Fort Lewis Sustainability and Green Building

Colonel Cynthia Murphy explains Fort Lewis Master Plan

Fort Lewis is a leading force for sustainability within the U.S. Army and in 2002 became one of the first Army installations to implement a sustainability program. One of the program's early goals was to construct sustainable buildings.

In one of its first attempts to realize this goal, Fort Lewis designed and built its 2003 Whole Barracks Renewal project using the Sustainable Project Rating Toom, or SPiRiT. The project used alternative materials such as stained and polished concrete flooring. It achieved energy savings through a heat recovery system that pulls heat from dryer vents and circulates it throughout the building. Water savings were achieved through a rainwater harvesting system. Subsequently, the Fort Lewis installation sustainability program adopted the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED standard.

Since then, Fort Lewis has continued to make green construction progress. The 2004 project was the first on Fort Lewis to be awarded the Silver Certification for LEED - 90% of construction waste was recycled. The project in 2005 exceeded LEED baseline energy conservation requirements by 36% and produced an annual energy cost savings of $30,000. Moreover, 50% of the wood that was used for formwork, cabinetry, and doors is Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified.

True to the principles of sustainability, in 2007 Fort Lewis adopted a more holistic desing approach that moved beyond facility construction. A new master plan was developed that made creating sustainable neighborhoods a prime objective - places where Soldiers and Families can live, work, and have opportunities for recreation. These sustainable neighborhoods are key to tying green buildings together for a truly sustainable installation.

As Fort Lewis continues to work toward sustainability, tools such as LEED will remain critical. New tools, such as the sustainable master planning will help build on the foundations of green buildings to reach even higher levels of sustainability in the years to come.

Greening Your Christmas

I thought I'd take a break from the government and write a bit on how you can green your holiday season. Luckily, some of the things you can do to make your Christmahanukwanzaakah more sustainable are also more affordable. I am actually really looking forward to this holiday season more than I normally am because this year we're all forced to slow it down a bit, not buy so many things, and *gasp* enjoy our friends and family. I hope that this will show people that they don't need to buy tons of stuff to have a great holiday.

First of all, the tree.

• This year, I'm going to buy an evergreen in a pot and reuse it every year. Sure my upfront cost might be a bit more but this will have a 2-3 year payback period. Not bad if you ask me and that doesn't even include the improved air quality from my live tree.
• Second, I'm using LED lights; they use 80-90% less energy and they last so much longer. To give my house the extra holiday cheer, I can just go for a walk in the woods and collect fallen evergreen branches. Winter often brings wind so fallen branches are easy to find.
  

Next, gifts.

• You know, regifting really isn't that bad as long as the gift is something the other person would like. Did you get a gift at the office party that isn't quite you? Is it perfect for Cousin Johnny? Go ahead and give it to him. It's better than sitting in your closet for years to come.
• Make something. That's right, get out the glue stick and craft something. We all have a creative bone in our body. Use it.
• Cook something. Banana bread, lasagna for them to put in the freezer, cookies, granola...you get the drift. For extra points cook something delicious and healthy to combat that holiday poundage.
• Coupons. Who wouldn't want to have one free massage, kitchen cleaning, taxes done, sitter service, photo session? You have a talent to offer, so offer it.
  
• Instead of buying each other gifts, spend the money on an experience together. A possibility that I highly recommend is going to see the Nutcracker. Seattle has the best one I've ever seen.
• Wrap your presents in fabric so it can be reused every year. Check out this blog for a great How-To. It's the gift that keeps on giving.
• Buy cool board games that can be played with the family rather than watching energy sucking (you and the grid) TV.
  

Most importantly, be conscious of your spending and instead, take the time to enjoy your family. You may be delighted to find you actually have fun with them!

The EPA Admits Climate Change

Two years ago, the Supreme Court ordered the EPA to address climate change and its causes. On 7 December, the EPA released its findings stating that climate change does, in fact, exist and yes, its causes are anthropogenic. No way. Really? They also state that a major cause is motor vehicles. Again, no way. You've gotta be kidding.



So the EPA has finally caught up. Good work. And in the wake of Climategate this is good timing. It will help to alleviate the media hype that is being caused by this. Climate change is real and we need to take action against it, now. This is my blog's main goal, to express that the government has a responsibility in this and they need to own that.

There are some regulations to address this: the Clean Air Act and Executive Orders. And now government officials are in Copenhagen deciding the fate of the world. So what's taking everyone so long to get on board? I can only hope that with these "new" findings by the EPA, the government will start taking some real action against climate change.

We've screamed, we've shouted, we've voted. What do we really need to do for our government to listen up? Just like I believe it's our governments responsibility to take action, it is also our responsibility to take action to get our government to act. Apathy and inaction can no longer exist. We must find the time in our busy lives to do this. Act now.

Copenhagen Comic

Eat, Drink, and Save the World!

SLOW FOODS THANKSGIVING 2009

Slow Foods and Buy Nothing Day have intersected and culminated in Mauri Parks and Miriam Easley's Social Media project for Using the Social Web for Social Change. We are two 2010 BGI graduate C7 hopefuls that are great friends, Islandwood roommates, and budding change agents who want to influence our sphere of influence and encourage you to practice your sustainability leadership skills within your own sphere of influence this holiday season. Pay it forward sustainability style. Thanksgiving is a harvest of food and blessings. Let's celebrate that together!

Instructions:

Eat, drink, and Save the world! No action is too big or small, Yes we can!

EAT & DRINK locally; engage in meaningful conversation among friends on Buy Nothing Day November 27th otherwise known as "Black Friday"

No matter how you get involved let us know your plans

Leave a comment on Mauri Parks or Miriam Easley's blogspot hip hop namaste or greengov

Action Ideas:

Engage in a national twitter online live feed on Friday BND hosted by Adbusters #BND09

Engage a perfect stranger with the a provocative question around consumerism, sustainability, and climate change and post the question in your social media network

Send us your photos

Send us a video log

Post your own blog and link to our blog or eat, drink, and save the world website

Pledge to do your own event

Stay tuned. Tomorrow the website will be unveiled. Keep checking in on our blogs for more information.

Ride the swell of a collective consumer consciousness social media project. Love and gratitude.

Mauri and Miriam

Please respond off the channel here:

hip hop namaste

greengov

mauriparksbgi@gmail.com

easleyme@gmail.com

The Copenhagen Climate Summit is bringing to light the comparisons of China's GHG emissions vs. the U.S.'s GHG emissions. There is now a website dedicated solely to China, their emissions, and their impact on climate change. This brings the question: Does the U.S. have such a website?
Regardless (not the topic of this post, just something it brought to mind), there is a fountain of information there. Legal Planet brought this up in one of their blog posts. One of the things they brought up was looking at both U.S. and China's transportation and manufacturing contributors.
China looks like they've surpassed the U.S. in GHG emissions but who's to blame? Is it China for following our lead in development strategy? Or is it the U.S.'s obsession with cheap, plastic, lead filled toys? Whatever the case, it's clear that China and the U.S. need to work together to set an example for GHG reduction to the rest of the world.

Copenhagen Climate Summit Breakdown

The Climate Summit is coming up soon. It starts on December 7 and will go until December 18. As a full time sustainable MBA student as well as being employed full time, I have a difficult time keeping up with all of the things going on the world right now: health care reform, the economic slump (is it really on an upturn?), climate change; this is just to name a few things. I would personally like to have cheat sheets to all of these things that I could trust. The breakdown of who, what, why, where, and how is incredibly useful to me. So, I broke down the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference for myself and for my readers.

When: December 7 - December 18
Where: Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark
Who: Over 5,000 delegates from the UNFCCC participating countries plus over 10,000 officials, members of the media, advisers, and activists.
Why: I mean, come on...I think we all know at this point that something drastic in climate change policy needs to occur here. Also, some of the provisions in the Kyoto Protocol will begin expiring in 2012 and on top of that, they don't really go to the extremes needed for the required results.
How: 11 days of talks, they've gotta be able to figure out something! You can get involved by staying informed; signing petitions like the one at Seal The Deal, Greenpeace, or Friends of the Earth; or add a personal message through Friends of the Earth Climate Capsule.
What:
Topics of discussion

• The importance of developed countries taking the lead on climate change policy and GHG reductions. The European Union are proposing to reduce their GHG by 30% of 1990 levels by 2020.
• Developing countries should, together reduce their emissions 15-30%.
  
• The Kyoto Protocol doesn't cover international flight and shipping; the new agreement needs to.
• How will countries adapt to the inevitable pressures of climate change?
• Research and development is necessary for forward momentum. The potential for change with green technologies are tremendous.
• A reformation of Kyoto's Clean Development Mechanism.
• Building a carbon market.
• Developed countries' role in supporting developing countries.

What might happen from these talks:

• The U.S. and China step up and push for a comprehensive and aggressive agreement.
• The current targets are agreed upon and no stepping up occurs.
• A limited deal of mixed targets occurs.
• The Kyoto Protocol is extended.
• The talks are prolonged into 2010.
• They all puff up their chests, talk about this amazing agreement that just happened, and then do nothing.

So, this is my own personal breakdown of what I understand to be happening. It's a huge deal, a fate-of-the-world big deal. It's important that the United States show up in full support of creating and meeting ambitious goals with this agreement.

There was a lot of information out there about COP-15 so, please, if something has been misrepresented or if there's a gap that needs to be filled, comment on this post and I will incorporate it into the main post (with credit to you and a link to your blog).