GreenClips.157 12.06.00 NATURAL CAPITAL CENTER ATTRACTS LIKE-MINDED ORGANIZATIONS An 1895 warehouse in Portland, Oregon's River District is being refurbished to create a center for businesses and organizations that focus on conservation. Ecotrust, the conservation group that owns the building, plans to open the Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center next summer. The 70,000-square-foot, $12 million building project will demonstrate how environmental protection, economic development and social equity can fit together. Eighty percent of the Natural Capital Center's space is already leased. Patagonia, the outdoor apparel maker, plans to open one of its largest retail stores there by mid-August. Other tenants include: the Wild Salmon Center, which promotes salmon recovery; ShoreBank Pacific, a financial institution dedicated to economic revitalization and ecological restoration; the Certified Forest Products Council, which promotes the use of sustainably harvested wood; and Progressive Investment Management, a company specializing in socially and environmentally responsible investments. Ecotrust received a $2.5 million gift from Portland philanthropist Jean Vollum and a $2 million low-interest loan from the Ford Foundation to help finance the project. Its design features include a 2,500-square-foot conference center framed by recycled wood beams, river rock from a demolished annex used for landscaping, and a parking lot designed to accommodate more bicycles than cars. The Oregonian, 26 Nov 00, by Michelle Cole. [More: http://www.ecotrust.org/building.htm] SUSTAINABILITY MUST EMBRACE SOCIAL EQUITY, INTERFACE LEARNS Interface Inc., the global flooring company and icon of sustainable enterprise, has not been a shining star on Wall Street. After peaking in the first quarter of 1998, Interface shares plummeted 87 percent during the next 10 quarters. In a keynote speech at November's Business for Social Responsibility's annual conference, Ray Anderson, Interface's chairman and CEO, said, "Our credibility and the credibility of the sustainability movement have most certainly come into question because of the miserable share price performance." One cause of the company's troubles was Y2K, which, Anderson says, diverted $500 billion worldwide from facility budgets"a lot of carpet and furniture not bought." Also, tensions within the company ran high as Interface joined the "distribution revolution," acquiring 29 dealer-contractor firms, forging alignments with independent dealer-contractors, and acquiring a European carpet company. In the end, says Anderson, Interface "suffered from insensitive and autocratic management of people." Anderson now sees that in his quest to achieve financial and environmental sustainability, "the critical missing factor... was a corresponding, genuine focus on people, i.e., social sustainability." Still, Anderson believes that the environment is good business; "attention to the environment," he says, "is an unexpectedly rich source of inspiration and innovation, especially in how to attract customers, rally people, and design products and industrial processes, not to mention reduce costs." [For a transcript of Anderson's speech, visit http://www.greenbiz.com/anderson.doc.] Green Business Letter, Dec 00, p 8, by Joel Makower. W. VIRGINIA'S SCHRADER CENTER DEDICATED TO THE ENVIRONMENT The Henry Stifel Schrader Environmental Center, which opened recently in Wheeling, West Virginia, is intended to teach visitors about the world and its ecosystems, and to show how an entire building can be dedicated to the environment. Designed by the local firm of Shaeffer & Madama, the $3.4 million, [11,0000-square-foot] building was the result of a collaboration between Oglebay Institute, the US Environmental Protection Agency and Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel. A $2 million donation from Wheeling-Pittsburgh made possible some of the center's more costly "green" features. The roof, a corrugated, recycled metal product called Genesis 360, was donated by Wheeling Corrugating, a subsidiary of Wheeling-Pittsburgh. The building's geothermal ventilation system saves energy by moving air through underground pipes; the earth's relatively constant 50 degree temperature throughout the year means that less energy is required to heat or cool the air. Control systems adjust temperature and lighting depending on occupancy and a solar collector harnesses solar energy. Instead of drywall, a Homasote product made from recycled newsprint is used for wall partitions. The exhibit hall flooring is made of cork; restrooms and other public other areas feature rubber flooring made from recycled tires. Wheeling News-Register, 23 Nov 00, p 29, by Juliet A. Terry. [More: http://www.oionline.com/nature.html] JAPANESE/CANADIAN EXHIBIT EXPLORES ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN E12, a design exhibit that opened November 3 at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre, explores the fringes of environmentally responsible design. Twelve Japanese and Canadian designers, artists, philosophers and one shipbuilder were divided into teams and commissioned to create exhibits that have multiple possible uses and installation arrangements, with the stipulation that each project be made from materials with several previous lives and the potential for many future ones. Some of E12's pieces are straightforward, practical suggestions, such as Virginia Wright and Andrew Jones's lighting fixtures with easy-change, low-cost, tinted paper bags for shades. Other objects are simply sculptures with environmental overtones: boxes of compacted trash by Jennifer Halchuk, Richard Lyle and Mark Hartley, for instance, look like models of modern landscapes. They include patches of mirror that enable viewers to see themselves and the boxes' contents from various angles, reminding spectators of their own role in abusing the landscape. After closing in Toronto on December 27, E12 moves to Vancouver, Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. More: http://www.harbourfront.on.ca (click on Visual Arts). Interiors, Dec 00, p 25, by Eve M. Kahn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GreenClips is free of charge thanks to individual members and these sponsors: EPA'S ENVIRONMENTALLY-PREFERABLE PURCHASING PROGRAM Greening the government, one purchase at a time. http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/epp INTERFACE, INC. More than a carpet company. Much more. http://www.interfaceinc.com WSU ENERGY PROGRAM http://www.energy.wsu.edu Providing objective research, information and solutions. Washington State University Cooperative Extension Energy Program in Olympia, Washington. Subscribe to GreenClips and other mailing lists on energy and the environment at http://listserv.energy.wsu.edu/guest/RemoteAvailableLists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ABOUT THE PUBLISHER Sustainable design consultant Chris Hammer publishes GreenClips in San Francisco. Ms. Hammer helps her clients with environmentally responsible approaches to urban planning and development, and to building design, construction, and operation. GreenClips is written by Chris Hammer and Jennifer Roberts. To CONTACT THE PUBLISHER Email chrishammer@greenclips.com or call 415.928.7941. BACK ISSUES Two Internet sites host GreenClips archives for reference and research: http://solstice.crest.org/sustainable/greenclips-info.html (keyword search) http://www.greendesign.net/greenclips (browse contents) REDISTRIBUTION Please do not redistribute or post copies of GreenClips regularly. Encourage readers who receive GreenClips from you to subscribe directly. Continuing sponsorship depends on accurate reader counts. To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE Subscribe, unsubscribe, or change your address at this web site: http://listserv.energy.wsu.edu/guest/RemoteListSummary/GreenClips You can also do this by email following these instructions: Address an email message to <GreenClips-request@listserv.energy.wsu.edu>. In the body of the message (not the subject line) type either: subscribe <your internet email address> unsubscribe <your internet email address> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Copyright 2000 Sustainable Design Resources. All rights reserved. Republishing GreenClips in print or on a web site, in whole or in part, or commercial distribution in any form requires advance permission of the publisher.