Trim Tab v. 29 by International Living Future Institute

TR A NSFORM ATION A L THOUGHT

BIOPHILIC DESIGN AN OPPORTUNITY TO CREATE REGENERATIVE COMMUNITIES TR A NSFORM ATION A L DE SIGN

THE TEAM BEHIND

THE BROCK ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER TR A NSFORM ATION A L ACTION

ASSA ABBLOY

OPENS ANOTHER DOOR TO SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS TR A NSFORM ATION A L PEOPLE

CAROL SANFORD REGENERATIVE BUSINESS ISSUE 029

contents ISSUE 29

EDITOR-IN- CHIEF

Amanda Sturgeon amanda.sturgeon@living-future.org

EDITORI A L DIREC TOR

Joanna Gangi joanna.gangi@living-future.org

M A N AGING EDITOR

Krista Elvey krista.elvey@living-future.org

C R E AT I V E D I R E C T O R

C ONTRIBU TING EDITOR

CONTRIBUTORS

Erin Gehle erin.gehle@living-future.org Michael D. Berrisford michael.berrisford@living-future.org Katie Bachman, Stephen Choi, Krista Elvey, Denise Fairchild, Kenny Fletcher, Joanna Gangi, Jolene Goldsmith, Jeff Kelley, Sandra Knight, Marissa Jackson, Rosa Sheng, Amanda Sturgeon, Sissel Waage

Back issues or reprints, contact trimtab@living-future.org

TR A NSFORM ATION A L DE SIGN BY K ENN Y FLE TCHER, SA NDR A K NIGHT, A ND JEFF K ELLE Y

FEATURES

THE PRINTING

Retail’s Overdue Makeover: The Brickworks Living Building Challenge

What Can the Abolitionists Teach us About Cilmate Change

Stok’s Journey to Just

A MINE ON THE PATH, BOOK RE V IE W:

Closing The Gap Between Seeing And Doing For Corporate Supply Chains

of Trim Tab is made possible by a generous grant from the Martin-Fabert Foundation. The International Living Future Institute is premised on the belief that providing a compelling vision for the future is a fundamental requirement for reconciling humanity’s relationship with the natural world. We created Trim Tab magazine to advance this vision and provide a source for in-depth information on emerging trends and leading-edge ideas. We believe that printing Trim Tab will strengthen our reach while also providing an added benefit to our members, who are at the core of our mission. We kindly ask you to pass along the printed version to a fellow green building advocate once you have read it.

What Equity Matters for Everyone: A New Value Proposition for Design

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

TRANSFORMATIONAL THOUGHT:

Biophilic Design: An Opportunity to Create Regenerative Communities BY A M A NDA S TURGEON

S E P T E M B E R 2 016 , I S S U E 2 9

Trim Tab is a quarterly publication of the International Living Future Institute, a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization.

TR A NSFORM ATION A L PEOPLE BY TRIM TA B EDITORI A L TE A M

DEPARTMENTS 05

For editorial inquiries, freelance or photography submissions and advertising, contact trimtab@living-future.org.

TR A NSFORM ATION A L THOUGHT BY A M A NDA S TURGEON

TRANSFORMATIONAL PEOPLE:

Carol Sanford: Regenerative Business BY TRIM TA B EDITORI A L TE A M

TRANSFORMATIONAL ACTION

Assa Abloy Opens Another Door to Sustainabile Projects BY M A RIS SA JACK SON

TRANSFORMATIONAL DESIGN:

The Team Behind the Brock Environmental Center

BY S TEPHEN CHOI

BY DENISE G. FA IRCHILD PH.D.

BY JOLENE GOLDSMITH & K ATIE BACHM A N

Stand Up that Mountain BY GA BE DUNSMITH

BY SISSEL WA AGE FSC is not responsible for any calculations on saving resources by choosing this paper.

BY ROSA T. SHENG

BY K ENN Y FLE TCHER, SA NDR A K NIGHT, A ND JEFF K ELLE Y

THIS ISSUE OF TRIM TAB living-future.org

is printed with soy-based inks on recycled papers, made using 100% post-consumer waste. By choosing this paper, we have saved the following resources:

7,664 LBS of wood, which is equivalent to 24 trees that supply enough oxygen for 12 people annually.

11,191 Gallons of water, which is enough water for 651 eightminute showers.

8mln BTUs of energy, which is enough energy to power the avg. household for 31 days.

679 LBS of solid waste, which would fill 148 garbage cans.

2,324 LBS of emissions, which is the amount of carbon consumed by 27 tree seedlings grown for 10 years.

A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

90%

OF WHAT WE SELL WE MANUFACTURE

As you sip your morning cup of coffee, have you ever wondered where the beans come from? Are you curious about the ingredients in your shampoo, or the principles and protocols that create the foundations of your organizations? Transparency is a powerful tool that can lead to critical information-sharing, thus in allowing consumers to make wiser choices. This democracy of information can lead to a more sustainable economic model, which is a critical component to changing the paradigm of the current climate crisis. In this edition of Trim Tab, we assembled stories that foster the power of transparency. We reflect on transforming the cultural, economic and political conditions of the climate crisis through the historical model of dismantling of the slave economy in the 19th century. We tell the story of an innovative organization that challenged their internal practices to change their workplace environment and culture. We explore how a building in the Chesapeake Bay has transformed the people who built it and the place it calls home. As you read these stories, think about how you can incorporate the ideas of transparency in your work, life, and community, and about how that can change the way people interact with one another and do business together. Transparency can uncover opportunities for learning, growth, and change. It has the power to change the current archetype of the sustainability movement through openness, honesty, and responsibility.

JOANNA GANGI International Living Future Institute Editorial Director of Trim Tab magazine, @JoannaGP

Teknion has been a member of the ILFI since 2011. We are the first—and only—furniture manufacturer to meet DECLARE with 6 different product lines to support the built environment. Supporting early adopters, like Bullitt Foundation, combined with our accomplishments as a product provider and partner for Mohawk’s Dalton Headquarters, NRDC’s commercial offices and The Brock Environmental Center, illustrate our commitment to red list-free and compliant products. Teknion combines true global presence with local expertise and supply.

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To find out more about our products, our mission and our pursuit of a Living Product, please contact us. www.teknion.com or tracy.backus@teknion.com.

95%

OF OUR MATERIALS ARE SOURCED FROM

NORTH AMERICA

Nylon Modular Commercial Broadloom Carpet Tiles Carpet on EcoFlex on Weldlok® Unitary NXT Mohawk Group

Leading in Transparency Mohawk Group offers over 500 different styles to achieve LBC Red List Free

Final Assembly: Glasgow, Chatsworth, VA,Georgia, USA USA Life Expectancy: 15 Years End of Life Options: Take Back Program; Program (Various Recyclable Locations) 100% Ingredients:

Coal Fly Nylon 6 (Dalton, Ash, Nylon GA), 6,Nylon Nylon6,6 6,6,(Camden, Sodium SC), Limestone Lime Glass,(Chatsworth, Limestone, 1-Hexene, GA), Polypropylene Polymer Homopolymer, with Ethane, Hydrocarbon Styrene Butadiene Resin, Butadiene Rubber, Sodium Polyacrylate, Acrylate Polymer, Polyethylene Ammonium Terephthalate Lauryl Sulfate, & Polypropylene, Red Colorant, Polyethylene Yellow Colorant, Terephthalate Blue Colorant & Polyamide, Filament Glass Fibers, Calcium Oxide, Soy Lecithin, Carbon Black, Amorphous Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Polyacrylate, Colorants

Living Building Challenge Criteria: MHK-1009 MHK-0010 VOC Content: N/A

Declaration Status

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EXP. 10/01/2015 Emissions: CDPH Compliant VOC Content: N/A

LBC Red List Free LBC Compliant Declared

MANUFACTURER IS MANUFACTURER RESPONSIBLE RESPONSIBLEFOR FORLABEL LABELACCURACY ACCURACY

INTERNATIONAL LIVING FUTURE INSTITUTE

declareproducts.com

The aspirational standards of the Living Building Challenge push the entire industry to do better. We’re proud of our decision to remove phthalates from our R-Guard line of air and water-resistive barriers – a move which gave our products the green light for the Bullitt Center, the R.W. Kern Center and every Living trim tab Building in between.

You. Us. The project. 800 255 4255

PROSOCO.COM

BIOPHILIC DESIGN

AN OPPORTUNITY TO CREATE REGENERATIVE COMMUNITIES

Biophilic design was the reason I became an architect. I developed a deep-rooted love of life when backpacking around Australia in my early twenties. The sheer beauty of the country, its unique flora and fauna, and the vast expanse of pristine land was life-changing. The Australian landscape stood in stark contrast to the developed cityscapes of England where I grew up.

I entered architecture with the commitment to connect people and nature through the buildings that we spend 90% of our time within. Most of us have experienced buildings where the movement of the sun through the sky creates shadows and pools of light that connect us to the time of day, the season, and our sense of inner

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T RAN S FO RMAT I O N AL T H O U GH T

BY A M A NDA STURGEON

rhythm. There is a regenerative, lasting power in these moments, spurring the formation of memories that we carry through life. For example, buying a home with a view will always come with a premium, and when eagerly making an

THORNCROWN CHAPEL PHOTO: KEITH EWING/FLICKR

As people have become increasingly separated from nature, the conscious discipline of biophilic design has emerged to intentionally reconnect people and nature through buildings.

TANNER SPRINGS PHOTO: J_AUSTIN/FLICKR

early reservation at a favorite restaurant, we aim to get the table near the window. As occupants of buildings we are drawn to spaces that interact with nature. But often we are left with spaces that do not give us that choice, ones that have no windows, no fresh air, or views of anything other than a wall and parking lot. Biophilic design has been practiced for thousands of years, but since the industrial age we have used buildings to assert domination over nature and to highlight our separation from it. Once electricity became widespread, naturally ventilated and lit buildings became a thing of the past. Energy was apparently plentiful and able to be wasted. People became reliant on automation of their air and were trained to be passive observers and to no longer manually open windows or pull down shutters. With the advent of the air conditioner we could be kept at a perfect temperature, no matter what the external environment. Now that the impacts of global climate change require us to move to urgent

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solutions, buildings and their 40% share of the energy consumed are an essential influencer. We have to radically reduce the energy consumed by buildings in order to meet the goals established at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris earlier this year, and our approach to designing buildings has to be unraveled in order to move us beyond small incremental change. Biophilic design is a conscious discipline, and has the potential to intentionally reconnect people and nature through buildings. Some Living Building Challenge project teams have tried it out by adding plants and trees or a fountain in their buildings. Stopping there and going no further, these teams miss the power of this new discipline to completely revolutionize the way that we create and design our places. The opportunity of biophilic design is to connect to the particular ecology of the place, to its culture, history and beauty and to create a building that will regenerate life.

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BIOPHILIC DESIGN PATTERNS The table below illustrates the functions of each of the 14 Patterns in supporting stress reduction, cognitive performance, emotion and mood enhancement and the human body. Patterns that are supported by more rigourous emphirical data are marked with up to three asterisks (***), indicating that the quantity and quality of available peer-reviewed evidence is robust and the potential for impact is great, and no asterisk indicates that there is minimal research to support the biological relationship between health and design, but the anecdotal information is compelling and adequate for hypothesizing its potential impact and importance as a unique pattern. 14 PATTERNS

Visual Connection with Nature

Non-Visual Connection with Nature

NATURE IN THE SPACE

Non-Rhythmic Sensory Stimuli

Thermal & Airflow Variability

Presence of Water

Dynamic & Diffuse Light

STRESS REDUCTION

COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE

EMOTION, MOOD & PREFERENCE

* * *

Lowered blood pressure and heart rate (Brown, Barton & Gladwell, 2013; van

Improved mental engagement/ attentiveness (Biederman & Vessel, 2006)

Positively impacted attitude and overall happiness (Barton & Pretty, 2010)

Reduced systolic blood pressure and stress hormones (Park, Tsunetsugu,

Positively impacted on cognitive performance (Mehta, Zhu & Cheema, 2012;

Perceived improvements in mental health and tranquility (Li, Kobayashi, Inagaki et al., 2012; Jahncke, et

* *

den Berg,Hartig, & Staats, 2007; Tsunetsugu & Miyazaki, 2005)

Kasetani et al., 2009; Hartig, Evans, Jamner et al., 2003; Orsega-Smith, Mowen,Payne et al., 2004; Ulrich, Simons, Losito et al., 1991)

Ljungberg, Neely, & Lundström, 2004)

Positively impacted on heart rate, systolic blood pressure and sympathetic nervous system activity

Observed and quantified behavioral measures of attention and exploration (Windhager et al., 2011)

Positively impacted comfort, well-being and productivity

Positively impacted concentration

(Li, 2009; Park et al, 2008; Kahn et al., 2008; Beauchamp, et al., 2003; Ulrich et al., 1991)

(Heerwagen, 2006; Tham & Willem, 2005; Wigö, 2005)

Reduced stress, increased feelings of tranquility, lower heart rate and blood pressure

(Alvarsson, Wiens, & Nilsson, 2010; Pheasant, Fisher, Watts et al., 2010; Biederman & Vessel, 2006)

al.,2011; Tsunetsugu, Park, & Miyazaki, 2010; Kim, Ren, & Fielding, 2007; Stigsdotter & Grahn, 2003)

(Hartig et al., 2003; Hartig et al., 1991; R. Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989)

Huizenga & Han, 2010; Arens, Zhang & Huizenga, 2006; Zhang, 2003; de Dear & Brager, 2002; Heschong, 1979)

Improved concentration and memory restoration (Alvarsson et al., 2010; Biederman & Vessel, 2006)

Enhanced perception and psychological responsiveness (Alvarsson et al.,

2010; Hunter et al., 2010)

Positively impacted circadian system functioning (Figueiro, Brons, Plitnick et al., 2011; Beckett & Roden, 2009) Increased visual comfort (Elyezadi, 2012; Kim & Kim, 2007) Enhanced positive health responses; Shifted perception of environment (Kellert et al., 2008)

NATURAL ANALOGUES

Connection with Natural Systems Biomorphic Forms & Patterns

Prospect

NATURE OF THE SPACE

Observed view preference

(Vessel, 2012; Joye, 2007)

Material Connection with Nature Complexity & Order

Decreased diastolic blood pressure (Tsunetsugu, Miyazaki & Sato, 2007)

Improved comfort

(Tsunetsugu, Miyazaki & Sato 2007)

Improved creative performance

(Lichtenfeld et al., 2012)

* * * * *

Refuge * * Mystery

Improved perception of temporal and spatial pleasure (alliesthesia) (Parkinson, de Dear & Candido, 2012; Zhang, Arens,

Positively impacted perceptual and physiological stress responses

Observed view preference

(Salingaros, 2012; Hägerhäll, Laike, Taylor et al., 2008; Hägerhäll, Purcella, & Taylor, 2004; Taylor, 2006)

(Salingaros, 2012; Joye, 2007; Taylor, 2006; S. Kaplan, 1988)

Reduced stress

(Grahn & Stigsdotter, 2010)

Reduced boredom, irritation, fatigue (Clearwater & Coss, 1991)

Improved comfort and perceived safety (Herzog & Bryce, 2007; Wang

& Taylor, 2006; Petherick, 2000)

Improved concentration, attention and perception of safety

(Grahn & Stigsdotter, 2010; Wang & Taylor, 2006; Wang & Taylor, 2006; Petherick, 2000; Ulrich et al., 1993)

terns that create categories of biophilic design and provide a framework for integrating the thinking into a project. Projects are embracing these frameworks and making some strides, but for broad adoption to happen we still need a mind shift in thinking that is systems based. We need built examples that can demonstrate how their design approach was transformed because biophilic design was the driver for the design concept. We need built examples that intentionally pull on the instinctual connection to nature that is within all of us. We need built examples that demonstrate the transformation that occurred and the beauty that was created for every occupant of that space.

Together we must change the way we train architects and designers so that they can think and act systematically, developing inspirational tools to communiIn any crisis it is often simpler to isolate an issue and cate this need with building owners and developers. focus deeply on it alone. Yet, the solution that may fix For this reason, many of us with a passion for reconthat one issue will prove to make another worse. The ciling our relationship to nature and for regenerating crises we collectively face are not siloed. To achieve life have joined together. Broad adoption of biophilic sustainability and resiliency, biophilic design and a design is our mission. We believe we can only achieve systems-thinking approach that allows us to take in- this by many coming together, through looking sysspiration from nature are required. tematically at the issue and addressing education, tools, resources, inspiration, collaboration, and reThere is no easy checklist to bring biophilic design search. There is no cost barrier, there is no regulatory into mainstream design practice, no single guide- barrier; the only barrier is ourselves—our behavior, book, no rules and regulations that can be put into our habitual patterns of thinking of nature as the code language. It is a philosophy that requires a shift other and as something to be dominated and ignored. in thinking. But more profoundly, it requires each in- Making systemic change to the design of the built dividual to draw on the instinct that guides us to pay environment will not happen overnight, but a movemore for a home with a view of a park, the mountains, ment is building. or the water, or to live on a street lined with trees. If we were to listen to that instinct we would not need To learn more about biophilic design and how to put it research that proves we are more productive, hap- into practice, check out the Biophilic Design Initiative at: pier, and healthier when our buildings connect us to living-future.org/biophilic-design-initiative nature. That research is available, but research alone will not alone lead to adoption. If we are looking for proof—waiting for the doctor to prescribe that we take inspiration from nature—then we are missing AMANDA STURGEON FAIA, LEED Fellow is CEO of the International the point and will miss the opportunity. Living Future Institute.

Induced strong pleasure response

* *

(Biederman, 2011; Salimpoor, Benovoy, Larcher et al., 2011; Ikemi, 2005; Blood & Zatorre, 2001)

Resulted in strong dopamineor pleasure responses

Risk/Peril

Today more than half of the world’s population lives in urban environments, and the UN projects that by 2050 that number will grow to 66%: “Urbanization brings opportunities for more efficient development and improved access to drinking water and sanitation. At the same time, problems are often magnified in cities, and are currently outpacing our ability to devise solutions,” commented Ban Ki-moon. City supplies of water, food, energy will have to double to match the need presented by urban growth. Within this future shuffle for needs, it is easy to see how place and nature could be lost. Biophilic city–scale initiatives, rooted in biophilic design, have sprouted up to combat this disconnection and produce positive community impacts: reinvigorated urban natural systems, economic capital resilience and a focus on quality of life.

Stephen Kellert, Judi Heerwagen, and Terrapin Bright Green have developed thoughtful Elements and Pat-

(Kohno et al., 2013; Wang & Tsien, 2011; Zald et al., 2008)

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T RAN S FO RMAT I O N AL P E O P L E

B Y T R I M TA B E D I T O R I A L T E A M

CAROL SANFORD:

REGENERATIVE

BUSINESS Since 1977, Carol Sanford has been forging the path for the regenerative business. Carol has the innate ability to see the inner workings of a business and align systems to better benefit industries, social systems, cultural beliefs and governing practices. Her vision for industries is rooted in tangible success for all levels of the business: from finance, business development sales, marketing, IT, to operations. In the classrooms of leading business schools including Harvard, Stanford and MIT, this vision is taught through her books, The Responsible Business and The Responsible Entrepreneur. We interviewed this experienced thought leader to learn more about the innovative process of regenerative business.

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Regenerative business thinks about systemic change in 2. From potential, not ideals (no best practices across how it does business, working to create greater capacsystems, no end states); ity for all living beings, thus promoting each realizing 3. Recognizing reciprocity as natural and does not its essence. foster competition (no rewards to incentivize); That means that a regenerative business works:

4. Realizing each being as having a singular essence, not categorizing where it fits with others (e.g., works with each customer as unique and discrete);

1. With each life form as a living whole, not breaking it into parts (e.g., water programs separated out from a life shed); 5. With living system as nested one in another, not as parts (e.g., humans are nested in nature);

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“ THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A SUCCESSFUL REGENERATIVE BUSINESS. THAT IS NOT THE PURPOSE. IT IS NOT A STATE TO ACHIEVE BUT A WAY OF WORKING. MANY BUSINESSES HAVE INCORPORATED SOME OF IT AND NONE HAVE DONE IT ALL, ALL THE TIME. WE LIVE IMMERSED IN OUT OF DATE PARADIGMS WHICH ARE HARD TO SHED. MAYBE IT WILL BE HOW WE ALL SEE BUSINESS (AND PARENTING AND EDUCATING) IN ANOTHER CENTURY. IT IS NOT A PROGRAM.

6. Nodally to increase vitality of a whole, not with TRIM TAB: Tell us about an organization that has created human-centered priorities (e.g., they look for acu- a successful regenerative business. puncture points for intervention rather than programs to cover everything or be efficient); CAROL SANFORD: Regenerative business is not a state to achieve, but a way of working. Many businesses have 7. Developmentally, not manipulatively or extracincorporated some of it and none have done it all, all tively (e.g. growing each being for its own directhe time. We live immersed in out-of-date paradigms tion rather than get the most out of it/them). that are hard to shed. Regenerative business is a paradigm shift. Merida Meridian does not think of its work as fair It is not another name for sustainability, renewal, res- trade, which is a partial way of looking at a practice. toration, resilience, or other higher-intention efforts. It looks at renewing and restoring a village of craftsIt starts in a different place and goes in a fundamen- people who know how to weave and dye textiles, tally different direction. A business has to start look- giving the elders back a respected role and passing ing for and pursuing wholes, potential, reciprocity, es- on their knowledge and wisdom to younger gensence, nested wholes, and nodal points. The “do good” erations. It not only creates extraordinary textiles, paradigm primarily pointed out what we must do less but reweaves the culture of villages that were losing of and in what arenas we can do better, mostly offered them. Fair trade is good, but it is partial and only through programs on sustainability, fair trade, and helps the direct workers. other well-intended improvements.

TT: Why have they been successful?

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CS:

That is why the summit we are conducting is about moving whole industries at one time, not one business at a time.

Many businesses are pursuing and experiencing regenerative process, and many more will be taking them on over time. The Regenerative Business Alli- TT: What are some commons mistakes that you see from ance is offering an annual Regenerative Business Prize. startup businesses? Until the entire paradigm shifts for all businesses, there is no use in talking about any one business being a successful example. For example, Neill Corporation, the major distributor for Aveda products, which are earth-friendly products, offers salon owners ways to bring meaning into the lives of employees and customers, as well as to renew their experience of work and life for employees and suppliers. With how they work, they get healthier, not just by giving benefits, but by learning how spirit works and can be developed in a work system, with owners, and stylists bringing that renewed spirit to customers and their partners. Success is a Western idea, not an idea in nature. It is a bad idea to look for successful examples.

CS: Far too often, startups copy the same old paradigm

practices, like incentives and rewards that work against individual creativity and growing systemic health. They do this because they have been brought up in families, schools, and jobs that are structured based on gold stars and ranking people relative to one another. They have no idea of essence in each being. Then the new business is surprised that as they grow, people are less motivated and they have to keep upping the ante of incentives. That model is based in the study of rats, not of whole human beings working in community. Startups focus on the product or service and not on the way they will work. It is so easy to copy the traditional

“ WORK ON EDUCATION OF THE MIND THAT DESIGNS AND WORKS, AVOID ALL BEST PRACTICES, AVOID SETTING IDEALS AND STAY CONNECTED TO THE PRESENT.

A HEALTHIER MATERIAL WORLD Our research focuses on uncovering the hidden science behind the materials we use to construct and furnish our built environments. Partnering with leading scientists and researchers, we are identifying and evaluating the future of

forms and not notice that their way of working is creat- after entering a different way of working. They work to ing culture every day, and it is invisible. create a different mindset and to shift their worldview. They learn to use a different mind. That takes workTT: Share a bit about the Regenerative Business Summit. ing on the business with different frameworks, systems language, and reflective processes. So we work on reCS: To shift a paradigm, you need to work on shifting designing the way they learn, the process they use for industries essential to life. At the summit we work with decision-making, and the full experience of how they six business streams that pervade all life or for anything can work to produce enlightened disruption. that seeks to be alive, like individuals, families, communities, and natural systems. These include food, TT: What is the difference between Corporate Social Reshelter (including habitats and buildings), transactions sponsibility (CSR) and regenerative business? (for resources and exchange, e.g., energy, finance, communication platforms, insurance), adorning (how we CS: CSR was an effort to stop problems that focused fit with tribes and belong), recreating (how we find on doing less harm, a reasonable ambition, and with meaning and renewal including education, health, me- very high intentions. It is about doing less harm than dia), and communing (connecting with what is beyond we normally do, and even doing good if we can (mostly humans as sacred and encompassing, beyond one’s a human-centered directive). It does not bring a new own ego). mind, in fact the same mind that created the problem CSR is speaking to is used in trying to overcome it. TT: How do you work with businesses and individuals They work on smaller and smaller aspects and parts, to help them make the shift to a regenerative business creating new ideals to replace the extractive ones, mindset? shifting where the incentives are focused, etc. CS:

It requires an education process, not a consulting or project effort that imposes preset systems and structures. The leaders, those with fiduciary responsible for the business, sit in a room and learn together, simultaneously preparing to carry out decisions made

material health. Dedicated to creating healthy, sustainable environments, Perkins+Will designed its Seattle office to be a workplace free of toxicants by avoiding the use of substances on the firm’s Precautionary List.

Discover more at researchlabs.perkinswill.com

TRANSPARENCY TOGETHER

KRISTA ELVEY is the Assistant Editor of Trim Tab. Twitter: @MarieElvey

“The Living Product Challenge re-imagines the design and construction of products to function as elegantly and efficiently as anything found in the natural world.”

TOXSERVICES.COM

Utililizing ToxServices’ Full Materials Disclosure™ (FMD™) Program for the Living Product Challenge is an example of how existing tools and resources can be leveraged for use in product development, ecolabels, and standards that lead to healthier materials, sustainable products, and marketing advantages.

Image courtesy of Riley Blanks

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T RAN S FO RMAT I O N AL ACT I O N

BY MARISSA JACK SON

Assa Abloy was awarded the Living Future’s Manufacturing Visionary Award at the Living Future unConference this past May for their innovative and inspiring efforts in the transparency products movement.

ASSA ABLOY OPENS ANOTHER DOOR to SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS

ASSA ABLOY is making their products a vital component of the green marketplace. The company’s Director of Sustainable Building Solutions, Amy Vigneux, dared to make her company one of the first to participate in the Living Product Challenge, the most advanced measure of sustainability for the creation of all products. The Living Product Challenge is a certification framework that touches on all aspects of a product’s lifecycle. ASSA ABLOY began to evaluate their manufacturing strategies by joining Living Product 50 (LP50), a collaborative group of manufacturers who are working together to bring transparency, green chemistry and supply chain innovation to their companies.

Doors and hardware typically make up 2% of an overall building project. What may seem like a small portion of a project is actually a huge consideration for designers. ASSA ABLOY is a global leader in door opening solutions, and they are working to realize the potential of sustainable hardware.

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LIVING PRODUCT 50 The Living Product 50 is a group of leading manufacturers collaborating to transform the materials economy through transparency, green chemistry and supply chain innovation. Members of the LP50 collaborate, share lessons learned and find ways to crosspollinate ideas and sustainability efforts between companies and industries. The goal is to create and build demand for the world’s first Living Products. 9WOOD ASTRANCE

The LP50 cohort encouraged Amy and her team to research the embodied energy of their products, which gave her team a new lens with which to approach product development. With the help of the LP50, Amy worked to educate internal staff and end-users about the importance of conscious product procurement. Precisely what goes into ASSA ABLOY’s conscious products? Amy explains that her team has included ILFI’s Red List into their own internal ‘red list’ so they can continue to phase out harmful chemicals in their products and processes. By utilizing this process and considering all phases of a product’s life, ASSA ABLOY is able to move forward with Living Product Challenge certification with their EcoFlex Electrified Mortise Lock. This lock previously used a solenoid motor, which meant

it was pulling power continuously. However, the new design has a step driven motor. Acting like a hybrid car, it pulls enough power from the grid to charge the lock and then waits in low energy standby mode until a use presents an access card. It’s manufactured by sister companies Sargent in New Haven, Connecticut and Corbin Russwin in Berlin, Connecticut.

certified as a Living Product is so important because it will go in Living Buildings with living people. And for that reason, creating products that provide longevity for those people, their children and their grandchildren is of utmost importance. MARISSA JACKSON is Communications Coordinator for the International Living Future Institute

With this product, ASSA ABLOY is proving locks, which can be so often overlooked, have a rightful place in the creation of high performance, healthy buildings. For Amy and her team, having it become

YOU CAN FIND MORE INNOVATIVE PRODUCT DESIGNS AT THE LIVING PRODUCT EXPO IN PITTSBURGH THIS SEPTEMBER.

ARMSTRONG ASSA ABLOY BIFMA CONSTRUCTION SPECIALTIES

SPONSORS:

LIVING PRODUCT CHALLENGE PROGRAM + EXPO SUPPORTERS:

CHRYSALIS

HAWORTH HERMAN MILLER INDUSTRIAL LOUVERS, INC. JELD-WEN

MURMURATION

EXPO PARTNERS

KNAUF INSULATION MAPEI

ECOS

MECHOSYSTEMS

PAINTS

MOHAWK GROUP

COMMUNITY PARTNERS

OWENS CORNING

AIA Pittsburgh

PRODOCO

Biomimicry 3.8

ROMABIO SHAW FLOORS

POLLINATION

Buckminster Fuller Institute

SMALL PLANET SUPPLY

BuildingGreen

SUPERIOR ESSEX

Bureo

TARKETT

Carbon Leadership Forum

TEKNION

MIGRATION

THYSSENKRUPP

Carnegie Melon University

VIEW

Garden Tower Project

Green Science Policy Institute GreenCircle Certified Healthy Building Network HPD Collaborative Northwest Green Chemistry The Biomimicry Institute Urban Green Council

Green Building Alliance

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T RAN S FO RMAT I O N AL T H O U GH T

B Y KENNY FLETCHER, SANDRA KNIGHT, AND JEFF KELLEY

THE TEAM BEHIND THE

THE BROCK ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER

Since opening in late 2014, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s (CBF) Brock Environmental Center in Virginia Beach has greatly exceeded expectations. The Brock Center received its Living Building Challenge certification in May of this year, and it is the first commercial building in the continental United States permitted to capture and treat rainfall for use as drinking water. With solar panels, wind turbines, geothermal wells, rain cisterns for drinking water, waterless toilets, and natural landscaping, the center is a model for efficiency. Elevated 14 feet above sea level, it is also a prototype for coping with climate change in a region increasingly prone to flooding. The results so far have been remarkable. Electrical hookup fees for the 10,500-square-foot building add up to only about $17.19 per month, the minimum fee to tie into the grid. In fact, in the past year the center has produced about 83% more energy than it has used. Thanks to conservation efforts and innovative technologies, the building uses 90% less water and 80% less energy than a typical office building of its size. The center houses CBF’s Hampton Roads staff and that of another local environmental nonprofit, Lynnhaven River NOW. It also hosts CBF’s awardwinning environmental education programs in Hampton Roads and features meeting space for community discussions and collaboration. From the very beginning, the Brock Center was a team effort. Along with CBF, important partners include architect/MEP engineer, SmithGroupJJR; general contractor, Hourigan Construction; owner’s rep Skanska; WPL Site Design; and J. Harrison, architect. This truly transformational building wouldn’t have been possible without a stellar team of transformational leaders. Here are some of their stories.

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PHOTO JOHAN BERGMARK

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MARY TOD WINCHESTER

Winchester. “As a result, this building has become a game-changing teaching tool. People are eagerly learning that it is possible for each of us to reverse our negative impact on the natural environment.”

CHESAPEAKE BAY FOUNDATION VICE PRESIDENT OF ADMINISTRATION & OPERATIONS

For the environmental nonprofit that works to restore the Chesapeake Bay and local rivers and streams, promoting innovative building practices is a matter of “practicing what we preach,” according to Winchester. For Mary Tod Winchester, the Brock Center is the cul- “For far too long, people have taken the easy way out mination of over four decades of pushing the envelope with buildings that consume huge amounts of resourcwith sustainable building practices. Winchester began es and send polluted runoff into our waterways. So we working for CBF in 1971, and has seen the organization set out to create a center that actually gives back to the grow from its first building in 1975, a log cabin with a environment,” she said. composting toilet, to the 2001 completion of the group’s headquarters at the Philip Merrill Environmental Cen- The building nests gracefully into the surrounding ter, the world’s first LEED Platinum Building. rivers, coastal forest, and marshes. The center is not just office space, it’s also an important part of the At the Brock Center, pursuing Living Building Chal- community, hosting education programs, conferlenge certification was a chance for CBF to set the bar ences, discussions, and local events for all. Its beauty even higher. “The Living Building Challenge made us and elegance has turned it into a magnet for visitors, stretch our thinking, forcing us to go further and be with over 30,000 people coming in the building’s more ambitious and creative in finding solutions,” says first 18 months.

“ For far too long, people have taken the easy way out with buildings that consume huge amounts of resources and send polluted runoff into our waterways. So we set out to create a center that actually gives back to the environment.”

That’s exactly what Winchester hoped would happen. “The Brock Center has become a beacon that inspires others,” she said. That includes everyone from an architect or developer tackling a new living building project, to a local resident looking to install a rain garden to stop polluted runoff. The center is an important part of CBF’s mission to reduce pollution in the region. “I always tell people that they don’t have to build another living building to make a difference. If they can take away one thing to do themselves from their visit to the Brock Center, they’re moving in the right direction,” Winchester said. “When people take action, they become part of something bigger. All of a sudden they’re part of the team working to restore our environment.” The building is located on one of the few undeveloped waterfront properties in Virginia Beach, and has ex-

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pansive views over the blue waters of the Lynnhaven River. “The Brock Center’s design draws you in,” Winchester said. “When you enter, you see the waters we are working to save, the salt marshes, the migratory birds. It’s a huge recruiting tool. After seeing it, people are inspired. They want to volunteer with us, become members. They often ask ‘How do I get a job here?’” With the Brock Center far exceeding expectations, Winchester said it wouldn’t be possible without the dedication of the project’s partners, which include SmithGroupJJR, Hourigan Construction, WPL Site Design, Skanska, and J. Harrison. “Part of my job was picking the right team members,” she said. “I saw them get excited and push each other, building partnerships and camaraderie. There’s no way we would have blown past our goals without such a cohesive partnership.”

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GREG MELLA, FAIA SMITHGROUPJJR DIRECTOR OF SUSTAINABLE DESIGN, VICE PRESIDENT

Greg Mella, vice president and director of sustainable design at SmithGroupJJR, was the architectural designer and project manager for the Brock Center. For the Washington, DC–based architect, it was an opportunity 15 years in the making. The story dates back to 1998 when SmithGroupJJR and Mella collaborated with CBF to design the Merrill Center, his first exploration into sustainable design. As he stayed connected to Winchester and the project during the decade that followed, he witnessed how a single building could help shape society to embrace sustainability. The experience increased Mella’s understanding of how CBF leverages its green buildings as an environmental education tool, and provided countless lessons learned on sustainable design.

“At the same time, I could translate into reality what I had learned as a Living Building Challenge ambassador.” The design of the Brock Center is rooted in its unique site. The design process began with a site visit, during which Mella catalogued its unique attributes and resources. He explored how the form of the building could harness breezes and sunlight—to not only minimize the reliance on energy, but also to generate power. The site would also serve as a design inspiration, challenging Mella to draw on the beauty of the shoreline, marshes, and meadows to create a form that was of its place.

“We envisioned the Brock Center to be a living, breathing organism, fine-tuned to harness the site’s resources and to blend indigenously with the shapes, colors, and spirit of Pleasure House Point, while embodying the soul of CBF,” Mella recalled. The curve of the building’s form responded to the nearby shoreline, maximizing daylight and views while embracing passive solar principles. The design of the building’s prominent, curving So in 2012, when Winchester told Mella that CBF was roofs was inspired by the forms of the site’s wind-swept interested in creating another environmental education live oaks, the wings of a gull, or the protective shell of an center, this time for the Hampton Roads region, he leapt oyster, while also embodying rainwater collection. at the opportunity to create a second pioneering design. Working hand in hand with his SmithGroupJJR col“I recognized the opportunity to apply the lessons league Cindy Cogil, who led the engineering systems learned from Merrill to a new design,” Mella recalled. design, Mella’s design approach was marked by a highly

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iterative, integrative process using simulation tools to validate each design decision. These tools allowed the design to optimize performance resulting in maximizing passive design while minimizing resource consumption. Architects often think their involvement ends after construction is complete and the photographer snaps the building’s portfolio of professional photography. Conversely, the Living Building Challenge requires the team to stay engaged during the building’s first year of operation, until the team can demonstrate that net zero energy, water, and waste has been achieved. For Mella, this makes complete sense. “Buildings, especially Living Buildings, are like living organisms. We don’t abandon our children after giving birth, and staying engaged until our ‘babies’ are successfully operating on their own is a learning opportunity to truly understand how to achieve success,” he explained. “Staying involved with the Brock Center during its first year was both rewarding and informative. I know the lessons our team learned will carry forward throughout our careers.”

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TYLER PARK HOURIGAN CONSTRUCTION ASSISTANT PROJECT MANAGER

bers pulled from the bottom of Southeast waterways that would be used as siding. “There was an incredible amount of work done to ensure that the proper materials were gathered. There were over 5,000 pages of documentation collected during the process,” he says, noting that though he was leading the charge, many other individuals were essential in gathering and analyzing information. “Without them, we would never have finished getting everything put together.”

It’s not often that the first project of your construction career is one of your biggest and most significant. But Park, now 28, became irreplaceable and highly knowlthat’s what the Brock Environmental Center may be- edgeable in the specifics of the material needs at Brock. come for Hourigan Construction’s Tyler Park. Initially a part-timer with Hourigan, he was hired as a full-time employee to manage quality control, and even“This will be one of the most important buildings I’ll tually promoted to assistant project manager to run the ever have a part of creating,” says Park, who joined day-to-day needs of the Brock Environmental Center’s Hourigan in 2012 after graduating from Virginia Tech creation. He continues to be involved in post-occupancy a year earlier. The Brock Environmental Center project building performance testing. was his first development with Hourigan, and, during construction, his sole focus. “It’s incredibly rewarding Park became passionate about the materials associated looking back, seeing the responsibilities I was given and with the project. He and the Hourigan team took the seeing how the project team and the project itself came time to source and vet every piece that went into the together as a whole. It’s incredible to watch that grow Brock Center. In addition, subcontractors, vendors, and know you had a hand in it.” and manufacturers all had to be educated on why materials were so critical to meeting the Living Building Since the project’s completion, Park has become an ex- Challenge requirements. He recommends that general pert in sustainable construction, speaking about sus- contractors heading into LBC projects lead the material tainability and the Brock Center on behalf of Hourigan gathering and documentation process. as he travels to conferences around the country. “We became invested in the research and took time In the beginning, his initial role involved pulling to- to find the materials. So if I spent six months trying to gether documentation for materials involved in the find a specific product, I’d be absolutely sure that the construction. Over time, Park was given the responsi- contractor was going to put it in the building correctly,” bility of securing the required materials for the proj- Park says. “Going into a project like this with anything ect, including zinc roofing, triple-paned windows, old less than 100% dedication isn’t the Hourigan way. I spent wood flooring from a middle school gymnasium, sal- many a sleepless night and weekend making sure that all vaged sinks and mirrors, and century-old cypress tim- elements of this project were done right.”

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Construction was complex and had its share of challenges, and it required constant communication from the many teams involved. “There were many hurdles and questions and gives and takes, so we had to work together as a team in order to succeed,” Park says. “Everyone understands that it was important to come together, find solutions to problems, and move forward to do the right thing for the project and mission. “ Today, the team members involved in the creation of the Brock Center consider themselves family, even more than a year after completion. Dinners at one another’s homes in the Hampton Roads area are the norm. “Four or five months into energy reporting we realized that we were really doing well—the building was overproducing electricity, and even the water system was working flawlessly,” Park says. “The building looked good and we were happy, but this was a building that had to perform. It had to do what we said it Establishing a game-changing building like the Brock was going to do. And it did, many times over.” Center not only requires vision and leadership, but also a lot of talent and hard work. That effort is spread Post-occupancy, Park has worked with the CBF team across a far bigger group than the three leaders profiled to train employees on how to operate the building. here. A much larger team worked with Winchester, A Building Information Model (BIM) and Building Mella, and Park to make the building a reality. Less Management System (BMS) allows occupants to view than two years after opening, the Brock Center is ala 3D model of the various systems to understand how ready making waves and inspiring people well beyond the Brock Center lives and breathes and requires up- Virginia Beach. As a transformational building, the keep, and controls the building both locally and from center is opening eyes to what’s possible in the future. afar. “If the building manager doesn’t know what’s going on he knows he has to make one phone call to us and it’s taken care of,” he says. The Brock Center, he KENNY FLETCHER is the Virginia Communications Cosays, has “put Virginia Beach on the map” as a leader ordinator for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. on sustainable architecture, design, and engineering. SANDRA KNIGHT is the Director of Corporate Public “It’s an incredible honor for the city and community Relations for SmithGroupJJR. to have.”

A TEAM EFFORT

JEFF KELLEY Is a Freelance Writer/Construction Writer.

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BY STEPHEN CHOI

Retail’s Overdue Makeover

“Imagine a building designed and constructed to function as elegantly and efficiently as a flower: a building informed by its bioregion’s characteristics, that generates all of its own energy with renewable resources, captures and treats all of its water, is toxic free and beautiful.”1 In March of this year, the Living Future Institute of Australia (LFIA) asked designers around the world to consider this fundamental aspiration of the Living Building Challenge—in the context of a retail center in suburban Melbourne, Australia. The Brickworks Living Building Challenge design competition asked built environment professionals and students to compete for more than AUD $30,000 in prize money by designing a retail center for an old brickworks site. Living Retail? The New Yorker recently published an article entitled “Are Malls Over?” (March 2014) that professed to express what all workplace cubicle dwellers know—people like natural light and fresh air and, when deprived of them, feel oppressed. Perhaps for this reason, more than two dozen malls have closed in the US since 2010. 1 From the Living Building Challenge Standard

THE BRICKWORKS LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE

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THIS SPREAD: SPECIAL COMMENDATION: LIVING RETAIL

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The WorldGBC report Health, Wellbeing and Productivity in Retail: The Impact of Green Buildings on People and Profit, solidifies this proposition with the inclusion of data from the International Council of Shopping Centres (ICSC), which showed that “lifestyle” centers—those connected by pathways and are largely outdoors instead of contained within undercover malls—perform better. The survey tells us what we all intuitively know: that better buildings are visited more frequently and enjoy a higher number of repeat visits.

surely one that attracts more foot traffic, is a place to be enjoyed, functions beautifully, promotes positive health and well-being, and has a net positive impact on its environment. What better tool exists than the Living Building Challenge (LBC) to provide the framework needed to realize what the shopping center of the future could be? A Unique Prospect

The design competition was introduced because when the LFIA originally set out to ask what the world’s So instead of a “fast-as-possible” or “tolerated” experimost sustainable retail center looked like, no one really ence, shopping centers must become genuine destinaknew the answer. At its heart, we were asking designers tions that offer an increasing array of services for the to consider the LBC in a new sector, in a country that local community. Traditionally a sector grounded in has yet to see a certified Living Building, and on a real excess and waste, the shopping center of the future is site with real-world constraints, owned by a real developer, Frasers Property Australia. PEOPLES CHOICE & RUNNER UP FOR THE COMMON GOOD: A RESTART TO RETAILING

COMMENDATION DESIGN STUDENT CATEGORY: FARMULOUS URBAN AGRICULTURE EDUCATION CENTRE

Describing their aspiration to create the world’s most sustainable retail center, Peri Macdonald, Frasers property head of retail says, “[We are] not just about using tools or securing ratings. We continuously invite design teams, professionals, students and anyone else interested to not just think outside the square, but reinvent the box. We are calling on extraordinary people to think boldly.” Passionate people would spend huge amounts of time and energy to both unearth and give birth to new ideas in this new context: ideas that could be potentially applied to retail centers worldwide. As such, one of the key moves in the design competition was that the intellectual property for these ideas stayed with the designers—a unique gesture that many designers greatly appreciated. Out-Of-The-Box Ideas to Celebrate

COMMENDATION DESIGN STUDENT CATEGORY: BRICKWORKS GREEN

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The winning prize in the Design Student Category, called “Burwood Life Centre,” by University of Melbourne students Bhargav Sridhar and Monica Sutisna, integrated an orchard, with rammed earth as an amazing visual feature that also uses excavated materials on site. This was a design that included a research lab and

VOLUNTEER CHAMPION: THE BIOVALE

library, and the addition of bees to the site for pollination and regeneration.

ing, and Inhabit. Their design displayed an inventive digital communication and education concept, where the center became a community gathering space inThe professional commendation went to a project titled stead of a shopping center, challenging traditional “The Gathering,” led by KPA Architects. The design thinking whereby the design “starts with sustainabilwas based around a central garden that connects two ity” and works backwards to make retail fit (which is levels of a building that behaves like a flower, with the opposite of common practice to treat sustainability inwardly embracing elements that stretch outward. as an add on). When asked what the main challenges for retail center design were in pursuing the Living Building Chal- The Professional Winner was an outstanding sublenge, the design team noted that: mission called “The Difference is Living,” by thirty passionate professionals from eight organizations: “A challenge we faced was to grapple with the seemingly dwp|suters, Aurecon, CJ Arms, reedbed technology, conflicting outcomes of the retail center. On the one Eco Harvest, Biomimicry Australia, Future Food, and hand a retail center encourages consumerism, need- Watpac. Using a modular “screwed not glued” coning to be profitable by bringing in more foot traffic or struction typology that could be taken apart and rethrough more spending. On the other hand is the social used later in the retail center’s lifetime, and integrating benefit to the shoppers and community, being a place of key principles of biomimicry, the team created a social physical and psychological health and well-being which heart at the project’s center, invoking strong spirit of implies an austere simplicity.” place and acting as a link between the retail and residential communities. The professional runner-up prize and winner of the People’s Choice Award went to a project titled “For the When asked about their experience of the design comCommon Good—A Restart to Retailing,” which was a petition, the team responded: collaboration between Buchan Group, Grün Consult-

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Understanding that sustainability is a way of thinking and living, as opposed to a service, is fundamental.

“The Living Building Challenge is the Everest of sustainability challenges; to reach LBC’s demanding targets we found that everyone in our team needed to walk in the shoes of others. As architects we had to understand what the builders require; our engineers needed to see things from the shopper’s perspective and so on. Intense cross-discipline collaboration, open mindedness and engagement were key to developing breakthrough ideas that actually work in practice.

students attending local primary schools. The winning design came from a student at Antonio Park School and showed practical ways to reduce energy demand using solar panels, natural light and external shading, and water captured and distributed via cleverly placed funnels that filter it down through vertical gardens. The design also illustrated a human scale, with a focus on pedestrians and cyclists—noting that the main entrance was not a car park! The prize for the winning school, and a legacy for the competition itself, was a 5kW solar photovoltaic system, to be installed by one of Australia’s market leaders, Solgen Energy Group. Wider Impacts At the awards party in June, several other prizes reflected the competition’s impact beyond this one site. Two special commendations in particular were awarded for standout efforts that went well beyond the call of the design competition.

The first special commendation went to a project called “Living Retail,” by NH Architecture, Ark Resources, Ultimately sustainability in itself is not a discipline or Aspect Studios, E2 Designlab, Ceres, and Mott Macskill set that can be added onto projects. Understand- Donald. The submission was a visually impressive ing that sustainability is a way of thinking and living, “long life, loose fit” design, integrating high-density residential buildings, included a mobile batching plant as opposed to a service, is fundamental.” to address waste, and proposed an arrangement whereby the retail tenants pays for power, incentivizing batA Legacy for the Future tery storage. Aside from the innovation presented in Alongside the competition for professionals and dethe project, the remarkable thing about this piece of sign students, the LFIA held a similar competition for

work, and hence the award, is that some of the team that produced it have been working on the site with Frasers Property. Being ineligible for a cash prize, this team went to great lengths to re-examine their own design work, and reimagine it in the context of the LBC, outside of the design competition itself. The second special commendation was awarded for an entry called “The BioVale,” by DesignInc Melbourne, WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff, Outlines Landscape Architects, and Will Nash. Within the course of the competition time frame, the team did some remarkable volunteering, contributing to a number of not-for-profit community and environmental groups, including tree planting with Landcare, a Trail Walker with Oxfam, and Bushcare at an Australian National Park. Their volunteering work stood out among more than twenty projects that received many hours of volunteer time as one of the design competition outcomes. In addition to the remarkable volunteering, the design competition also required entrants to try out their skills in advocating for greater transparency through the Declare label, and improved social justice through the Just label. More than fifty organizations in Australia were contacted as part of the design competition, being asked to consider “nutrition labels” to provide a holistic picture of both the products they produce and the human story behind those products. Summing Up The overall response to the design competition has been overwhelmingly positive, and speaks to a compelling vision for a living future that we wish to share. Much like the LBC itself, the entire exercise has been unique in that it has not been about settling for previous notions of best practice; instead, it adopts an uncompromising and unashamed future focus to ask questions we may not yet have the answer to, but which we cannot afford to ignore. The act of casting a global net to elicit truly innovative and progressive designs to unlock new possibilities for sustainability in retail, a traditionally wasteful sector

WINNER: THE DIFFERENCE IS LIVING 33

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THIRD PLACE COMMENDATION: THE GATHERING

WINNER DESIGN STUDENT CATEGORY : BURWOOD LIFE CENTRE

in need of new ideas, has shown us that from primary school students and manufacturers to world-leading designers, inspiration can come from anywhere. This competition has unlocked some truly different thinking, and that’s what the Living Building Challenge is all about. STEPHEN CHOI is Director, Living Future Institute of Australia

B Y D E N I S E G . FA I R C H I L D P H . D.

At the Paris climate conference (COP21) late last year, 195 countries adopted the first-ever universal. legally binding global climate accord. It is a big deal that world leaders have finally acknowledged the climate crisis and committed to do something about it, but let’s not kid ourselves. As Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org put it, “This agreement didn’t save the planet, but it may have saved the chance of saving the planet.”

What Can the Abolitionists Teach Us About Climate Change?

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To actually save the planet—and ourselves—we need to get beyond the scientific and technological solutions that comprise the Paris Accord. Indeed, we must transform the cultural, economic and political conditions at the heart of the climate crisis. It sounds impossible, but history offers a model for this kind of transformative change: the dismantling of the slave economy in the 19th century. Understanding the centuries-long abolitionist movement offers insight into the vision, the structural changes, the personal commitments, the political struggles, and the global movement required to stave off catastrophic climate change. Too Weak and Too Late The changes called for in the Paris Accord are meager in relation to the global climate crisis. The strategies outlined are not specific enough, nor are they likely to be quick, deep, or distributive enough to change the status quo. The agreement’s carbon targets are too weak and too late to stem the negative effects of climate change on our environment, food, water, air, and overall quality of life. A Paris Accord with teeth would have demanded the elimination of fossil fuel combustion as an uncompromising solution. It’s time to get serious about our climate crisis. And, in fact, a host of actors—governments, corporations, nonprofits and consumers—are advancing a range of climate mitigation and adaptation initiatives. We are greening our buildings to increase energy and water efficiency. We are decarbonizing our transportation systems with mass transit solutions. And, even though the EPA’s Clean Power Plan is held up in litigation, many states are moving forward with plans to decarbonize

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the power sector. Solar and wind farms are harvesting renewable energy. Distributed energy, food, and water systems are answering the call to mitigate and adapt to a changing climate. These efforts are necessary but not sufficient for tackling global climate change. Many are transactional, not transformative. They operate at the edges of substantive issues of property, profit, power and privilege. They do not get at the root cause: a globalized fossil fuel economy committed to extraction and exploitation of our natural and human resources, without regard for short- or long-term consequences of diminished biodiversity, resource depletion, income inequalities, and toxic communities. Moreover, climate change is narrowly framed as an “environmental issue,” when in fact it is tightly interwoven with the crucial economic and social issues of our time, like inequality and structural racism. To say that climate change is about the environment is like saying that slavery was about farming practices.

To say that climate change is about the environment is like saying that slavery was about farming practices. Going deep on climate change means disrupting the status quo. The climate goals and challenges we face today are existential in nature, requiring re-examination of our cultural values and the workings of our industrial economy. We need a movement that is the van-

guard of all other movements, one that seeks to make Parallels Between the Slave the way we live not only more sustainable and resilient, and Fossil Fuel Economies but also socially and economically just. The abolitionist movement offers a playbook for advoBut for the most part, this is not the change we seek or cates working for climate, economic, and social justice. even envision. Even the most radical and transformative That movement challenged the very foundation of the vision of Buckminster Fuller—to “make the world work, global slave economy by dismantling the pillars that supfor 100% of humanity, in the shortest possible time, ported it: property rights, profits, privilege, and power. through spontaneous cooperation, without ecological Property Rights: The abolitionists sucIf we are serious about cessfully challenged the idea that some people were property to be bought, sold climate change, we need to and owned. Building a sustainable and just dismantle the fossil fuel economy requires a similar shift in thinking about nature. economy and replace it with

a moral economy that values ecosystems, sufficiency, distributive justice, and real democracy. And that kind of transformation will not come without struggle. The only precedent that comes close in scope is the movement to dismantle the slave economy: offense or the disadvantage of anyone”—while squarely addressing interrelated issues of environment, economy and equity—assumes that change can come without struggle, that it will be “spontaneous and cooperative.” If we are serious about climate change, we need to dismantle the fossil fuel economy and replace it with a moral economy that values ecosystems, sufficiency, distributive justice, and real democracy. And that kind of transformation will not come without struggle. The only precedent that comes close in scope is the movement to dismantle the slave economy: the abolitionist movement.

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The bedrock of climate change is an industrial economy rooted in exploiting and commercializing the environment. The earth’s natural resources—water, minerals, forests, the atmosphere—are enslaved to the global market economy in a way that is analogous to Africans under the slave economy. Like human slaves, our natural resources are devalued and chained to private interests by legal protections.

Just as slaves were denied agency and selfdetermination, we now prevent nature from regenerating—with consequences that are both immediate and intergenerational. We have, for example, diminished the quality and supply of our freshwater resources—rivers, lakes, ponds, aquifers—denying their capacity to nourish the coral reefs, and the fish, animal, and human species dependent upon them. And yet, the right to extract our water supplies (and other natural resources) is fiercely protected by private property laws and public indifference to their mistreatment. Advocates for water are losing the battle against private property rights in the US courts. Twenty-seven states are currently suing EPA’s latest effort to define and protect the Waters of the United States (WOTUS).

Opponents of the EPA ruling charge that it is “unconstitutional,” “communism,” and a “land grab.”

A constitutional challenge and an amendment to the US Constitution are essential for protecting our environment. A credible climate change movement must integrate with the efforts of the global south and the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, which argues that “there is no justice as long as nature is property in law.” This movement is a worldwide effort to challenge constitutional rights to hold nature as property and to acknowledge “that nature and all its life forms has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles.” The Alliance’s ecocentered approach balances the needs of humans and other species without exploiting one to the detriment of the other.

The Abolitionists faced a similar challenge. Dismantling the slave economy required a long, global struggle to outlaw the right to own, control and exploit African labor for commercial gain. Whether or not the US Constitution directly sanctioned and defined slaves as property is debated. What is clear, however, is that three clauses in the Constitution clearly permitted exploiting African slaves for their commercial value: the three-fifths compromise; the slave trade clause (Article I, Section 9.); and the fugitive-slave law (Article IV, Section 2). But those “rights” fell to a constitutional challenge, and ultimately to the thirteenth amendment, which outlaws the right to own slaves. Profit: Profit generation is a fundamental, but hidden, driver of climate change. Massive accumulation Similarly, dismantling the fossil fuel economy re- and maldistribution of wealth in the slave and fossil quires challenging the right to own, extract, and ex- fuel economies occur from exploiting and controlling ploit the environment as personal property. These the engines (sources of energy) that drive producrights are scattered throughout the Constitution, tion. Three hundred years of free slave labor fueled with private property protections supported by “due the growth of the agricultural and domestic econoprocess,” the “takings” clause and “contracts,” found mies, only to be replaced by fossil fuels as the fuel of in the fifth and fourteenth amendments and in Ar- choice in the industrial economy. ticle 1 of the Constitution’s main text.

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In the antebellum South, slaves—and wealth—were concentrated in the hands of an estimated 3,000 owners of large plantations, creating considerable political and economic power where “cotton was king.” Many northern industrialists supported the abolition of slavery in order to shift political power and wealth from the South to the emerging class of industrial robber barons. For those industrialists, coal [and other fossil fuels] was king for fueling factories, trains, ships, and more.

centrated in the top five oil companies, which made [a total of $93 billion in profits in 2013; forty percent of those profits were used to repurchase stock to increase the wealth of shareholders. The CEOs of the top five oil companies were paid $96 million in that same year (not including bonuses), which was 400 times the US median family income.

The fight for sustainability, therefore, is also a fight for economic justice. The base struggle is over fossil fuels Dismantling the slave economy—while partly reli- vs. renewables, as it means the demise of a legacy indusgious and humanitarian in intent—was, in the main, try and the emergence of a new one. Beyond that, howa fierce struggle for power and control over the means ever, is the ethical question of who will own and conof production and the wealth it generated. There is a trol the new industry—the harvesting of the sun, wind lesson here for climate change advocates: As we tran- and other renewable energy sources. And at a deeper sition our economy once again to a new source/form level is the question of who controls the engines of the of energy, we must be mindful of the economic conse- economy. But economic issues of profit and wealth distribution get lost when climate discourse is focused on quences and struggles behind our decisions. incremental solutions, greening the economy, or winThis is likely to be a long-term struggle. Notwith- ning a university divestment. standing the moral, environmental, and other costs of fossil fuels, they have made a small group of people The structural changes in the transition to a clean envery rich. In the fossil fuel industry, wealth is con- ergy economy could be as profound as those that ac-

companied the transitions from the agricultural to the • Pseudoscience is used to justify privilege: Just as slaves were deemed inhuman and intellectually inindustrial and digital economies. We need to widen the ferior, pseudo-science now claims climate change is lens and take a holistic view of what’s at stake. A growa hoax. ing number of climate justice advocates have framed these changes as a “just transition,” seeking to create • Educational institutions institutionalize power and a sustainable economy that is fair and inclusive for evprivilege through textbooks that transfer culturally eryone. For example, a just transition could include a biased “knowledge and values” in favor of privileged shift from energy monopolies to “energy democracy,” groups. community-owned renewable energy that is treated as • Laws and legal institutions are used to protect propa public “commons.” erty rights and discriminatory practices that serve Power and Privilege: Finally, the transition to a susthe affluent. tainable future requires grappling with questions of • Financing institutions are used to grow power and power and privilege—who has it, how it is used, and privilege through preferential lending. how it is distributed and controlled. The slave economy created a society of haves and havenots separated by race, class, gender and privilege. The US Constitution, for example, counted African slaves as three-fifths of a person. Notwithstanding the larger premise that all men are created equal, the slave economy baked structural inequalities into all aspects of society. The Constitution, laws and informal sanctions denied African Americans access to citizenship, voting rights, education, health, family life, quality housing, food, clothing, language, religion, culture and more. These denials were essential to maintaining power and control over property and profits.

Building a Transformative Movement

If the abolitionist movement teaches us anything about how to save ourselves from climate change, it is this: We need a movement for transformative societal change. It won’t be easy. In some ways, we are all slaves to the fossil fuel economy. It is embedded in all aspects of our economy and lives and entails a deeply entrenched culture and mindset. “Abolition” of climate change requires changing norms, values, and strongly held beliefs about property, profit, power, and privilege. But, while the challenges are great, we don’t Dismantling the slave economy was the earliest effort have an option. to eradicate such privilege and inequities. The ratification of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, in As a result, greenhouse gases continue to rise; fresh 1868, granted citizenship to “all persons born or natu- water reserves dwindle from drought; heat waves are ralized in the United States.” Unfortunately, the ves- longer and hotter; extreme weather conditions are detiges of inequality persisted post-slavery and adapted stroying lives and property at a scale and frequency to support the power and privilege of the fossil fuel never seen before.1 economy. Dismantling the fossil fuel economy should entail another effort to contest all the ways that our institutions support inequalities. Again, there are parallels between slavery and the fossil fuel economy: DENISE G. FAIRCHILD, PH.D. is the • Religious institutions once ordained dominion over slaves as divine providence; similar doctrines sanction human dominion over nature.

inaugural president of Emerald Cities Collaborative, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to building a sustainable, just and resilient US economy.

1 GhG is >400ppm; Estimated temperatures increase between 4-11 degree F by 2100; 253 presidential disasters declarations in excess of $1b.

ISSUE 29

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PHOTOS: STOK

BY JOLENE GOLDSMITH & K ATIE BACHM A N

stok’s JOURNEY TO With transparency comes vulnerability. That’s a scary thing for businesses to accept. stok’s journey to become a transparent company wasn’t easy. It started two years ago, when one of our team members attended Living Future unConference 2014 and learned about the JUST™ label for the first time. As a culture- and purpose-driven company, JUST seemed like a no-brainer for us to pursue. However, we quickly found that transparency is a difficult and polarizing subject to broach in the workplace. Although JUST would allow us to share our successes, it also required to publicly share our shortcomings. This openness and vulnerability was initially a confronting thought.

building or development. Our soul-searching resulted in the realization of the need and value of “zooming out” to offer services that approach sustainable development differently and holistically. From real estate acquisition to decommissioning, we saw the need to define and align sustainability goals every step of the way in order to create a radically better built environment.

improvement instead of failures. As a 28-person company, there were a lot of things we hadn’t considered When we first filled out our JUST label in 2014, it was in the past, including maternity leave, salary equity, discouraging. We had a lot of categories with zero or and giving back to the community. Instead of being one star, which we originally saw as a failure. Letting disappointed that we were scoring low in those catour employees know we were scoring poorly was scary; egories, we decided to use the JUST label as a framepublishing it to the entire world was downright terri- work for improving our practices and policies. As a fying. That outlook created a lot of road blocks and small business, that was invaluable. Instead of hiring stopped us from publishing our label. a consultant or bringing on a full-time employee to improve our HR practices, we were able to do it on After our rebrand we shifted our perspective around our own with the guidance of the JUST label and the low scores; we chose to see them as opportunities for International Living Future Institute.

Challenges & Solutions

We finally saw how we could make great change, and from this we defined our purpose—“to boldly catalyze an environmentally restorative and socially equitable world”—and our core values of autonomy, empathy, sincerity, equity, authenticity, grit, and nature. When About a year later, we went through what one might call it became clear that social justice and equity were inorganizational soul-searching, and ended up redefin- herent to the foundation of our new company, we had ing and rebranding our company. Previously known as no choice but to align our business operations with our Environmental Building Strategies, we had primarily new vision, values, and services. It was time to overfocused on LEED consulting, commissioning, energy come our fear of vulnerability and change, just as we modeling, and other service lines tailored to a single urge our clients to, and to pursue JUST.

When it became clear that social justice and equity were inherent to the foundation of our new company, we had no choice but to align our business operations with our new vision, values, and services.

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Team members now get a $750 annual continuing education stipend (previously $250). In addition to the stipend, we cover 100% of the costs for approved classes, conferences, and other events. So far this year, our team members have used this stipend for InDesign classes, WELL and LEED AP exams, brokerage licenses, countless webinars, and even courses at a local community college. CONTINUING EDUCATION:

In keeping with the “buy local” culture San Francisco loves, most goods and services (59%) are bought locally, such as office snacks from Buyer’s Best Friend and Imperfect Produce. Formerly, just 20% was sourced nearby.

LOCAL SOURCING:

CAPTIONS TBD

In hindsight, we also realized that the biggest source of the internal pushback against JUST stemmed from a lack of understanding of the program. Because the JUST program is new and still relatively unknown, we found that it was difficult to get the rest of the company on board for something they knew very little about.

Starting January 1, 2016, we now offer the following thanks to JUST:

COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERING: Our team members previously struggled to make time to give back to our local community. Now, we offer all employees four days of paid time off for volunteering each year, and we We discovered the best way to describe the JUST la- created a “Giving Back” committee that connects with bel was by likening it to something we all know and local non-profits to plan volunteer days that are open love—building certifications systems. While JUST to the entire company. is not a certification program, the concept of visualizing the company’s operational attributes was some- GENDER PAY EQUITY: It wasn’t until we filled out thing we could identify with as consultants working on our first JUST label that we realized we had a gender LEED and Living Building Challenge projects. One pay gap within our company. So we created a salary benefit of certifying a building and having a plaque on matrix, or equitable compensation guidelines, that rethe wall is that it educates the occupants; by revealing moves negotiations from the compensation discusthat one building is performing “better” by meeting sion to foster equitability across like-for-like skill sets, certain sustainable design standards, it reveals that deletes systemic bias, and levels the playing field for most buildings are not performing well. That is what different communication styles. Now our salaries are the JUST label does for business. It reveals that social based solely on our skills and the responsibilities we equity is missing from most business operations, and hold, leaving little room for subjectivity. thus pushes that conversation to the forefront. FAMILY FRIENDLY: Before pursuing JUST, stok did not offer paid maternity or paternity leave. We now offer three months of paid maternity leave, and new dads Results get two months of paid paternity leave. Team memWe spent the last six months of 2015 identifying our ar- bers’ family members are also insured, with dependent eas for improvement, analyzing costs, and prioritizing healthcare and dental options that we previously ofamendments to our company handbook. fered only to employees.

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To be fair, our pursuit of the JUST label came at a time when we were already rethinking a lot of our internal policies. Making that many changes at once is likely not feasible for most companies. But by viewing the blank spaces on your JUST label as opportunities for growth, you too can begin to move in the right direction and use JUST as a pathway for that.

Environmental Justice and Candlestick Point EcoStewards, we transformed a multi-acre piece of land into the city’s second official campsite. For some of the kids, it was their first time being hands-on in nature, and for most it was a rare opportunity to escape the harsh realities of growing up in the inner city.

Before pursuing JUST, this trip would not have been possible for stok. “It is amazing to be a part of a company that encourages me to get out of the office, to conBenefits nect with some wonderful kids, and to actually dig my We’re already seeing results from the changes we made hands into the dirt to make a lasting change in the city only six months ago. Last month, we took a classroom where I live,” says stok’s Anjanette Green. Lena Wilof first graders to a national park in San Francisco to ke, another stok team member, agrees: “Working for plant, mulch, weed, and learn about native species. a company that not only supports but helps facilitate By collaborating with local non-profits Literacy for these activities makes me feel more whole as a person.” Anjanette, Lena, and everyone else that volunteered came back to work refreshed, inspired, and reminded of why we do what we do every day. In addition to our contribution to the local community, our team members’ families also now feel truly supported. “I love working for a company that allows me to take time to bond with my daughter during the precious, early days of her life,” says stok’s Burke Pemberton, who recently took two months of paid time off for paternity leave. “Stok understands the correlation between my family’s health and happiness and the long-term value that I generate for the organization.”

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This article was co-written by JOLENE GOLDSMITH and KATIE BACHMAN.

We’ve been getting positive feedback from potential new hires as well. On a recent phone interview, an internship candidate brought up the JUST label after seeing it on our website. He asked several questions about why we had only one star in certain categories, but clarified that it didn’t really matter: the fact that we were so transparent about our business, whether or not we were scoring well, made him want to work for us immediately.

Jolene Goldsmith combines her passions for sustainability and social justice on stok’s Operations Team, on which she is responsible for the organization’s growth. Katie Bachman leads stok’s corporate partners through strategic planning to guide them through the discovery, innovation, and implementation of bold sustainability goals.

Even with all of the internal improvements we have made, our label isn’t perfect. But through the JUST process, the greatest lesson we learned was to embrace vulnerability. Because with it comes humility: admitting that you’re not perfect, but doing what you can in the spirit of fighting for what’s right and constantly striving toward improvement.

stok is a vertically integrated real estate services firm focused on creating a radically better built environment. We balance the financial and performance goals of our projects with social and environmental needs, resulting in restorative buildings, exceptional workspaces, high-perforWe now believe that our social justice metrics are at least mance systems and lasting, trusted relationships with our as important as financial metrics. And we humbly invite partners. In all that we do—from tenant representation, our employees and clients to dive deep into our JUST la- project management and strategy to design, certification bel and point out where we have room for improvement as and quality assurance—we take a broad-thinking, partan organization. We’re excited to share our story and hope ner-focused approach to solving complex problems. you will join us and ILFI on this journey to social equity.

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ISSUE 29

BY GABE DUNSMITH

A MINE ON THE PATH A REVIEW of STAND UP THAT MOUNTAIN

When Jay Leutze gives up a lucrative career as an attorney in order to live a solitary life in the mountains of North Carolina, he never expects to tumble into a battle with the mining industry. After all, the worst of Appalachian mining seems far from his secluded enclave: There is little to no coal in the North Carolina mountains, leaving the fossil fuel empire to turn to West Virginia and eastern Kentucky in their hunt for black diamonds. Leutze wants to fish, to write novels in the woods, and to hike into the Roan Highlands on clear days. At first, when he takes up residence in his family’s Avery County cabin, life feels like a dream come true: His backyard is the Appalachian Trail. But then, on an otherwise-peaceful day, Leutze hears chainsaws roaring on the other side of the mountain. Before he knows it, a swath of forest the width of four football fields had been felled, and roads are being cut and explosives prepared. The miners have come.

group of ordinary people, in recognizing the threat to their own health (from water pollution and perpetual mining dust) as well as the streams and forests and the species that thrive in them, give all that they have to protect the land they live upon.

Leutze soon comes face to face with mine owner Paul Brown , who has run similar gravel mines throughout the region. Despite flagrant violations of the Mining Act of 1971 and the situation of his mine in full view of the Appalachian Trail, Paul Brown already had his mining permit—and, as Leutze learns, that’s as good as gold in the state of North Carolina. By the time his 99-year lease is up, Belview Mountain would be little more than a jumbled heap of stone. Such impending doom propels Leutze’s Stand Up That Mountain (Scribner, 2012) chron- Leutze on visit after visit to the state capitol of Raleigh, a icles the author’s efforts to stop the Putnam Mine from four-hour drive from the mountains. ruining Belview Mountain. Leutze isn’t acting alone, of course—he has a cohort of area residents who are agi- Beyond a complicated—and true-to-life—tale of a tating alongside him, and he eventually pulls a handful years-long legal battle, Stand Up That Mountain is also of North Carolina’s best lawyers into his team—but his a portrait of modern Appalachia. Leutze shows a progrit and personal determination to stop the mine weave found respect for his mountain neighbors, all the while themselves into every page of the book. Along with Leu- wrestling with his own outsider status. Though Appatze, the reader feels the anxiety imposed by a desecrated lachia has long been denigrated and misunderstood by landscape and understands that if the rock-crusher gets mainstream United States media, Leutze comes to ungoing, the sound would be that of a construction site derstand that the area’s hardships and treasures both in the middle of the woods. In the end, Stand Up That stem from being situated on the periphery of American Mountain is a profound tale of environmental justice: a consciousness. He shows the resourcefulness and deter-

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ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN APPALACHIA As in many places across the United States, environmental justice in Appalachia takes on many forms: It is an ongoing effort to safeguard those communities most impacted by environmental desecration and to encourage a harmonious relationship with the land. • Many black communities throughout the region are building public gardens and urban farm projects to reassert sovereignty over their own food. See, for example, Barton Street Community Peace Garden in Asheville, NC. • Radical Action for Mountain People’s Survival (RAMPS) and Mountain Justice are two newfangled groups combating mountaintopremoval coal mining. The groups use tactics such as public protest and direct action to propose a sustainable energy economy for Appalachia, and regularly occupy mountains that are threatened with destruction. The groups work in West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia.

mination of his neighbors, and their everyday wit and humor. Yet despite his intimacy with the Cox family— Ashley even bestows Leutze with a nickname—there is something fleeting about this family that Leutze can never quite grasp. “Son, you ain’t mountain,” told to Leutze in the book’s prologue. “I’m mountain. That’s all the hell I am and you wouldn’t never understand.” She’s right, Leutze admits. But he will try. From one perspective, Stand Up That Mountain is an attempt to honor a region and a heritage that Leutze can neither know fully nor claim as his own. Stand Up That Mountain is also a profound work of mourning, as Leutze laments the desecration of the mining industry and the hectic development of wealthy vacationers’ homes in rural Appalachia, along with global issues of climate change and pollution. His tale is a sobering wake-up call for anyone who thinks legislation is enough to stop the obliteration of the natural world; we need stewards of the land who, ever vigilant, speak out

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• Highlander Research and Education Center, nestled in the foothills of rural East Tennessee, was founded in 1932 to promote workers’ organizing and workplace integration. The Center played a prominent role in the Civil Rights Movement, and today works to combat police violence in black communities while also building movements that promote restorative environmental change. • The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy (SAHC) is one of the most prominent land conservation groups in Appalachia today. The group has conserved over 68,000 acres across North Carolina and Tennessee from development and mining interests. • The Appalachian Transition Fellowship Program is designed to empower emerging community leaders to instigate social and economic justice in the region. Fellows work on diverse issues such as desegregation, labor rights, food justice, and ecological restoration.

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when they witness wrongdoing. Throughout the book, Leutze balances his political struggle with an homage to the landscape. The undulating ridges and lush forests speak for themselves, but Leutze’s deep knowledge of Appalachian ecosystems is an ever-present gift. Though the book feels repetitive at points, continually rehashing the tactical argument to save Belview Mountain, this refrain merely echoes the cyclical nature of the legal battles into which Leutze and his team are thrust. The story is girded with a striving for justice, and a current of hope—a hope that shines in eyes of the residents who are trying to “trying to stand up that mountain.” GABE DUNSMITH was born and raised in Southern Appalachia. A graduate of Vassar College, he lives in Seattle and interns with the International Living Future Institute.

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PHOTO: BOBA JOVANOVIC/UNSPLASH

B Y S I S S E L WA A G E

“I don’t know” is becoming less plausible for corporate representatives to say when it comes to understanding various supply chain impacts and risks, from deforestation to water, biodiversity and related human rights issues. The era of tracking and transparency has met the era of (near) real-time Big Data, within a context of corporate supply chains and over-burdened natural systems. With a few clicks on your computer — or taps on any cell phone — corporate decision-makers can access data and maps on: •

CLOSING THE GAP BETWEEN SEEING AND DOING FOR CORPORATE SUPPLY CHAINS ENVIRONMENTAL BREAKS IN CORPORATE SUPPLY CHAINS ARE MORE VISIBLE THAN EVER.

• • •

If corporate decision-makers are in the dark about where their raw materials come from, as well as what impacts (including unintended) occur through this sourcing, then various organizations are likely to publicly name the business — specifically those that have made corporate commitments — such as the CDP’s Forests Program, Forest Trends’ “Supply Change” initiative, Global Witness, Greenpeace or Rainforest Action Network. A NEW ERA IN TRANSPARENCY

A new era of increasing clarity about (and accountability for) corporate supply chain impacts is upon us Water risk around the world, thanks to publicly — particularly for issues tracked through online, Big available tools such as WRI’s Aqueduct and the Data-driven maps, such as deforestation, water risk WWF’s Water Risk Filter, other tools listed by the and biodiversity loss. CEO Water Mandate, as well as an ever-growing set of tailored or proprietary tools such as from the As such, questions increasingly will be asked of supDanish Hydrological Institute, EcoMetrix Soluply chain managers and corporate leaders about contions Group and Sensonomic tributions to re- or de-forestation; watershed strucFinancial valuation of water risk, such as TruCost’s ture and function, as well as a growing set of other Water Risk Monetizer environmental and related human rights and local community issues. Global deforestation, with the help of WRI’s Global Forest Watch At a high-level the questions include: Biodiversity loss and habitat fragmentation, with the CI-IUCN-UNEP-BirdLife International In- 1. Are corporate decisions and supply chains investtegrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT for ing in business solutions that offer “benefit mulBusiness) or Oxford University’s Local Ecological tipliers” for companies, communities and natural Footprinting Tool systems?

• Numerous other environmental issues through 2. Or are decisions undercutting the very systems maps and data from the U.N.’s World Conservation upon which we all rely and introducing “ecosystem Monitoring Center, as well as additional tools such malfunction risk” into corporate risk management as the Stanford University-TNC- WWF-University and mitigation portfolios? of Minnesota Natural Capital Project, the Earth Genome and others laid out in a recent BSR report Few within businesses will be enthusiastic about being In addition, tools exist to gain further insight on supply on the receiving end of questions about why compachain sourcing locations, such as Provenance. nies are not aware of (and failing to actively address) adverse impacts across operations and supply chains.

This article was originally published in GreenBiz. www.greenbiz.com

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Fewer still are prepared for a bigger shift underway, which is what stakeholder and investor questions are pivoting away from: What are the impacts of corporate sourcing decisions? The new focus increasingly will be: What is being done about these (ongoing) adverse impacts?

commitment, but the personal strength of character to stand up to what are often vested interests, or people in challenging financial situations who seek to make a living.

FROM TALK TO ACTION Seeing deforestation is one thing. Stopping it is quite another. The same is true for seeing versus addressing As corporate work proceeds on aligning supply chain water risk, biodiversity loss and other complex dynam- management with brand, purpose and net-positive ics that are undercutting natural systems. contributions, this challenging gap — between stating a commitment and making it real on the ground The reality — as anyone within a corporate supply — will be front and center. chain or sustainability department knows all too well — is that on-the-ground management work is hard. This chasm is well-known in both the environmental as well as the human rights law domain. It is the de Deforestation is occurring due to a range of complex dy- jure versus de facto law gap. It is when a government namics, economic drivers (including poverty and des- promulgates laws, or codes, and people on the ground peration) and incentives (and disincentives) in real places. do not to follow to these laws for their own reasons — sometimes related to corruption; other times related to It has not been effectively addressed because it has nu- individual subsistence challenges as the poor and dismerous drivers and is a multifaceted and challenging enfranchised seek out a way to feed their families. problem, as has been documented in numerous studies and briefly summarized by the Reducing Deforesta- Companies that are making laudable, and increasingly tion and Land Degradation Desk, as well as the Union called for, commitments around deforestation, waof Concerned Scientists. ter use and decreasing other environmental impacts increasingly will find themselves in the tight spot between new commitment versus old practice.

“ This challenging gap — between stating a commitment and making it real on the ground — will be front and center.”

An auditor in a suit waving a piece of paper with a corporate commitment seldom will be an adequate response to removing these adverse environmental (and human) impacts in many parts of the world. And so, a gap often exists between corporate commitments and living up to them. Videos of the Goldman Foundation’s annual prize winners show not only the

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Fortunately, the skunk works for identifying pathways forward has been operating for decades, on pilot scales and the proverbial shoestring budgets. These on-theground innovation labs have focused on ecological restoration and sustainable resource management, within specific communities, places and watersheds. Pilot testing of new business models, restorationfocused natural resource management methods and other innovative practices focused on well-functioning natural systems has taken place under the less-thanrelevant sounding banner of “community-based natural resource management,” “conservation-based development” and ecological restoration.

This challenging gap — between stating a commitment and making it real on the ground — will be front and center. Within these areas of work, commonly dominated by NGOs and academics, there have been cries of pilot project success and failure (sometimes on the same project and same dataset). Yet, it is worth cutting through the noise to assess the cases, which are relevant to companies seeking to make good on commitments, as well as lessen risks and realize positive opportunities for investing in the natural systems upon which we all (including companies) rely.

JUNGLE BURNED FOR AGRICULTURE IN SOUTHERN MEXICO. PHOTO BY JAMI DWYER, FLICKR CC

Seeking out this guidance, as well as hard-won lessons, can occur through seemingly unlikely corporate advisors: the people who have been working away on Some community conservation-based projects at their community-based conservation, conservation-based best show how to engage locals who previously drove development and even the ecological restoration species loss, for example, with programs that incentiv- community. ize their protection, such as in Namibia and Zimbabwe, as well as apply restoration-focuses practices and Combining the on-the-ground process and practice businesses on the ground, such as initiatives: in Ore- insights, with robust supply chain management progon (with the NGO Wallowa Resources); in California cesses and protocols is likely to offer examples, as well (with the Hayfork Watershed Research and Training as inspiration, for companies to innovate and move toCenter); as well as through the Pacific Northwest (as ward more stable supply chains, robust stakeholder recatalyzed by Sustainable Northwest and EcoTrust) lations and well-functioning (natural as well as social) and others globally. systems in which to work. Just as every supplier is unique, so, too, are the on-theground dynamics that drive ongoing deforestation, fast run-off of rains and inadequate recharge of underground aquifers, as well as other components that undercut robust ecological functioning. High level guidelines exist, but on-the-ground specifics need to be tailored. As corporate leaders fully face the adverse environmental impacts of supply chains, notably ongoing deforestation in supply areas, as well as overshoot of total water demand relative to water supply (both surface and groundwater), they will need inspiration, guidance and experience in responding on-the-ground.

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The opportunity is to have supply chain management discussions with those who have been on-the-ground developing the skunkworks solutions, within the community-based conservation, conservation-based development, and ecological restoration communities. And ultimately, to close the gap between positive corporate supply chain and sourcing commitment versus practice.

SISSEL WAAGE leads BSR’s Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services Working Group.

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Multiple events Tuesday-Friday. Register now for ILFI events at Greenbuild! We are excited to see everyone this fall. Don’t miss the exciting shoulder events we’re hosting around Los Angeles and sessions led by Institute staff. All events are listed chronologically. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit our website. Project Team/Network Summit: Tuesday, October 4th, 12:00pm-2:00pm LP 50 Meeting, Tuesday: October 4th, 2:30pm - 5:30pm Net Positive Energy Summit: Tuesday, October 4th, 2:30pm - 5:30pm Network Cocktail Party Meetup: Tuesday, October 4th, 6:00pm 8:00pm • Congress Gathering: Wednesday, October, 5th, 4:30pm - 6:30pm • Materials and Health Summit: Beyond the Tipping Point: Friday, October 7th, 1:30pm - 4:30pm • • • •

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WHY EQUITY MATTERS FOR EVERYONE:

A NEW VALUE PROPOSITION FOR DESIGN

“Equity” and “equality” have long been used interchangeably, but the terms are often confused with each other. While the focus of equality is framed with sameness being the end goal, equity may be defined as a state in which all people, regardless of their socioeconomic, racial, or ethnic grouping, have fair and just access to the resources and opportunities necessary to thrive. Beyond equity’s newer association with pluralism, it has long been connected to financial capital, as well as to collective ownership, vested interest, and a sense of value or self-worth.

Equity has a strong potential as a new paradigm and social construct to succeed on multiple levels—equity in education, equitable practice in the workplace, and social equity in access to basic life resources, healthy and safe communities, and public space in our urban centers. The equity-focused value proposition at all these levels is rooted in transparency, education, collaboration, and trust.

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The lack of equity in architectural practice and allied professions has made them prone to lose talent to other seemingly more lucrative career paths due to multiple factors that challenge retention: long hours, low pay, lack of transparency for promotion, and work that is misaligned with professional goals. In order to have justice and equity in the built environment, the AEC design workforce needs a more diverse representation

parents of opposite genders from assisting their young children and possibly risks health and safety for kids going in by themselves. And more recently, there has been great public debate about the laws passed in North Carolina that prevent the transgender community from access to binary gender public restrooms.

that reflects the rapidly changing demographics that we serve. We are also prone to the public not fully understanding the value of what architects and allied professionals bring to the table in terms of the social impact of design that can inform equitable, just, and sustainable public and private spaces. There are several areas where the lack of equity and diversity in design participation and consideration results in deficiencies in public space. For example, the design and planning of public restrooms may not seem obvious to all, but those who must endure the challenges of their shortcomings can inform design professionals. The design of public restrooms typically segregates into binary gender designations, and the traditional design of semi-private stalls in similar ratios between males and females often results in longer wait times for females, particularly at large assembly or transit spaces such as airports, train stations, etc. The design of public restrooms based on binary gender also prevents

Within these challenges, there is a great design opportunity to address equitable access to restrooms as well as to propose reformed public policy that recognizes the basic human right to have adequate access to public restrooms. Several cities (including San Francisco, Philadelphia, Seattle, and West Hollywood) and public institutions have adopted gender-neutral restroom policies and designs that accommodate fair access to these public facilities. Designers are part of the solution as well, proposing private, gender-neutral restrooms that are essentially a row of individual toilet stall “rooms” with full doors that open onto a common area where everyone can wash their hands at a row of sinks and check the mirror. Another design solution is designated, family-friendly restrooms that recognize a single parent managing the needs of multiple children in a public setting. Another aspect for design consideration is the equitable access to public space that accommodates actions often viewed as “private space” activities. Nursing mothers have historically been marginalized when trying to find public space with privacy for breastfeeding or designated clean space for pumping in the workplace.

THE LACK OF EQUITY IN ARCHITECTURAL PRACTICE AND ALLIED PROFESSIONS HAS MADE THEM PRONE TO LOSE TALENT TO OTHER SEEMINGLY MORE LUCRATIVE CAREER PATHS DUE TO MULTIPLE FACTORS THAT CHALLENGE RETENTION: LONG HOURS, LOW PAY, LACK OF TRANSPARENCY FOR PROMOTION, AND WORK THAT IS MISALIGNED WITH PROFESSIONAL GOALS. While providing such spaces may be viewed as special treatment for a particular group and not “equal” or fair, the spaces are equitable in allowing mothers who are returning to workforce to have supporting resources.

pectancy. One of the stark examples in the study: the difference in life expectancies between New Orleans’ French Quarter and Lower Garden District, only a few miles apart, can be as high as 25 years.

Additionally, there is a significant lack of access to safe public space for school-aged children between the time that school ends and when their parents return from work. In particular, these types of spaces are needed most by single parents who don’t have access to childcare resources.

The 2016 Equity in Architecture Survey conducted by AIA SF Equity by Design earlier this year, coupled with an interactive discussion, will encourage the development of equitable practices for increasing diversity, expanding career opportunities to retain practitioners. By better representing the populations we are meant to serve and developing empathy in design professionals who are more socially and environmentally conscious of design’s influence to create equitable space for all, we can have greater impact for retaining talent with meaningful work, gaining commissions on projects focused on social justice and access, and producing design outcomes that are valued by the client and community. The results of the survey will be launched on October 29th at the fourth symposium hosted by AIA San Francisco, Equity by Design: Metrics, Meaning & Matrices.

Finally, the most troubling aspect of equitable access to the safe, healthy, affordable communities is heavily influenced by structural bias based on race, ethnicity and immigration status. In April of 2016, a Wall Street Journal blog reported that “Where you live could determine how long you live.”1 Important indicators like education levels, poverty, commute times, quality of housing, access to fresh food, and clear air and water correlate with location to greatly influence life ex1 http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2016/04/11/ where-you-live-could-determine-how-long-you-live/

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Social and environmental equity have a direct impact on improving opportunities for not only the historically disadvantaged populations, but also has the potential for economic prosperity for all. In terms of physical space, fair access to environmentally safe places for residency, education, employment and full participation in the political and cultural life of the community is one of the greatest challenges that we as a society face today.

which affect a wide range of the population,” Sperber said. “Innovative solutions, both in architectural design and in other field, often emerge when the problem itself is redefined.” By designing bathrooms by size—small, medium, large, extra-large, etc.—Sperber provides special efficiency, sustainability, safety, and equitable access.

Equitable design in the workplace and in our interactions in practice with clients and communities has Equitable design has the power to problem solve a mul- the ability to bring about unique problem-solving tiple levels including social situations. A recent exam- skills to highly political issues related to access of esple was featured in the Huffington Post, with a clever sential services, public space, affordable real estate, video op-ed by Esther Sperber, owner of Studio ST and urban resources. Architecture.2 The New York architect offers an “outof-the-box” solution to the ongoing “gender-charged restroom” debate in an animated video in the post. ROSA T. SHENG, AIA, LEED AP BD+C “It became clear to me that the typical gender divided public bathroom creates inconvenient situations

is a Senior Associate at Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Founder and Chairperson for Equity by Design and Treasurer of AIA San Francisco.

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IN TERMS OF PHYSICAL SPACE, FAIR ACCESS TO ENVIRONMENTALLY SAFE PLACES FOR RESIDENCY, EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT AND FULL PARTICIPATION IN THE POLITICAL AND CULTURAL LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY IS ONE OF THE GREATEST CHALLENGES THAT WE AS A SOCIETY FACE TODAY.

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2 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ transgender-bathroom-esther-sperber_us_5783e590e4b01edea78ef6da?

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THE LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE

ROOTS AND RISE OF THE WORLD’S GREENEST STANDARD

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ROOTS AND RISE OF THE WORLD’S GREENEST STANDARD

TRANSFORMATIONAL THOUGHT II MORE RADICAL IDEAS TO REMAKE THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Essays by

JASON F. MCLENNAN Foreword & Contributions

BILL REED

— PAUL HAWKEN

MARY ADAM THOMAS FOREWORD BY DENIS HAYES

BY JASON F. MCLENNAN

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“Jason McLennan sees the world in a boundless yet grounded way. His knowledge as an architect has been expanded to the entire world. It seems he was born seeing the world as being alive, intelligent and connected… and in his craftsman-like way, he is reconnecting the rents and tears in our thinking and understanding about how to live on this planet. Every once in a while, someone shows up with a way of seeing and acting in the world that is astonishing. It is not that we do not understand what Jason is up to. What is hard to understand is how one person could know and accomplish so much in such a short time, how one person could dramatically influence the largest industrial sector in the world—the built environment— with such grace, elegance, and clarity. It is no accident that Jason was given the Buckminster Fuller Award. That award is a harbinger and provides the proper measure of Jason.”

FROM THE FOUNDER OF THE LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE

TRANSFORMATIONAL THOUGHT II

Transformational Thought II: More Radical Ideas to Remake the Built Environment by Jason F. McLennan is a collection of thought-provoking essays that challenge contemporary thinking and design modalities while providing solution-based insights for the rethinking of how we live, work, and thrive in a living future.

MARY ADAM THOMAS

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