Tag Archives: green building

Episode 69 Danny Iny

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Movement building takes guts. Often it requires being David against Goliath, or having the courage to yell that the emperor has no clothes.

In many ways, we did that when we started the green building industry. I recall some of the early meetings in 1992 when we passionately articulated to some of our most luminary large trade organizations and professional societies that we urgently needed to transform how buildings were designed, built and operated, and they were aghast!

In today’s Regen360 podcast we take on the subject of education, a four trillion dollar industry. My good friend and colleague Danny Iny has just written a new book called Leveraged Learning. We discuss the premise of his book: that college education and its long cherished degree is no longer the golden ticket for success. The endeavour not only straddles us with debt (now about $1.4 trillion) but it doesn’t provide the anticipated ROI and job security.

Astoundingly, some leading companies like Google are loosening prior reliance on education and a degree in its hiring practices. Statistics reveal that large percentages of young college grads can’t even get a job, as they don’t possess the skills employers require.

This predicament is not only thought provoking, but one of the world’s largest opportunities: to teach and learn. My podcast interview with Danny Iny offers new learning methods that actually help students succeed.

As I assess my future, Leveraged Learning provides me with new ideas and guidance for developing powerful courses. And as a parent, Danny poses huge challenges to my traditional thinking about saving huge sums of money for our kids’ college education or the option of stradling them with debt. Please join us in listening here.

To waking up and asking critical questions as we face the goliath of education.
David Gottfried

Episode 68 Terri Wills

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I’ve been gone for awhile as we moved into a brand new green home in a town called Moraga, CA. It was fun to pick the green upgrades, adding lots of solar, extra insulation, all LED lights, EV charging and dual flush toilets… I’ve been obsessed with my solar meter, checking it several times a day. Seems my max production thus far was on June 5th when my 5.7kW system produced 43.2 kWh. My first energy bill showed better than net zero electric usage, actually going into the positive as I paid $0 for electricity. Lots of fun for me.

My solar obsession is a good lead in to today’s Regen360 podcast with Terri Wills. She’s the CEO of the World Green Building Council, which I founded back in 2002. The global organization now has more than 70 countries with national GBCs banding together into a “united nations” of GBCs.

In my conversation with Terri we talk about the work of individual countries, such as the USGBC with its LEED system and Australia with Greenstar, the business case for green buildings and dive into the hottest trend in sustainable building – health and wellness. It’s amazing to hear about the vision, growth and passion for transformation. We learn that Terri was inspired by nature in her youth and has manifested her passion into her work in bringing our world’s largest industry, one country at a time, to design, build and operate consistent with the laws of nature and to share global best practices.

Please join me to find out about the world’s largest green building organization and learn about creating your own net zero declaration.

To building movements that transform!
David Gottfried

Episode 67 Erin Meezan

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You may have heard of the pioneering and passionate sustainability legacy of the late Ray Anderson of Interface Inc., the world’s largest carpet tile manufacturer. Since Ray’s passing in 2011 Interface has continued to lead and expand upon his vision as the company’s gross revenue, PE ratio and market capitalization have grown.

In today’s Regen360 podcast with Erin Meezan, the Chief Sustainability Officer at Interface, you have the opportunity to hear about the ambitious culture and innovative sustainability endeavours at Interface. We talk about the economics of being a global sustainable manufacturer with 5000 employees, as well as initiatives called Mission Zero, Climate Take Back and the March to 2020.

It takes vision and guts to lead, especially when there’s always resistance. Interface has been at the forefront since the beginning of the green building movement, and there’s so much we can learn from their example. And by the way, it’s good for business too!

Listen in here to hear my interview with Erin Meezan, the CSO at Interface to learn more about promoting triple-bottom-line profitability.

To leading by example!
David

How to Build a Movement to Change the World

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In 1993, David Gottfried had a vision that he wanted change the world, and so he started the U.S. Green Building Council to promote sustainable building. USGBC is the owner of the LEED Green Building Rating System, which is in over 160 countries, and the largest rating system in the world. Next Gottfried founded the World Green Building Council, which now has member countries in over 100 countries to promote green building in their own countries while working to reach environmental goals on a global scale.

Gottfried is now focusing on using his experience and success to help others turn their passions into world-changing work. To that end, he now serves as CEO of Regen360, a company that helps organizations start-up and scale transformative movements that not only build legacy, but advance triple-bottom-line profitability.

Gottfried has developed a seven-step framework based on his Green Building Council successes to teach others how to build and sustain a movement. He calls this initiative BuildMove™. According to Gottfried, this framework is aimed at two types of people. The first are those already working in a given sector who “want to add more transformation into their business and add personal legacy.” He singles out Vincent Siciliano, CEO and President of New Resource Bank, as an example of the first type for his work to green the banking system. “Vince was just a traditional banker, who saw ways to add in sustainability to banking. I want to teach how to bring transformation into what they are doing, help it go viral, and build a movement,” Gottfried says. Read more here >>

Episode 59 Joel Cesare

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As you may know, I love most sports and the more physical and rigorous the better. Steep mountains to climb on a bike or trail, waves to surf, and powder mountains to snowboard ignite my fire. And perhaps this also resonates with you.

The sharing economy is growing, as we no longer need to own cars, bikes and vacation homes, but can rent them out to each other. This is not only economical, but also environmental.

In this week’s Regen360 Podcast, we learn about a cool startup called StokeShare from its Chief Searcher, Joel Cesare. StokeShare is based on the sharing of sporting equipment that’s in our homes and garages building up dust if not being fully utilized. The sharing service is already throughout the U.S. and in a dozen countries, as it brings enhanced joy and stoke to participants on both sides of the transaction. I love their motto: Own Less. Do More. Share Stoke.

StokeShare also has an interesting give back program, helping at risk inner-city youth through a crowdsourced volunteer program. Please join me in my conversation with Joel Cesare, who’s also a green building specialist for the City of Santa Monica, one of the world’s foremost green cities and a former client of mine.

What’s the benefit of your labor?

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On Monday we celebrated Labor Day. Since its first celebration in 1882 in New York City, the holiday has been dedicated to worker’s social and economic achievements that have helped advance the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

This is my first of many blogs to come, and I’d like to reflect a bit on the nature of our labor and its relationship to transformation. I’ve also got a few announcements for you below, including a priority wait list sign up for my new forthcoming BuildMove pilot trainings.

I’ve experienced several epiphanies that not only changed my life but my relationship to labor. Since that first one in 2001, when I’d taken a hard look at who I’d become: fancy Armani suits, Ferragamo loafers and slicked back hair. I’d strayed far from my true nature and could no longer hear my calling. I realized that I could change my work in the real estate field to add greater value, meaning, and health. I no longer needed to solely work on maximizing profit but could embrace a newer definition to include people and planet – what we now refer to as the triple-bottom-line.
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Episode 46 Mahesh Ramanujam

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The statistics of the U.S. Green Building Council and the global movement that it helped spawn are almost beyond belief, especially for me as its founder and first CEO, going back to October 1992 when I set out to begin working on its start-up in San Francisco.

This week’s Regen360 iTunes podcast features an interview with Mahesh Ramaujam, USGBC’s new President and CEO. He took over late last year from Rick Fedrizzi, who now heads of the Well Building Standard.

In our conversation, we learn of the unprecedented stats of USGBC and about Mahesh’s agenda for continuing to make the organization a global leader and as he says, “relevant.” His three areas for continued excellence include:

  • driving consensus
  • innovative business strategies
  • authentic thought-leadership
  • the business case for a sustainable built environment

During our conversation, I got goose bumps when Mahesh quoted: “If you love something, set it free.” You’ll also learn more about that and how USGBC is now engaging the lowest 20% of buildings to go green.

To boosting triple-bottom-line profitability through our buildings and homes!

David Gottfried

Episode 15 Jason McLennan

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About two decades ago [in the pioneering years of green building] I had the privilege to work on an exciting fantasy green building project for Montana State University. They assembled a green dream team to brainstorm outside the box. The project catapulted by visionary technologies and design concepts was aptly named the Epicenter. It was to house the University’s Department of Chemistry.

One of the inspiring visionaries was a young architect that worked for Bob Berkebile at BNIM. His name was Jason McLennan. Bob and Jason came up with leading edge performance standards for the project which were unheard of at the time. This included advocating for net zero energy, water and waste and beyond. They also emphasized user health and productivity and individual control of their environment, including chem labs that would embrace “green chemistry”, also an emerging field.

Jason’s eyes sparked with hope and passion, his hair a bit long and scraggly, with a leather strapped ornament exuding a sense of power. He was bold and relentless as he helped advance the project’s unequaled performance metrics. Despite being in green building for some years, I learned about new integrated approaches and possibilities. It gave me hope that we could do better and lead our way to a more regenerative future.

Although the project unfortunately never got built due to funding reasons, Jason went on to advance his and Bob’s net zero ideas into the Living Building Challenge Rating system. In addition, he founded the Living Future Institute featuring its annual conference that draws thousands of cutting edge sustainable building advocates. Google has become the largest user of the rating system which also features a red list for unhealthy building materials. Together, the two initiatives have advanced our movement and inspired many to demand more and push higher.

I’m so excited to feature Jason in a personal dialog with me for this week’s Regen360 iTunes podcast show. We dive into his work in founding the Living Building Challenge rating system and what inspires his visionary practice. Jason demonstrates many of the attributes and steps for what it takes to build a movement. He’s also an author and recipient of the prestigious Buckminster Fuller Prize.

To a living future!
David

Learn more about Jason here!