, can green building advocates play a significant role in it has not proven to be an easy alliance. The environ- bridging the divide between the environmental justice mental movement is still largely made up of Caucasian, and social justice movements?

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First, we must recognize that the concern for public health is a major factor driving the advancement of the green building movement. Furthermore, this shared common interest about the health and well-being of people can open doors to collaborations with many non-traditional allies, potentially broadening our outreach and strengthening our work.

We must carefully and honestly present the business case for building green. While there may be an initial premium for high-performance construction, we must communicate that first costs are more than offset with reductions in future building operation and life-cycle costs, particularly in rural areas with high energy and transportation costs. We need to enlist the support of forward-thinking members of the financial community. They can be powSecond, we must recognize the critical role of women erful allies when educated about the long-term financial in connecting these two worlds. As Francesca Lyman and community health benefits of green building. The wrote in Ms. Magazine (2007) “Women green build- articulate presentation of return-on-investment inforers, like earlier social activists, are at the forefront of mation is especially powerful when talking with potenconcern for clean water, clean air and more environ- tial financers, bankers, accountants, and board members mentally appropriate sewage disposal.” And while of community and non-profit groups. We also must emwomen make up only 1 percent of the membership of phasize that reductions in operational and maintenance the American Institute of Architects, they make up costs, either with renovations or new construction, allow 24 percent of the AIA Committee on the Environ- owners to put more money directly into their programs or ment. (In Alaska, 44 percent of Cascadia’s current community. Imagine a net-zero energy homeless shelter members are women.) with no heating or electric bills! Third, we need enlightened clients such as the leaders of the environmental and social justice movements to be advocates for green building as part of their efforts to bring about the changes they champion.

The Cascadia Green Building Council is a non-profit organization dedicated to the belief that the building industry has the capacity to lay the groundwork for a future in which ecological restoration and economic revitalization go hand- in-hand. As well, our “guiding signal We need to ally ourselves with other similar-minded, issues” directly address a social justice goal, recognizing future-sighted stakeholders whether they are located global equity as a critical imperative in our work. And in a remote village or in a densely populated urban cen- so I look forward to the challenges of realizing Living ter. These people understand that everything is connect- Building projects in the harshest of conditions, while ed – improvements to public health and environmental serving those communities most in need. I recognize health, clean energy systems, elimination of toxins, that this undertaking will not be easy. However, few use of local materials and labor, housing for the under- things that are worthwhile are ever achieved without privileged or homeless, promotion of local economies, great effort . Let us embrace the challenge, recognizing green building, and local knowledge, and so on. that green building can serve as an important bridge to the environmental and social justice movements. Green building leaders must use advances in green building in ways that help the members of our commar k masteller , Alaska Director munities most in need. We need to apply the most advanced thinking and technology to the communities for Cascadia Green Building Council, is in the toughest conditions, like remote Native villages. dedicated to helping people address the For example, in Alaska, the Cold Climate Housing Resignificant challenges found across this search Center has a program tackling these issues with geographically and culturally diverse state. a remarkable combination of cultural sensitivity, tradiHe has worked in Alaska for 30 years, as tional knowledge and technological prowess. both a wildlife biologist and NGO director.

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Steel + Wood It doesn’t get any

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Photos Nic Lehoux

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sustainab

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There’s always a solution in steel.

by J O H N L A R O S E

BOOK REVIEW:

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide By Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn 320-page paperback, Vintage Publishing Company, ISBN-10: 0307387097

As technology makes the world smaller, I increasingly find that there are certain things I read, hear, see or learn that I wish were fiction. Stories or studies that cast light on violence, oppression and suffering are readily available for download in an instant, and every so often these stories are told in such a way that they resonate for days, or months or lifetimes. Anyone who has perused a Nicholas Kristof article in the New York Times can attest to this. Kristof (a native of Yamhill, Oregon), and his wife and fellow journalist Sheryl WuDunn, are famous for condemning global injustices by highlighting deeply personal accounts of struggle and suffering from individuals around the world. The husband and wife team possess a remarkable ability to depict incredibly difficult situations with clarity and sincerity in a way that affects readers so profoundly that they are inspired to act, often en masse. Kristof and WuDunn’s latest work, Half the Sky, is a masterpiece of their unique craft, and its message is so powerful that it should earn a place on the shelf reserved for life-changing books.

tistics to support their argument that gender inequality is the central moral challenge of our time – the 21st century’s version of slavery. The book spans the globe, from villages in Afghanistan, to slums in Pakistan, to red light districts of Cambodia, describing the horrors of human trafficking, maternal mortality and sexual violence that occur with disturbing frequency in the poorest corners of the world. The data and trends included shed light on the enormous scale of this problem – for example, one-third of all women face beatings in the home, three million women and girls are enslaved in the sex trade, a woman in Niger has a 1-in-7 chance of dying during child birth. But it’s the deeply moving personal stories, which are at times both devastating and inspiring, that bring this book to life.

Consider the story of Woinshet Zebene, an Ethiopian village girl, who was 13 years old when a group of men broke down her door, kidnapped, beat and raped her. It was part of the culture in her village that if a man desired to marry a girl, but was unsure if he would be Half the Sky is an impassioned investigation into the accepted by the family or able to afford her dowry, he root causes and destructive effects of the oppression of would round up a group to kidnap and rape the girl. women throughout the world. The authors effectively This “time-honored tradition” in the Ethiopian counintertwine personal stories of women and startling sta- tryside is a way for the man to improve his bargaining

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Kristoff and WuDunn intersperse more of these personal accounts throughout the book, with each chapter offering a new, yet equally unfathomable story that emphasizes a different facet of the problem. By focusing on the struggles of individual women, the authors remind us that although the underlying causes of female oppression are varied and complicated, the ghastly results are the same: women are stigmatized, beaten, tortured, raped or killed on a daily basis simply because they are women.

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Thankfully, Half the Sky is more than just a discourse lamenting these injustices; it is also a rallying call and instruction manual for change. Kristoff and WuDunn tackle the problems head-on and outline how affected villages, cities and nations can, with the help of grassroots movements and political will from the West, move toward more just and equitable societies. To facilitate action on an even greater scale, the closing chapter is a very simple, four-step guide for how the reader can make a difference right now.

Though the problems are considerably different, it is relevant to note that injustices toward women occur with the greatest frequency in regions that will also be most severely affected by climate change. The stories and lessons in this book offer environmentalists the chance to step back and reevaluate ways in which we can harness the potential of poor women in underposition with the family, as the girl will be forever stig- served parts of the world, empowering them to create matized by the raping and will most likely be unable to positive changes for themselves, their families, their marry anyone else. And the risk of punishment is mini- communities and the planet. Half the Sky is a reminder mal for the man, as the victimâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s family wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think that empowering women is one important step to solvof prosecuting the crime for fear of breaking tradition ing the many challenges we face as a species, includand tarnishing their name. The girl is left helpless and ing climate change. Whether we are involved in green building or medicine or the alleviation of poverty, we almost always consents to marrying her attacker. are all united by our desire to create a better world, This perverse ritual is so engrained in the villageâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cul- and, even if we are not directly affected, the oppression ture that the authorities went to great lengths to ensure of women around the world is our struggle as well. its perpetuation. Even after Woinshet escaped her attacker, village elders and court officials pleaded with JOHN LAROSE is Development Woinshet to uphold tradition and marry him. The saga Coordinator for Cascadia Green would end differently for Woinshet, though, as she Building Council. courageously refused to give in. After being kidnapped for a second time, Woinshet escaped once again, and she and her father ultimately fled the village.

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Moving Upstream 100 Things to Watch in 2011

Mothers and the People Who Love Them Unite to Ban Toxins

An excellent report by New York-based JWT Intelligence – 100 Things to Watch in 2011 – is bouncing

MomsRising.org has been working to revise the Toxic

around the internet right now. The authors seem to have

Substances Control Act. Phasing out BPA in products and

a pulse on key aspects of the internet, including mobile,

eliminating PVC from school supplies are the top agenda items.

advertising, media, and technology trends. At least six things to watch relate directly to building greener homes. Here’s what JWT says to watch in 2011.

Stop Burning Coal

Streamlining Sustainable Development in Seattle Seattle has developed a Priority Green permit incentive program to make green building standard practice and

Oregon says okay. The state will be shutting down its

accessible to all applicants. “Seattle is now providing incentives

last standing coal plant by 2020, making it the third

accessible to any applicant designing a green project.”

state to go completely coal free. “This plan responsibly addresses the future energy needs of our customers and strikes a sensible balance between customer costs and risks and environmental impacts and sustainability.”

Economic Incentives for Building Green Non-green office buildings sacrifice 8% in rent revenues than green buildings. A recent study shows “that U.S. buildings labeled under the LEED or Energy Star programs charge 3% higher rent, have greater occupancy rates, and sell for 13% more than comparable properties.”

GreenSpec and Pharos Partner on Green Building Product Information GreenSpec’s guidance to designers will now be enhanced by the deep research opportunities in the Pharos Project.

making progress? Do you have a lead on cutting-edge green building progress in the region? Contact michael.berrisford@cascadiagbc.org and put “Moving Upstream News Lead” in the subject line.

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In a world ripe for total transformation, people are taking action.

Ambassador/Advocate

Organizational Interest

The International Living Building Instituteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s network is growing rapidly. Starting in January 2010 with the launch of the Ambassador Program, 150 self-selected individuals have been motivating a global audience to implement restorative principles in design, construction and operation. There are now representatives in 25 states across America, 5 Canadian provinces, Australia, Colombia, Dubai, France, India, Mexico, Northern Ireland, Philippines, Republic of Ireland and Spain. Thanks to these dedicated

and passionate leaders, the Living Building Challenge SM is reshaping expectations and aspirations all over the world. Advocates and Ambassadors are trained volunteers who facilitate in-person introductory presentations and other outreach related to the Living Building Challenge. They also organize opportunities for ongoing dialogue about regionally appropriate solutions through the creation of local Living Building Challenge Collaboratives.

Request a presentation for your organization or attend an upcoming Collaborative meeting. Refer to the online calendar to view scheduled events. Apply for the Ambassador Program today at ilbi.org/education/ambassador. trim tab

SPONSORSHIP BECOME A FRIEND OF CASCADIA The Friends of Cascadia are the who’s who of the green building movement in the Cascadia bioregion and beyond. Sponsor Cascadia and… • Connect with the region’s influential green building thinkers and practitioners • Announce yourself as an industry leader • Support our training, lectures, programs and standards

For Friends of Cascadia Sponsorship opportunities contact Sarah Costello at sarah@cascadiagbc.org or 503.228.5533.

CASCADIA-IN-THE-HOUSE Green Building Education Designed for Your Needs, Delivered at Your Office

Living Breathing Buildings

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 Buildings . SM

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 building challenge

In-the-house

Designed for your needs, delivered to your office.

Living Building Challenge SM In-the-House is an in-person introductory workshop designed to share the tenets of the Challenge with advanced practitioners throughout the United States and Canada. Learning Objectives:

•

Identify the key components of the Living Building Challenge

•

Describe the Living Building Challenge Community resources and certification process

•

Discuss the rationale for restorative design principles

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Understand successful strategies for compliance with each performance area (Site, Water, Energy, Health, Materials, Equity, and Beauty)

•

Recognize financial, regulatory and behavioral barriers and incentives related to hight performance design

Please contact info@cascadiagbc.org for inquiries on pricing and further information.

Approved for 6 AIA Learning Units and 6 GBCI Continuing Education hours

A Visionary Path to a Restorative Future.

fwd: read this! Smaller Homes, Smaller Footprint, DEQ-commissioned Report Shows A recently completed report commissioned by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality in collaboration with the Oregon Home Builders Association and Earth Advantage Institute concludes that constructing smaller homes is among the best ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and waste generation from the residential construction sector.

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Telling Stories

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Green media maven Simran Sethi is teaching students to be storytellers by training them to install solar arrays and then Tweet about it.

FWD: READ THIS! If you have something that should be included here please send it to us!

Winter 2011

BuildingGreen Announces 2010 Top 10 Green Products In April the DOE announced that they are putting more money in the pot towards energy efficenciency projects in 25 communities around the country. Read how this may reach your community. Portland and Seattle are among the list!

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FSC Announces Best of 2010 in Greenbuild Awards Ceremony

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Winners show high standards working, ask why weaken LEED now?

Chicago, Illinois â&#x20AC;&#x201C; As the US Green Building Council (USGBC) proposes weaker standards for certified wood in LEED, the Forest Stewardship Council US (FSC-US) lauded two groundbreaking projects today, clearly showing that high standards are transforming the green building marketplace.

Event Calendar: January – April 2011 Workshops, lectures and other opportunities throughout the bioregion.

Events AND Workshops Presented by OR IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Cascadia Building green with leed: core concepts & strategies Vancouver, BC – 01/27 LEED Canada for New Construction Technical Review 2009 Vancouver, BC – 02/08 High Performance Commercial Office AND Institutional Buildings Workshop Vancouver, BC – 02/17 Green Associate Study Course Vancouver, BC – 03/14 through 03/15 LEED Canada Core Concepts and Strategies Vancouver, BC – 03/29 LEED Canada Core Concepts AND Strategies Victoria, BC – 04/13 LIVING FUTURE 11 Vancouver, BC – 04/27 through 04/29 Living Building Roadshow Vancouver, BC – 04/27 Living Building Challenge Registered Project Tours Vancouver, BC – 04/27 The Natural Step Workshop Whistler, BC – 04/27 3-day Backyard Biomimicry Workshop Vancouver, BC – 04/29 through 05/02

WINTER LECTURE SERIES Dana Buntrock Portland, OR – 02/09 Virginia San Fratello Portland, OR – 02/16

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OTHER EVENTS Sustainable Building and Living Conference Kimberley, BC – 01/28 through 01/29 The Greenest Building Film Premiere Portland, OR – 01/31

Transformational Lecture Series Clark Brockman Anchorage, AK – 02/07 Jason F. McLennan Portland, OR – 02/23 Kath Williams Seattle, WA 02/08 Portland, OR – 02/09 Arthur C. Nelson Seattle, WA – 03/08 Vancouver, BC – 03/09 Dale Mikkelsen Eugene, OR – 03/01 Bend, OR – 03/02 Klamath Falls, OR 03/03 Mary Walker Anchorage, AK – 03/22 Juneau, AK – 03/24 Leith Sharp Vancouver, BC – 03/21 Rob Bennett Spokane, WA – TBD Bellingham, WA – TBD RALPH DINOLA Victoria, BC – TBD

For complete deta il s, ple a se visit www.ca sca di agbc.org/ca lenda r

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