 |
|
On this page: |
Sustainability Policy Retreat for Activists, Enlightened Policymakers and Regulators
Santa Barbara, CA foothills, January 15th-22nd 2012, short session 16-19th
Public Presentation with Carolyn Raffensperger, 7 pm Jan 16th, SBCC
Roundtable with local regulators, 12-1:30 pm Jan 19th, SB downtown
=Please RSVP by Friday, Jan 6th if possible, the 9th at the latest=
Overarching goal: reduce institutional barriers to sustainability. Specific, narrower goals include
We aim to have a balance of skills and positions represented, including people both inside and outside the system. The retreat itself is not open to people who are not aligned with the aims above, but the two open sessions are opportunities to meet and dialogue with a wider variety of influential stakeholders.
We have witnessed extraordinary growth in green design, building and sustainable development over the past decade, including the development of green building rating systems, standards and now, green codes. Yet there has been relatively little focus on the underlying issues and inherent limitations of the regulatory mindset and current approaches in public policy for the transition to a truly sustainable and regenerative built environment. Given the enormity and breadth of the impacts flowing from building and development, a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, and collaborative exploration of what is needed to enable and accelerate the transition is long overdue.
A small group of us who have been engaged in this realm over many years have decided to convene a gathering to examine the implications and possibilities for public policy, including building and land use codes and standards, public and environmental health, social justice and more. What will come out of this gathering will depend, in part, on who shows up and what they bring to the dialogue, as well as how we engage with each other over the course of this week. The central organizing theme is to find the best avenues to support deep, healthy change.
We envision a diverse set of interactions focusing on various possible actions across the spectrum of levels — from local, regional, state, national and global— including exploring the problems inherent the current regulatory, legal and public policy paradigms and why they are not adequate to address today's risks and challenges, to creating new vehicles for legalizing innovation and experimentation in practical ways, to exploring ways to overcome the widespread denial of the reality and vulnerability of our current circumstances and the magnitude of the emergent risks.
This will be an unprecedented gathering of extraordinary thinkers, doers and collaborators, focused on an extremely important and high-leverage part of the system. It has the makings of a watershed event, combining the experience, creativity, vision, commitment, and wisdom of an amazing group of people from both inside and outside the regulatory system, in an amazing venue. Please consider bringing your pieces of the puzzle to the party.
--David Eisenberg
Invitees
The retreat is by invitation only. If you know someone else who should be here, please nominate them, bearing in mind that space is limited. Especially welcome are more: elected officials, women working at a high level on sustainability policy. The idea of adding an intergenerational component was raised, for example in the person of a few on-fire young law school graduates.
Please RSVP with your dates, dietary & housing preferences, carpooling needs to Carla Rosin: crosart05@yahoo.com
Other questions: E mail us
Sun Jan 15th--Travel day, arrivals; dinner = 1st meal
Mon 16th--Introductions, big picture presentations, Carolyn Raffensperger and panel in Santa Barbara
Tue 17th--Presentations, discussions, working groups
Wed 18th--More Presentations, discussions, working groups
Thurs 19th --Lunch Roundtable with local regulators
Fri 20th--Implementation and next steps
Sat 21st--Continuation of implementation and next steps
Sun 22nd--Breakfast = last meal
Arriving by the 16th is encouraged. Staying for the duration is encouraged, but it is better to come for part of the time than not at all.
A balance of activities ranging from understanding the whole picture to specifics of implementation--much more to come...Many thanks to David Eisenberg, Wes Roe, Marge Erickson, Maggie Knapp, Alex Bergdahl, Kyle Byrd-Fisher, and many others for helping pull this together...there will be much more than the sampling below.
We will start by creating a program collectively. Bring information to share. There will be wifi, printer (b&w), photocopier, powerpoint projector. There will be an information exchange table where you can set out materials for free, sale, or viewing. There will be group presentations and discussions, and unstructured time.
There will be opportunity to hike, bike, do yoga, visit nearby creek and river, or participate in small earth plaster/ earth building projects. We have the option to make group or individual excursions to other notable sustainability research sites, including Quail Springs, Spirit Pine Ranch, and Fairview Gardens.
Much of our current legal code was written decades ago, when our understanding of the Earth was very different than it is now. Now we understand that economic growth can and must happen in a sustainable, healthy way; what needs to happen for our laws to reflect our current reality? How could our legal system better support human and environmental health?
Carolyn is executive director of the Science and Environmental Health Network. In 1982 she left a career as an archaeologist in the desert Southwest to join the environmental movement. She first worked for the Sierra Club where she addressed an array of environmental issues, including forest management, river protection, pesticide pollutants, and disposal of radioactive waste. She began working for SEHN in December 1994. As an environmental lawyer she specializes in the fundamental changes in law and policy necessary for the protection and restoration of public health and the environment. Carolyn is co-editor of Precautionary Tools for Reshaping Environmental Policy published by M.I.T. Press (2006) and Protecting Public Health and the Environment: Implementing the Precautionary Principle, published by Island Press (1999). Together, these volumes are the most comprehensive exploration to date of the history, theory, and implementation of the precautionary principle. Carolyn coined the term "ecological medicine" to encompass the broad notions that both health and healing are entwined with the natural world. She has served on editorial review boards for several environmental and sustainable agriculture journals, and on USEPA and National Research Council committees. She wrote a bimonthly column for the Environmental Law Institute's journal Environmental Forum from 1999 until 2008. Carolyn has been featured in Gourmet magazine, the Utne Reader, Yes! Magazine, the Sun, Whole Earth, and Scientific American. Along with leading workshops and giving frequent lectures on the Precautionary Principle, Carolyn is at the forefront of developing new models for government that depend on these larger ideas of precaution and ecological integrity. The new models include guardianship for future generations, a vision for the courts of the 21st century and the public trust doctrine.
Polystyrene, polyisocyanurate, and polyurethane insulation are often used to increase energy efficiency in "green" buildings, however toxic organohalogen flame retardants are often added to these materials and found in furniture and other consumer products. For example, all polystyrene insulation used in buildings is currently treated with a persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic flame retardant. In some cases, such retardants do not provide a fire safety benefit. The health impacts of exposure to flame retardant chemicals upon workers, building occupants, and the environment should be considered when selecting insulation materials. When informed about toxic flame retardants used in buildings, architects, designers, and builders can specify alternative insulation materials, safer flame retardants, and/or work to change standards and policy so that fire safety can be maintained without toxicity.
Arlene is a biophysical chemist, author, mountaineer, and executive director of the Green Science Policy Institute, which brings government, industry, scientists, and citizens groups together worldwide to change policy to protect human health and the global environment. She has taught at Stanford University, Wellesley College, and U. C. Berkeley, where her research was instrumental in banning tris and Fyrol, two cancer-causing chemical that were used as a flame retardant on children's sleepwear as well as the pesticide DBCP. Blum plans to continue this research to facilitate the regulation of similar chemicals and help protect our health and environment.
Arlene's awards include a Gold Medal from the Society of Women Geographers, an honor previously given to only eight other women including Amelia Earhart, Margaret Mead, and Mary Leakey. She also serves on the boards of Environmental Building News, ISET, an organization dedicated to solving climate, water, and disaster problems in South Asia; the Society for the Preservation of Afghan Archeology; the Berkeley Himalayan Fair which she founded, an the Plastic Pollution Coalition.
Since any solution ultimately has to fit into this architecture somewhere, understanding it is key.
Art Ludwig will share a quick overview of all known responses to institutional barriers to sustainability, followed by an in-depth investigation of options that warrent further development.
David Eisenberg will share an overview of what he's observed and learned about what's included and what's missing in the building (and general) regulatory paradigm and some thoughts about strategies to address it. This will include what is emerging from recent work with facilitating a national process to support Native American tribes, as sovereign nations, in creating their own systems to oversee building and development on tribal lands.
David Eisenberg co-founded and has led the non-profit Development Center for Appropriate Technology (DCAT) in Tucson, Arizona for two decades. His building experience ranges from troubleshooting construction of the spaceframe and glazing systems enclosing Biosphere2, to building a $2 million structural concrete house, a hypoallergenic structural steel house, and masonry, wood, adobe, rammed earth, and straw bale structures. Since 1995 David has led the effort to create a sustainable context for building regulation. A former two-term member of the U.S. Green Building Council Board of Directors, he founded and chaired the USGBC Code Committee for ten years. He served on the International Code Council committee creating the first draft of the ICC 's International Green Construction Code (IGCC). Current work includes national efforts supporting the development of tribal green building codes, and consulting with local governments to upgrade their building codes and policies. David has presented workshops, seminars, keynote addresses and lectures at dozens of conferences and universities in the U.S. and abroad. He was principal investigator and author for the 2009 report, "Code, Regulatory and Systemic Barriers Affecting Living Building Projects" for the Cascadia Green Building Council. He has written for Building Safety Journal (magazine of the International Code Council), co-authored The Straw Bale House book, and has written dozens of published articles, forewords, book chapters and papers. David and DCAT received the 2007 International Code Council Affiliate of the Year Award and a 2007 USGBC Leadership Award.
Martin Hammer is an architect in Berkeley, California and co-director of Builders Without Borders. Throughout his career Martin has emphasized sustainable building design, including use of passive solar, solar hot water, PV, rammed earth, rainwater and greywater systems, with particular focus on the design, testing, and construction of straw bale buildings. For the last 10 years he has worked on the development and inclusion of straw bale construction in building codes, including for the State of California and most recently a proposed section in the International Building Code. In 2006-2007 Martin helped found the organization Pakistan Straw Bale and Appropriate Building (www.paksbab.org), introducing engineered straw bale construction to earthquake-affected Pakistan. Since February 2010 he has worked extensively in post-earthquake Haiti. First as a member of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute’s reconnaissance team in Haiti, and then as a member of the World Monuments Fund’s historic preservation effort in Port-au-Prince. Since June 2010 Martin has been project architect with Builders Without Borders developing and promoting sustainable rebuilding solutions for Haiti. In March 2011 a Ti Kay Pay (Small Straw House) was completed, the first straw bale building in Hiati. The Builders Without Borders team is now designing two schools in Haiti.
Martin will be giving a presentation on his recent submittal of a Strawbale Construction section and a Straw-Clay section for the International Building Code.
Ben will share his experience negotiating with regulators in Santa Barbara to find a legal umbrella for his existing permaculture site in the Santa Barbara downtown.
Penny Livingston-Stark is internationally recognized as a prominent permaculture teacher and designer. She is the founder and president of Sustainable Living Designs, an ecological landscape design firm and the Regenerative Design Institute, an educational organization focusing in permaculture, nature awareness and leadership training. She specializes in developing resource-rich landscapes, water conservation, rainwater collection, pond design, edible landscaping, productive perennial farm systems, natural building, water purification systems, native habitat development, and watershed restoration. She co-created the ecological design program and curriculum at the San Francisco Institute of Architecture as well as the Permaculture program at the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center. She is currently running permaculture programs and the Regenerative Design and Nature Awareness Program at the Commonweal Garden, an organic farm in Bolinas, in addition to teaching permaculture and natural building internationally.
Penny will be doing a short presentation on the unique legal status of the Regenerative Design Institute.
Laura Funkhouser holds an M.A. in organizational management focused on change management, a permaculture design certificate, and has eighteen years of marketing experience in the publishing industry and in national and regional arts organizations and numerous years as a semi-professional writer. Laura helped to launch Onsite Water Treatment magazine in 2005, which covered advanced treatment systems, greywater, industrial, and other facilities. She developed new programs and accredited continuing education stormwater management workshops for the annual StormCon, the world's largest conference for stormwater pollution prevention, as well as its regional workshops. As the marketing manager of Forester Media, the presenter of StormCon, Ms. Funkhouser also conducted extensive readership surveys and market research for all of the Forester's trade magazines: Stormwater, Onsite Water Treatment, MSW Management, Water Efficiency, Distributed Energy, Erosion Control, Grading & Excavation Contractor.
Iliona Outram Khalili a pioneer of sustainable earth architecture, who worked with her husband and mentor, architect Nader Khalili, in developing Cal-Earth Institute and getting permits for the new technology of Superadobe or "earth-bag" in U.S. building codes. In 2009, after directing Cal-Earth she moved to New York state to situate earth architecture in the context of sustainable living. Licensed as a New York building official, and acting secretary the Town of Nassau Planning Board, she continues hand-in-hand with her husband's vision. As director of Ansari Sustainable Living, her current work/quest is the development of Sustainable Eco-Villages in the U.S. and abroad in the spirit of peace, love, and togetherness.
Iliona will discuss the process of working from an intangible dream to a tangible reality in the most difficult context concerning earth architecture and building codes; sustainable living and town governance; the path of research, its value and how to protect it; setting up a structure with room for live participation and innovation; how to enshrine principles and performance, without enshrining prescriptions.
Brad Banner, Butte County Environmental Health Director, will give a presentation on how to enlist public health officials in addressing hazards attributable to the built environment.
Brad is a visionary leader in applying a full spectrum view of environmental health in his profession. Among other things, he is addressing the optimal policy response to farmers' markets and local food processing and produced a groundbreaking workshop joining environmental health regulators with leading experts on composting toilets and greywater systems.
The Roundtable will include elected officials and regulators from the US, greater California, and Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo counties who are the main target audience. Presentation will consist of a short tag-team powerpoint followed by 40 minutes of open discussion.
One objective of the roundtable is to address the steep rise in emerging hazards attributable to the Built Environment and the appropriate regulatory response. Both immediately available tools for reducing risks from these hazards and strategies for longer term policy shifts will be addressed. The overarching goal of this discussion is to brainstom ways of reducing institutional barriers to sustainability. Specific, narrower goals include the creation of a legal umbrella to permit existing and new centers for sustainability research that don't conform to existing codes.
We're extremely fortunate to have Laura Bartels to facilitate throughout the program...
Laura Bartels, founder and president of GreenWeaver Inc., is a consultant, facilitator and educator in the areas of high performance and appropriate building technologies and sustainable communities, with a focus on tribal and rural communties. She serves as a design and program development consultant to tribal organizations, educational institutions, design professionals and individuals. She is an expert in deep green sustainable technology with seventeen years experience in design, construction, and technical issues. She has done curriculum development and taught at the University of Colorado, Sinte Gleska University, United Tribes Technical College and Solar Energy International. Laura has been a speaker at Bioneers, the Green Festival, the U.S. Congress, as well as other conferences and venues. She helped develop the Straw Bale SAFE Homes Initiative (Safe, Affordable, Future-proof and Efficient) with the Intertribal Council on Utility Policy to address critical housing and employment needs within tribal communities. Her work in facilitation has included facilitating the recent National Tribal Green Building Codes Summit.
LogisticsWill be provided in a state-of-the-art deep green building, or camping in the yard. Please bring your own bedding if you can, to save scarce bedding for those who can't. If you are able to camp, please come prepared to do so. It is possible that it could rain, and we have some camping gear to loan. Indoor accomodations are limited. Early registratants are more likely to get no cost lodging or camping on site.
The site is a 15-minute drive from Santa Barbara. Parking is very limited on site. We can provide support for getting and staying here without a car; there are good connections by carpool, air, rail, and bus. If you must bring a car, please pack your stuff in such a way that you can leave your car at remote parking for the duration. There is space for a handful of cars on site which we’ll apportion to the highest use.
Three delicious, healthy meals a day will be provided from dinner on the 15th through breakfast on the 22nd. The food will be almost entirely organic, much from the local farmers' market. Most, probably all dietary restrictions can be accomodated.
Lisa Danhi delights in bringing her experience as an educator, mother, and gardener into the kitchen as she prepares nourishing seasonal food to share with family, friends, and catering clients. She has explored gluten free, dairy free, and vegan alternatives and seeks to honor these choices for others. Lisa has witnessed that cooking from the bounty of the season, using locally sourced organic ingredients, and creates inventive cuisine with broad appeal.
Pamela Nance Lee has been procuring and preparing local foods since the early 1980s. She studied Foods and Nutrition at Northern California’s Humboldt State University, and after graduating in 1987, she enlisted in the Peace Corps Guatemala, where she studied Spanish and worked with a Community Health Project. Pamela owns Organic Planet Services, a catering business which provides local organic food for large multi-day events such as yoga retreats, permaculture design courses, and natural building colloquiums. Recently she has embarked upon a new endeavor, Santa Rosa Hills Community Supported Agriculture Delivery Business, supplying community members with weekly boxes of local bounty. Pamela shares the belief that eating locally produced foods grown in a sustainable manner nourishes our bodies and our planet. Preparing foods consciously and joyfully with the intention of nurturing those she cooks for is an important element in her kitchen.
Simone Temkin began her appreciation for food with her grandfather, a Cordon-Bleu chef who owned several restaurants, and her mother, one of the original health enthusiasts of the '60s. In her teens she moved to a community in Oregon, where she learned to cook from a plethora of international chefs in the restaurant there. In 1986 she moved to Santa Barbara, where she founded and operated Abundance Catering for 17 years, specializing in health-oriented gourmet cusine with global fusion. Simone is now joining forces with Pamela and David Lee in expanding Organic Planet Services.
More food details; please bring your own plate, utensils and cups if you can. Coffee, tea and fruit will be provided as snacks; if you require special snacks please bring these.
This is a non-commercial event. We're agressively working to minimize cost and maximize quality, with considerable success. This is easily the cheapest, best Santa Barbara vacation you'll ever get. The venue and all the organization work are donated (hats off to Marge Erickson, Wes Roe, Carla Rosin, Maggie Knapp, Alex Bergdahl, Kyle Byrd-Fisher & many others). Organic food served to you three times a day + all sorts of other expenses = real money. We don't want to exclude anyone, but we would like to cover costs.
The suggested contribution is on a sliding scale:
15th-19th $200-300
15th-22nd $315-450
Daily rate, three meals + stay $50-70
Daily rate, lunch only $15-20 (Note: it doesn't make sense to eat lunch off site; there are no resturants or stores close enough, and we'll have the best food here anyhow).
Most of this is for food. The rest is for hard costs for equipment rental, etc. All the preparation time is being donated. If you are staying elsewhere, your contribution could be lowered a bit. If finances are an obstacle, let us know and we'll see what we can work out. Early payment will help us provision. Please mail check to--
Art Ludwig
5 San Marcos Trout Club
Santa Barbara, CA 93105-9726
Or pay on line by adding the amount you wish to contribute to our tip jar, in $1 increments (for example, to contribute $300, you'd order 300 $1 tips):
(all credit cards, pay pal, echeck)
In the comments please mention that this is for the "Sustainability Policy Workshop"
Please RSVP with your dates, dietary & housing preferences, carpooling needs by filling out this survey.
Note that you can edit/add to your responses if you revisit the survey...
Note that space is limited; we may not be able to accommodate all who wish to come; please increase your chances by registering early.
<insert "@" into space to get emails...trying to throw spambots off the track....>
Public presentations: Wes Roe: <wes sbpermaculture.com>
Retreat/Workshop programming: Laura Bartels <laura greenweaverinc.com>
Airport/ Amtrak transportation: Wes Roe <wes sbpermaculture.com>
Web site: Maggie Knapp <knappmaggie gmail.com>
Other questions: Wes Roe <wes sbpermaculture.com>
Questions no one else can answer: E mail us.
Carolyn Raffensperger
Toxic Chemicals: Safety of Synthetic Fields & How Environmental Laws are Failing Our Children Pt 03, Pt 04
Science & Environmental Health: Carolyn Raffensperger
Environmental Lawyer Carolyn Raffensperger Advocates for the Commons
A Precaution Primer: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure
PUBLIC OPINION: Report finds 'motivated avoidance' plays a role in climate change politics
Arlene Blum
TEDx - Plastic Pollution In Our Homes
SFF Healthy Building 2012 (ppt) - On the toxicity of flame retardants and what to do about it
Maya Shoemaker
The decision-making process of the Okanagan people - Inspiring form of governance/decision making that takes more relevant factors into account
Art Ludwig
Legalize Sustainability - Information on how to get over, under, around, or through institutional barriers to sustainability
The Efficiency Dilemma - Fascinating article debunking ideas of technical-only fixes to environmental issues; required reading for all trying to effect change in this area
Principles of Ecological Design (article) - Older info on integrated, site-optimal design
Can a 4000 ft2 Home be Green? - Rant about green building vs deep green building
Live Better, Waste Less (article) - another rant
David Eisenberg
Development Center for Appropriate Technology, DCAT resources
"Garbage Warrior" - Documentary on trash architect Michael Reynolds
THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT TESTING SITE ACT - Recent legislature passed in New Mexico through Reynolds' efforts
A 17-Year Perspective on Sustainability and Building Regulation (pdf) - The evolution of DCAT and the future of sunstainability
Tribal Green Building Code Summit (pdf) - A Path Toward Wholeness: Supporting the Process of Creating Tribally-Developed Building Codes
Code, Regulatory, and Systemic Barriers Affecting Living Building Projects (pdf)
THE FUTURE of Life on Planet Earth 2011 (pdf) - Current and Emerging Trends in the Building and Regulatory Realms
Regenerative Re-Integration (pdf) - Regenerative Design: Toward the Re-Integration of Human Systems within Nature
Andy Lipkis
Capturing a Flash Flood with Cistern and Rain Garden
L.A. Looks at Harvesting Rain Water with TreePeople
Urban Dreams - Remaking our Cities for Sustainability
Bob Gough
Extract the Assumptions Excercise (doc)
Envisioning A Sunstainable World (pdf) by Donella H. Meadows
Laura Funkhouser
Stormwater Management as Adaptation to Climate Change - Seminal article that led to revolution in thinking about stormwater management
Bill Kelley
California Regulatory Structure (ppt) - Understanding the architecture of our current regulatory system
California Options for Local Adoption (ppt) - Possible umbrellas for sustainable development
Others...
LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE 2.0 (pdf) - Principles for socially just, culturally rich, and ecologically benign building at the individual, communal, and regional levels
Sustainability and Health as Integral Goals for the Built Environment (pdf) - from the Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics at Carnegie Mellon University
Nature As Measure (doc) - Excerpted from What Are People For by Wendell Berry
The Pharos Project - Foundation that evaluates the impact of products on health and the environment
LENSES Framework - Guidelines for shifting mindsets toward regenerative thinking and action
Underwater: Managing California's Groundwater (ppt) - Presentation by Iris Priestaff on the state of water management
Sustainable Community Development Code (pdf) - from the Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute
• www.oasisdesign.net • Copyright © Art Ludwig 1997 -2012