Central Puget Sound
January:
Living buildings, living communities and the Forest Stewardship Council
Thor Peterson - Cascadia GBC
As a statement on the comprehensiveness, transparency and rigor of the FSC’s certification program, the Cascadia Region Green Building Council has publicly endorsed FSC as the referenced standard for responsible forestry. Learn from Thor Peterson, Research Director for Cascadia, how FSC is referenced in the Living Building Challenge (Cascadia’s green building standard) as the gold standard for responsible industry.
NNRG the Future of Forestry
Patricia C. Southard and Mike Broili
This presentation will provide an overview of how Community Based Forestry can achieve a Three legged stool balance in the Pacific Northwest Region. For over 15 years Northwest Natural Resource Group (NNRG) has been leading efforts to make ecological forestry a paying proposition in theFebruary:
Life at the Edge: Where Human Areas Meet Wild
Presenter: Heather Swift
As development expands and human areas become more dense, planning for wildlife is essential for making building projects more ecologically sound. Heather Swift, founder of Cohabitats, takes a whole systems approach to wildlife planning for urban, suburban and rural projects including wildlife site assessments, site design considerations, restorative landscape planning, homeowner education, and marketing benefits and incentives. A few questions she will address include:
- What animals live on the site now? What important habitat features currently exist?
- Are you taking away an animal's natural food source? How are you replacing it?
- Are you building in the spring? How will you reduce impact to animals with their new young?
- What is the property connected to? How are you planning to maximize connected habitat?
- Will the new homeowners live near bears or coyotes? How will you educate them to reduce conflicts with wildlife?
- What are some things you can do to increase wildlife habitat in an urban setting?
- What if there are some species you don't want to attract?
Presenter: Ladd Smith
In Harmony builds landscapes to attract birds, wildlife and beneficial insects. Properly designed landscapes will provide food, shelter and water for all the wildlife creatures and will create a buffer zone between our gardens and the wild.
By properly designing and installing landscapes, we can also maximize how much impact the garden has on the environment outside the property foot print. Good soil installation will get plants established quicker and makes them healthier. Healthy plants mean that pesticides can be limited and even eliminated on the property, making the garden inhabitable for all the creatures that pass through. Properly installed rain gardens, water catchment systems and pervious surfaces will greatly decrease storm water impacts. All these aspects, plus others, will begin to make the area sustainable and wildlife friendly.
March:
The Feasibility of Renewable Energy
- What alternatives are there?
- Conservation is one side of the equation, but what sort of new energy resources are going to meet the new demand?
- How will global warming affect our snow pack and the resulting stream flows?
- What is the feasibility of wind, solar, or other renewable sources in meeting our needs?
- What is the cost/kWh for wind vs. PV?
- What about de-centralized power generation?
- Are “Green Tags”, or carbon offsets, a good idea?
Presented by:
April:
Presenter: Charlie StephensWithout realizing it, most people are banking on a future that cant happen. That future is essentially a minor variation on the present, with improvements. The much more likely future is one with something weve never encountered as a society on a long-term basis serious constraints. But theyre constraints on the present, not on the future. I hope I can adequately explain all of the opportunities that lie beyond the rough stretch of road were heading into at the moment.
May:
Weatherization
Learn how to cut older home’s energy bills by 15%, 20% even 30% with easy inexpensive weatherization techniques. I am also considering giving people the info they need to calculate their carbon footprint (I personally found it quite enlighting).
June:
Materials
Ben Cook will talk about the toxicity/carbon impact of existing materials and some new alternatives including caulks, paints/sealers and alternative concrete wall panel products.
July:
Community Potluck
August:
Code Barriers:
Join in a seminar discussion with code officials, builders, architects and homeowners as we discuss the current code barriers to building “green”, and perhaps some solutions to common permitting pitfalls.
September:
10x10x10
October:
Lessons Learned
Join in a discussion with other Guild members about what is working in the world of green building and what is not. Tell “war” stories and learn from other’s mistakes, trials and tribulations.
November:No meeting.
December:
Holiday Community Party
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