Building Better

Building on Episode 9, we continue our focus on wood as a climate solution. But not all wood is created equal. In fact, most lumber extraction leads to a degraded environment. So in order to deliver on wood's carbon storage promises, we need to push for sustainable forestry practices.Brad Kahn is the Communications Director for the Forest Stewardship Council in the US. And Terry Campbell is Vice President of Sustainable Impact at Sustainable Northwest Wood in Portland, Oregon. They are both doing great work to promote sustainable forestry and get more good wood into building projects. We talk about FSC certification and examine the many values that it covers such as water and air quality and biodiversity. We also touch on wildfires, small farms, tribal lands, and corporate climate commitments.

Concrete and steel are responsible for significant carbon emissions within the built environment—especially when you consider the short time frame to address our climate emergency. But what about wood? Sustainably harvested wood is a low-carbon alternative, and mass timber—a collection of strategies that includes cross-laminated timber (CLT)—is gaining traction in the United States after maturing in Europe.Susan Jones joins Building Better to talk about the many threads of mass timber and how her career has evolved alongside this climate-friendly strategy. Susan operates a design firm, atelierjones, in Seattle and has several CLT projects under her belt. She was also integral to developing building codes that enable our industry to go tall with wood. As we often do on this podcast, we examine the power of codes and collaborations. Susan weaves some great stories for us—with stops in Vienna, the University of Washington, the San Juan Islands, and more.

Project Drawdown ranks commercial refrigeration as the #1 opportunity to reduce emissions and combat our climate crisis. So we've got two guests on the show to discuss how grocery operators are exploring natural refrigerants to reduce potent greenhouse gas emissions. Danielle Wright is the Executive Director of the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council. She is a wealth of knowledge and is working with various stakeholders to encourage the transition away from refrigerants that contribute to our climate emergency. Natural refrigerants represent only about 2 percent of the grocery market, so she is busy tackling the many challenges. John Gaines is Director of Construction and Facilities for PCC Community Markets, which operates 15 stores in the Puget Sound region. PCC is part of the 2% with several stores running on carbon dioxide refrigeration, so John is busy figuring how to install these climate-saving systems.We talk about international treaties, technology transfer from Europe, state and federal legislation, and of course ... how to keep your ice cream cold.

Jason Lear joins Building Better to discuss how density can amplify and enable a variety of positive climate outcomes. Jason owns and operates a high performance design-build shop in Seattle, and has great perspective about how homeowners think about density in their city. We touch on shared resources, gentrification, and encouraging a diverse mix of people, places and buildings.

Kira Gould and Lindsay Baker host a sort of cousin podcast to this one. It's called Design the Future and it chronicles women leaders who are doing great sustainability work within the built environment. They've produced more than 20 episodes in 2020, and their guest list is a rock star roster. I've listened to nearly all of their conversations and love the inspiring stories they've featured. So I thought it'd be fun to compare notes and hear what Kira and Lindsay have been learning. We chat about career paths, leadership styles, and mentors. We grapple with the seasons, reminisce about in-person gatherings, and discuss how we're forging through the pandemic. Kira Gould is a writer and strategist who touches design leadership, climate action, and climate justice. She is a Senior Fellow with Architecture 2030 and serves on the AIA Committee on the Environment national Advisory Group. Kira co-authored Women in Green: Voices of Sustainable Design with Lance Hosey in 2007. She has directed communications for two design shops—William McDonough + Partners and Gould Evans—and served as Managing Editor at Metropolis magazine.Lindsay Baker is a real estate industry veteran with a background in building science, sustainability, and technology. She most recently led the creation of the Sustainability and Impact group at WeWork. Prior to that, she helped found Comfy, a smart buildings software company. She has also worked at Google, the US Green Building Council, and as a researcher of the built environment at UC Berkeley. She serves on a number of for-profit and non-profit boards, including Measurabl and SPUR—the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association.

Molly Freed is the Manager of Buildings and Water at the International Living Future Institute. We take a deep dive into water codes and permitting, in the context of using and reusing water more efficiently. Molly offers anecdotes from around the country to help us understand the intersection of public health and sustainability goals. We also cover the water petal of the Living Building Challenge, ideas for increasing the resiliency of our water infrastructure … and, of course, urine harvesting!

Sloan Ritchie's firm Cascade Built has delivered around 100 units of comfortable, healthy, and energy efficient multi-family buildings in Seattle, and has 200 more in their pipeline. Sloan talks about learning through mistakes and his journey to combining energy efficiency, financial returns, and quality housing. We also explore a new Seattle City Light program that helps solve the split incentive and rewards holistic, integrated design and operations.

Margaret Montgomery is the Global Sustainable Design Leader at NBBJ, and she covers a lot of ground in this episode. From her Mom reading Rachel Carson when Margaret was young to large building projects that won't open until 2030, she offers great perspective. We talk about her recent work with the American Institute of Architects, to help refresh their Framework for Design Excellence to be more holistic from a sustainability perspective. Margaret recalls several influences and defining projects of her career, and gives some great insights around design for equitable communities.

Myer Harrell is the Director of Sustainability at Weber Thompson, a multidisciplinary design firm. We review Weber Thompson's growing experience with the Living Building Challenge and debate how the City of Seattle's zoning incentive is helping to spur more LBC projects. Also … I challenge Myer to recite Red List ingredients, Myer exhibits keen memory of green building conferences in the oughts, and we start the unofficial podcast reading list.

Vincent Martinez is Chief Operating Officer at Architecture 2030, which is a non-profit dedicated to aggressive carbon reductions in buildings. Vince and I explore many topics including the time value of carbon, low-carbon product innovations, and building electrification. Other fascinating topics—material science is awesome, building trust with industry, why Vince did not make it as an aerospace engineer, the excitement of energy codes, and the recent wave of cities considering ways to remove fracked gas from buildings.