The founder, CEO and president of Natural Logic (a strategic sustainability consulting firm) was one of the more active elements of Green Cities Florida, contributing to two different sessions. One session based around his book, dedicated to explaining the opportunities of green business and debunking some of the myths. The other session was a speaking engagement along with Terry Gips (Sustainability Associates Minneapolis) for a discussion on greening your business while turning a profit in a recession. This session focused on getting everyone in an organization on the same page when it comes to making a business more eco-friendly. As Gil puts it, “The engineering is easy…Getting it so that Joe and Mary do different things when they show up at work on Monday morning, that’s where the real art and challenge of this work is.”

After helping such clients as Nike and General Mills develop strategies to become more sustainable while still being profitable, Friend had plenty of experience to offer the attendees of Green Cities Florida, who ranged from local government types to university officials developing sustainability curriculum. His experience in the field is a goldmine for Green Cities and the future of Florida’s sustainability movement. In his interview, Gil talks about Green Cites as a place to connect and refers to several people developing courses for their educational institutions that are now have a relationship to build a better model for sustainability in academia. Building relationships to find solutions is the essence of Green Cities and the idea is gaining momentum with every event.

We at Green Cities Media would love to thank Gil Friend for helping to make the Florida event one to remember and hope to work with him again in the near future.

Want more Gil Friend? Of course you do. Below is the Green Cities Florida onsite interview with Mr. Friend, by one of his biggest fans Kimberly Miller.

Make sure you check out the pre Green Cities Florida interview
You can learn more about Gil Friend and Natural Logic here
Interested in reading Gil’s newest work? Order here online.

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I’m Kimberly Miller with Green Cities Media, standing here with Gil Friend of Natural Logic, on site at Green Cities in Orlando, Florida.
Could you recap for me what you’ve been doing here at Green Cities and the sessions you’ve been teaching?

Well I taught two sessions here. We did one yesterday on the Truth About Green Business, based on my new book coming out on May 29th from Financial Times Press. It was a high density overview of Green Business, like Green Business for Dummies except not for dummies. So, we did a course based on that, a one hour drinking-from-a-fire hose, here are some of the basics about green business, to a full room. This morning I shared a session with Terry Gips from Sustainability Associates in Minneapolis and we did a 2.5 hour session on how to green your company and profit from greening in a recession. So, a more sweeping overview that was grounded very much in the Natural Step framework as a basic way of thinking about these issues and communicating about them and getting everybody in the organization on the same page. Because the truth is, that’s really the key. The hard part isn’t the technical issues. As much innovation as it requires, the engineering is not the hard part. If you tell an engineer you need a building that uses half as much energy, she can build it. If you tell an engineer you need a building that uses 40% or 80% less water, he can build it. But getting the human beings who live and work in that building to change their behavior is where the real art and challenge of this work is. The natural step framework is really one of the indispensable tools for doing that. So, we did a basic quick introduction to that and talked about how to apply it with case studies of how companies have put this to use. Then, there was a lot of discussion with the room.

Who were the attendees in your sessions?

It was a broad mix. We had people from government, mostly county and city governments in the region and all the way down to South Florida, a bunch of people from Universities and Colleges who were developing curriculum programs in this area, a lot of business people, too. Both small businesspeople and from larger aerospace companies, a number of scientists and a bunch of folks just checking it out trying to figure out what their place in this new revolution is.

What do you think is the vibe here? Are people optimistic for the future, are they hopeful?

I think some are. I haven’t been through the Open Space session yet so I haven’t had a chance to really feel that. But, the people I’ve talked with one-on-one and in my sessions are very enthusiastic and eager to be a part of this. If we’re being realistic, there is more fear today than there was a year ago. I find it in myself. I am a congenital optimist, always have been. We’re in a world of challenge right now. We’ve got the financial meltdown to deal with and stacked up behind that are a half a dozen other crises waiting to roll in from off shore. Ranging from energy to carbon to soils to biodiversity to collapse of fisheries and on down the list. So, it is important not to be facile about this.
On the other hand, it is an enormously exciting time because we’re in a sustainability explosion. Not just the number of people, but the type of people, and the range and diversity in the business world and in government who get this, that understand we’re in a transformative moment at least in American history if not world history. I know that sounds “high falutin.” but this is the kind of time that when people look back 50 years they will say ‘that was historic’. We are in historic now. And we have the opportunity to reinvent the economy, and reinvent infrastructure and reinvent the ways we do business. OR not. We might fail. But if we do that successfully it’s like opening a new frontier and there’s enormous business opportunity for businesses and people of all sorts.

How do you think a conference like Green Cities fits into this historic moment?

A conference like Green Cities fits into this historic moment because it brings together this kind of diversity of people: government, business, academia, NGO and individuals with an interesting focus around a region, here, where we are in Orlando, central Florida. One thing that has happened here is not just people hearing from experts but people meeting with each other and forging connections with each other. Now, this open space session that the conference is ending with is an opportunity for people to find where their common interests are, where they can support each other, where they can work together. Just one example of that, today: we had somebody leading an MBA program at a college, someone developing a sustainability bachelors program at another college, someone developing an online program at another college, several people in the extensions service doing outreach to agriculture and industry, and I think none of them knew each other before today. It’s a place to connect not just for friendship, relationships, and support (although that is good too) but to connect for action and to connect for commitments to move things forward because there is a lot of work to do.

Did you have a chance to attend any of the sessions?

I attended a few sessions myself. I attended the opening keynotes yesterday morning and in particular I thought Brian Nattrass’s talk was a real knock out. You would expect that I have a bias toward Brian because he’s also based in the Natural Step framework. What was really striking in his talk was the work he’s done with the US military. And the way the US Military has embraced sustainability to a surprising degree. It is one of the big surprises, and of course Wal-Mart is another surprise. Places that were the least expected players and the least expected leaders are doing remarkable work. So I was in a session yesterday with some lawyers and people from NRDC and from a sustainability consulting firm talking about some of the finance and strategy issues specifically in relation to the power industry. One person pointed out that FPL here is planning to build some nuclear reactors. There was significant cost as there always is with nukes. There are now looking at about 22 billion dollars to develop about 1.1 megawatts of generated capacity and the woman from NRDC pointed out that for that much money you could generate 4.4 megawatts through efficiency. So, the question is – what’s economical? Why do we make the financial decisions that we make? And how would the nuclear industry survive if it wasn’t heavily subsidized? And for all of the people who say ‘Oh gosh, we can’t afford solar” I ask, what can we afford if we pull the subsidies out from under coal, oil, and nuclear and actually have a free market in energy?

What are you doing after you leave Orlando?

I’m hopping a plane to Los Angeles. I have a meeting tomorrow with a Chinese delegation that’s looking into clean tech developments in cooperation with the United States and China.

Good luck with that and with your future projects. It was nice to see you!

Thanks so much, great to see you.

It may seem as though the green movement has caught lightning in a bottle and exploded onto the mainstream overnight.  However, Trish Riley of GoGreenAlternatives.com, has been connected with nature for quite some time now.  Ms. Riley will be featured during the Open Space Technology session of Green Cities Florida on May 21^st.  Founder/CEO of GoGreenGift.com and The author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Green Living, Ms. Riley has also been featured in such publications as:  Hemispheres, Audubon, The Miami Herald, South Florida Business Journal, Natural Health, Natural Home, and E/The Environmental Magazine.

Her new book, “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Greening Business” tackles issues businesses may have bringing their companies up-to-date with the sustainability movement.  The work also covers:

·         Setting practical, achievable goals for the right green initiative

·         The difference between “Green” and Sustainability

·         Streamlining operations

·         Innovative staffing strategies to save commuting time and office overhead

·         Cutting fuel and energy costs

·         Understanding carbon credits and their value

·         Making your products greener

·         Green manufacturing, packaging, and shipping initiatives

·         Paperless marketing programs, precision-targeted to get more from less

When asked why she chose to change her focus from personal living to business Trish replied: “While it’s essential for individuals to do whatever they can to reduce their environmental footprint and to reduce their exposure to synthetic petrochemicals, the most effective changes to our planet will occur when businesses and government adopt truly sustainable policies and practices. Businesses are motivated by markets, which are dictated by the choices that individuals make. We can vote green with our dollars as well as in elections. That is how we – as individuals – have the power to save our planet. Helping businesses to go green – in response to the demand created by the public – was a logical step toward moving us into a healthier future”.  

Originally from Carmel, Indiana, where she was introduced to the wonders of nature, Trish and her partner James Steele (a veteran of natural growing techniques and web design) run Go Green Alternatives out of Gainesville;  a resource point for all of those wishing to make themselves and their surroundings as environmentally friendly as possible.  Together they are aiming “…to create a community resource to help bring these green-minded individuals, groups and businesses together to help strengthen our green community”.  Gainesville, like many other cities in Florida, is facing a myriad of sustainability issues from improving mass transit and lanes for cyclists, to eliminating pollutants from their water supply.  Her recommendation on how to tackle all these problems fits perfectly with the philosophy of Go Green Alternatives and that is “…with small steps in every direction”.

On May 21 from 1 – 4pm Green Cities™ Florida will offer sessions presented by conference participants and organized using Open Space Technology, allowing attendees the opportunity to dive deeper into topics and to get expert advice on specific questions and areas of interest.  Ms. Riley’s experience allows her to speak on numerous issues that attendees may have.  Though she states “I’d also like to share information about how to help build green communities by helping to raise visibility of environmental issues, businesses, jobs, and the people who are working toward a cleaner future.”  

In this interview from April 2, Kimberly Miller speaks with Joseph B. Malki, founder of the Green Cities conference.
Malki discusses sustainability, the birth of Green Cities and the importance of working across party lines.

[ Transcript coming soon ]

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Joseph B. Malki is the visionary founder of the new Green Cities™ event series and development platform. He is also the co-founder and a partner at Seven-Star, Inc. He has over twenty years of consulting and industry experience with primary disciplines in green marketing strategy, business development, and information technology. He is a military veteran, visionary marketer with a deep commitment to social and environmental responsibility.

Mr. Malki is a passionate speaker and a representative of the green conservative movement: supporting the science of sustainability and ecology into our nation’s educational and infrastructural development. Joseph was recently featured as a keynote speaker at the International Festival and Events Association in Australia. He is part of the original 1000 students trained by the honorable Al Gore at The Climate Project in presenting the scientific basis for climate change to lay audiences.

Joseph Malki’s background is in green event production, environmental activism, green construction, cooperatives, information technology and creative partnership development has steered his services to America’s top organizations. His consultancy clients have included the State of California, the City and County of San Francisco, Lowe McAdams Health Care, Alcone Marketing and Hample Stefanides, among others. For the last twelve years, he has developed synergistic opportunities between IT, marketing and event production industries for the environmental sector. In 2002, Mr. Malki served as the Director of Marketing for EventPro Strategies, developing projects for American Idol, US Army -NASCAR, General Mills, Turner Networks, and Loews Theaters. There he architected the largest model talent database in the US and went on to develop Seven-Star’s database, also noted as the largest green business to business database in the world.

[ Read Entire Bio ]

In this  March 5  interview Kimberly Miller interviews Lori Cunniff, who will be speaking at the Green Cities Conference taking place May 19-21 in Orlando, FL. Lori Cunniff discusses why Florida is becoming a sustainability leader, the new Climate Change Center and Orlando as a Florida Green Local Government in this week’s podcast. This is the sixth in a series of interviews with Green Cities speakers. Subscribe to our podcast and make sure not to miss the rest of the interview series leading up to the Green Cities Florida conference.

“Just by planting the educational seed, [sustainable practices] are already growing in our area.”  – Lori Cunniff

Transcript of  Interview
March 5, 2009

I’m Kimberly Miller for Green Cities Media. We’re talking today with Lori Cunniff, the manager for the Orange County Environmental Protection Division. Thanks for speaking with me today, Lori.
Thank you.

One of the exciting things happening in Florida right now is the opening of the Climate Change Education Center. Do you want to talk a little about that?
Sure, we’re very excited about it. We’re opening a climate change center at the same time that we’re putting up a one megawatt photovoltaic system all at the Orange County Convention Center. Part of the goal behind the Climate Change Center is to promote renewables such as solar and renewable fuels, pretty much across the entire state of Florida.

How do you think this Climate Change Education Center and the photovoltaic will affect and lead the rest of Florida?
We’re setting up a nice demonstration. The solar system that is going in at the Convention Center includes some demonstration cells. We’re working closely with the Florida Solar Energy Center to do some demonstrations. It’s also a good size system; it is a one megawatt system. It’s not enough to power the convention center in its entirety but it will help offset the electrical costs. We’re hoping to use the Climate Change Center as an educational facility to promote things that are more sustainable and again a high focus on renewables.

If you could give me an analogy of the size of the solar array that will be on the top of the convention center?
It’s about the size of 5 ½ football fields.

That’s a large solar array. I think I read it is the largest photovoltaic system in the southeast. Is that correct?
I believe it will be, but it will be shortly outdone. To give you an idea, I’m pretty certain that the entire state of Florida has about 1 megawatt in the state tops. There’s an exciting project going on outside of my area in Gainesville, they recently passed a feed-in tariff and they now have applications in to put in up to 4 megawatts of solar on individual homes. So there’s a lot of energy out there in the Florida community where these renewables are getting promoted.

The Climate Change Center will be located in the convention center. How do you think this will affect the conventions that take place there?
We’re hoping that the conventions that come there, it will raise their awareness about some of the environmental things we’re doing and maybe encourage them to do some environmental things at their own conferences. Conventioneers will be able to attend and visit the climate change center if they choose, that can be arranged. But for example, one of the things we’re doing, if you’re coming and holding a convention, you can offset your carbon footprint by working with the Climate Change Center.

That’s great.
Yes, McDonalds most recently did that. They planted some trees and donated money to offset their carbon footprint. We did the calculations for them and we ended up spending the money to subsidize or create incentives for homeowners to put in solar water heater systems. It was a great project and now we have lots of homeowners that got a little help with their solar hot water heating system.

How did the Climate Change Education Center get started?
It started when we as a county decided that we wanted to promote solar and we applied for a grant with the EP to put in this very large solar electric system, or photovoltaic system, at the Convention Center. And we wanted to put in an educational component with that. That’s pretty much how the concept grew out of that. We’re kind of excited about it not because it’s growing all on its own, the concept, for example, recently the city of Orlando has become a Solar City, and we’re partnering with them to again promote solar across the entire state. OUC is also a partner, that’s Orlando Utilities Commission. So you can see just by planting that educational seed it is already growing in this area.

So what does it mean to be a solar city?
It’s actually a DOE project, we received a grant. I don’t remember the exact amount but it was about $200,000. It was to create educational workshops and working with groups to try to promote solar across the state.

How did you get involved in this kind of work to begin with?
That’s a good question, I’m not sure if you have all afternoon [laughs]. Seriously!
I’ve always been involved in environmental work because of my interests and of course my job. I think we started noticing some of the problems that come with the use of fossil fuels. I manage an air program. We have concerns all the time with our air quality. We do have good air quality, however we’re always on the brink of becoming a nonattainment area, which means your air isn’t as clean as you’d want it to be. So, we’re always looking for ways to keep our environment cleaner. And one of those ways is renewable energy. There’s a lot of work out now about carbon and your carbon footprint and a cap and trade program coming down the regulatory pipeline. So, it’s a natural to become more involved with what’s happening. So, climate change itself, when you think of it in the bigger context, it could become a very big problem for Florida being that we’re a coastal community.

Right, exactly. I think it is very telling that Orlando is choosing to do all of these sustainability initiatives. And then Green Cities is happening in Orlando. It seems Orlando is a leader in sustainability. Can you speak some on other things that are happening in Florida?
Actually, I’d love to. Mayor Crotty, who is the mayor for Orange County has been really proactive in supporting our initiatives. We have a climate change plan. In September of 2007 he decided to hold a climate change summit. One for educational purposes and two to announce what county operations; what our government carbon footprint was. So we did a carbon inventory. And from that he set up goals. Some of the types of things we’ve done besides this PV system is, we’ve for example, looked at our vehicles. We have tried to reduce our petroleum consumption. One of the first things we did was to right size our vehicles. So there’s a committee that reviews all the purchases of cars to make sure you’re not just buying an SUV to buy an SUV. The second thing we did, we started looking at hybrids and alternative fuels. So, now 42% of our vehicles are either alternative fuel or hybrid. We’ve installed ethanol tanks and we have e85 available for county cars. And we’re using biodiesel. And we also have two hydrogen shuttle buses that are down at the convention center, which is part of a demonstration project. So, those are some of the different things we’ve been doing as far as vehicles. And we’re also looking at electrical consumption at all of our buildings and making sure all of our buildings have basic things like recycling. We’ve installed solar water systems in Great Oaks Village, which is one of the county facilities. We’re looking at a project to install a solar system; this one would be PV or solar electric, at our cooperative extension building. And we just received some funding to get that started. It’s slowly growing, all the things that we’re doing. We have a green ribbon committee where everyone in the county gets together to talk about their ideas and how we’re going to implement it. And then April of last year we were recognized for our certification as a Florida Green Local Government. It’s a certification program run by the FGBC which is the Florida Green Building Coalition. And you have to go through and show that you’re a sustainable community. And there are many initiatives that you have to take to earn a level, and we earned it at the Gold Level, and I’m proud to say we were the first to earn it at a Gold level. We were the first and we are very happy about that.

So it’s somewhat surprising for me to hear about Florida’s sustainable initiatives, because it’s not the first state that I would think of when I think of sustainability and energy conservation. Do you often get that people are pleasantly surprised about what’s happening in Orange County and throughout Florida?
Well I don’t know if they are surprised but I definitely think most people are happy with the initiatives we’re taking, it is a state wide thing. The Governor has done a lot of work, he’s held some climate change conferences as well; continues to hold them every year in Miami. But I have to ask- why wouldn’t you think we’d be a leader? We’re the Sunshine State!

You know, you’re absolutely right, you guys should be the leader and it’s cool to see that you are.
Well thanks, we’re trying! We’re trying to become less dependent upon petroleum based fuels. It is not only good for the environment but it’s good for the economy, it’s good for security. There are a lot of reasons we should be doing it.

So what are some upcoming projects that are going to be happening in the realm of sustainability in Orange County and even the rest of Florida?
Well some of the things we’re working on besides the PV system coming on board, and we’ll probably be prepared to flip the switch at the Green Cities Conference and the Climate Change Center will officially open. One of our big projects is called Smart Growth. We’re actually rewriting our land development code to allow us to promote more “smart growth.”  So you’ll see a lot of transient oriented development coming up in new developments that are coming up. That’s going to be a very big project. That’s going to take us probably a year to get all of it in place. But I think Smart Growth will definitely influence our area. And the other big thing that’s coming that’s going to change our area is rail. When we get commuter rail into our area it will really change how people start traveling, it will open up some opportunities and it will certainly be environmentally friendly and sustainable.

Do you want to talk a little bit about some plans for Commuter Rail?
Well the Mayor’s been working very hard, well actually all the mayors, and all the community is involved in this. But to run a commuter rail pretty much comes along the I-4 corridor. We’re hoping to get funding this year, and I believe they also have a name for it, it’s called Sun Rail. And the I-4 corridor is extremely congested, a lot of vehicles on it.  People will have the opportunity now to take mass transit to get where they’re going. I think you’ll start seeing different types of developments around the train stations as those come in, and other than buses it will be one of our mass transit options that we’ll have here.

So do you think Smart Growth and these new transit options are going to help out the economy in Florida?
Oh yes, absolutely. We are all hurting right now with the economy with the way it is. And I think anything that creates jobs for building these systems, maintaining these systems, the fact that people will be able to get to locations in a more sustainable and affordable way will be very good. There are a lot of people in our community who take buses to get to work; this will open up another option. This will take more cars off the road. Yes, I definitely think it will have an impact on our economy.

So what would you like to see happen in the world of sustainable progress and smart growth in Florida?
Well I’d kind of like to see us continue to move in the direction, I would never say that I don’t want to see us grow, I’m not anti development, but I would like to see us grow in a way that protects the environment, that gives us lots of open space. We all crave nature so it would be nice to see a development come about in way where you have a walkable community, you have open space and natural lands preserved so you can visit those, and you have mass transit available so you don’t have to get into your car to go everywhere. You can get on mass transit; you can walk around in your community. It would make it a much nicer place to live and I do think our community is moving in that direction and so that’s what I expect our future to be. And I envision that this will happen in several of the areas. Now, I am an optimist but I do envision other cities will be doing the same type of thing. And then eventually we’ll have all our cities connected by a high speed rail. And Florida itself will become a much more sustainable state.

I hope for all of those things too, especially the light rail piece. So going back to talking about the climate change center for just a second, could you walk me through some of the displays and technology used to teach about climate change in the center?
Well one of the things that we’re trying to promote in the center is not so much the education on whether climate change is really happening or not, we’re focusing on what technologies are out there, what options are available to the general public on becoming more sustainable. So they’ll be a lot of workshops held from this facility or because of this facility. We’ll be doing webinars and things like that, a lot of telecommuting and conferencing to reduce travel time.  All the furniture that comes in, we’re trying to use furniture that is either built from a sustainable resource or is recycled or has a sustainable element about it and then we’ll be highlighting what that is. So right now we’re inviting different vendors that have these various products to show us what it is and we’ll be seeing if they’re compatible with the center and the displays will change all the time so new stuff will be coming in to make people aware of what’s available.

Terrific, that sounds like an amazing resource and I think that Orange County is more than lucky to have the Climate Change Center there.
Well thanks, we’re really excited about it and we’re hoping that it will be a great location for people to be able to tap into resources.

So there is a plan to have the Climate Change Center’s grand opening and ribbon cutting on the first day of Green Cities. What’s going to happen during that?
Well I envision it will be the traditional ribbon cutting and there will be some sort of hors d’oeuvres or food. People will be talking, talking about what we have planned and then there will be some displays so people will be able to look around afterwards and see what types of things are happening. One of the exciting features in the Climate Change Center is that we will have a display board that shows you what’s happening up on the roof with the PV. So you’ll be able to see how much energy is being produced, and of course during the peak of the day that will be very exciting to watch. And of course it will also give information about PV systems and solar energy in general.

So why do you think conferences like Green Cities are important? What’s the significance?
I think the significance of it is that it brings people together to discuss the issues, get ideas from one another, and see what works or has been tried and try to generate new solutions. And it helps to talk and again see what other people are doing. It’s kind of a synergy when you talk and get excited about a project. That’s how these types of things are born. Somebody comes up with an idea; somebody else makes a connection and the next thing you know something’s happening.

So you’re also involved with the Florida Green Building Coalition, so what kind of projects are you guys working on right now?
Well right now we, at least my group which is a very large part, is looking at some of the green government standards and seeing if it needs to be modified in any way. But the overall goal of Florida Green Building Coalition is to promote green buildings. So they spend a lot of time highlighting various green buildings that are coming in, people that are getting various certifications and my focus of course is on the government angle, so I’m trying to promote governments to get this green standard; to come in and be a Florida green local government. I promote that a lot through another group that’s called FLERA, the Florida Local Environmental Resource Agencies, and that’s kind of a group of people who are involved with the environmental agencies throughout the state. So it’s a lot of cities, and counties, and private interest, and I’m trying to have them encourage their municipalities and their counties to also go for this.

So do you think it’s important for governments to understand things like green buildings, sustainability, smart growth, and those types of things?
I don’t think we can move forward if we don’t have a good understanding of some of these new, whether it is new planning techniques, I wouldn’t say smart growth is new. But for example let’s talk about green building for a minute, if you think about it as people come in to get a building, they go through a building department, a plan review in Orange County, if we don’t understand what this new concept is or new technique we tend to slow down the process. And that’s exactly the opposite of what we want to do. So what we’ve done in Orange County is actually trained several of our staff to be LEED AP certified staff. And so when a project comes in and they claim to be green, and they are going to meet a green standard such as FGBC they get fast tracked. And so they have a person appointed to them to kind of walk their project through the system to ensure they don’t get hung up some place and they go to the front of the line. So it’s one way that we’re trying to promote green buildings, promote sustainable communities.

Right – so working together with the local governments is actually going to help put these initiatives into play more quickly?
I think so. I think it’s critical to work with local governments and private sector. Only by working together will we get this done.

Alright Lori, so is there anything else you want to mention? Any upcoming projects that you’re excited about? Any news that you’d like to share?
Well I think what we’ve already covered, the fact that the Climate Change Center is going to open and I think once that opens you’ll start seeing more and more projects being highlighted there. The only other thing I didn’t tell you about is that we have a Climate Change Plan but we publish that on the web, that’s more a document on what we’re doing as far as fighting climate change and what we’re doing to reduce our carbon emissions. It also helps to keep us on track to make sure we’ve got forward movement.

Right and that document keeps you accountable to citizens that may be able to view it. So where would I able to find that document?
You can find it on our webpage if you go to www.ocped.gov you’ll be able to find it.

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Lori Cunniff, C.E.P., CHMM, is currently the Manager of the Orange County Environmental Protection Division in Orlando, Florida. Prior to this position, Lori worked as the Environmental Manager at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York (a Dept of Energy Facility), the Environmental Director for the Escambia County Neighborhood & Environmental Services Department in Pensacola, Florida and in various positions with the Miami-Dade County Department of Environmental Resources Management in Miami, Florida. She has been in the environmental field for over 25 years.

[ Read Bio ]

“My interest is in really looking at the cities and helping the officials look at what they do… and help them learn how to create incentives for people, builders, developers to really start considering the environment more in their future growth.”  – Jennifer Languell

Transcript of Interview
February 20, 2009

I’m Christina Lor with Green Cities Media talking today with Jennifer Languell. Welcome Jennifer and thanks for speaking with us.
Anytime.

Alright, let’s start by discussing what you’ll be talking about at Green Cities. What are some of your interests with the Green Cities Conference?
We’re noticing that cities are really coming together and realizing that in that rapid growth, maybe we weren’t doing as much as we could have been doing to protect the environment. So, as much as the slow down is hurting the economy it’s really giving us an opportunity to evaluate how to protect the environment as we regain traction and start growing again. So my interest is in really looking at the cities and helping the officials look at what they do, their own performance inside their different operations and whether its their operations from an admin stand point or its from an emergency management standpoint or from their own human resources or waste management stand point and really extend that to when the future happens, growth wise again, and help them learn how to create incentives for people, builders, developers to really start considering the environment more in their future growth.

Well I know you have your Ph. D in Sustainable Construction and I would imagine that was ahead of the trend and now you have founded and are the President of your own company Trifecta Construction Solutions. How does that background support some of the projects you’re working on as far as setting the trend for this Green Cities movement?
Well I think the interesting thing is that everyone has heard of cutting edge technology and I have to say that when I started doing green building and sustainable development it was bleeding edge, no one knew what is was, they thought I was completely insane. I had plenty of doors slammed in my face 10-15 years ago, and now of course it’s the hottest topic. So its great to know, at least I have a lot more experience with it than most people, because I’ve been doing it so long. But it definitely was one of those things that getting an advance degree and really creating what the concept was and working with the US Green council when they were first evolving and what their main goals were, really helped form my company as well as helped really drive the Florida Green Building Coalition as well to service the industry, and I left academia. I was teaching in building construction and civil engineering and I moved into pure consulting because I was realizing all the great information and research that we were learning at the University level was never actually making it out into the field. Construction is a very tried and true industry and without someone who could translate the research into what would work in the field, it wasn’t being implemented.  That’s really the role I took on, was taking the information that we were learning and advance technologies and techniques and products and materials and getting that information to the industries so that it could be implemented.

So what’s your take on the current economic situation and the green economy?
Well I have to say quite honestly I don’t think there’s anyone out there who’s happy about the current economic situation. When you look from a stand point of benefits or opportunities, the good thing is that because we’re taking a breather, so to speak, and that will be my positive way of saying, “What’s going on?”  “We’re taking a breather!”  It’s given a lot of individuals time to evaluate what they’re doing and look at how they can do it better. So whether they’re a builder, they’re a developer, they’re a small business a large business, people and companies are really looking at:  What have we been doing? How can we incorporate some of these more sustainable practices into what it is we do everyday and or into our projects? So from that standpoint, I look at this as such an opportunity that if we hadn’t slowed down none of these businesses would have taken the time to learn this or very few of them.  But now that we have, I believe it’s an opportunity for everyone to learn about this so that when things pick up we’re doing and we’re developing in a much more environmentally sustainable manner.

Great, well let’s just say that you as microcosm of the situation lead the parade and, together with education and acknowledgment to the situation it’s definitely spread into the city level. What do you think is the role of cities in the environmental movement? After individuals have been standing up for what they believe in and trying to force progression through change.
Well I think cities play a role as being a leader. We can look to our cities as say, “Well look, if the governments doing it, we can do it.” Most people think inherently, that governments aren’t the most efficient mechanisms for items and so of course if we can look and say, “Well the city figured out a way how to use recycled paper or the city figured out a way how to recycle on a city wide level, we should be able to do that in our own business.” What I look to the cities to do is really to go an incentive route, a positive reinforcement route, much more so than a mandating or requiring or penalizing route. In my opinion it’s very important that we incentivize individuals to do the right thing versus swat them on the hand when they’re not doing what we want them to do. I think it actually makes the builders and developers want to go green, so to speak. I think we can look to the cities for what they’re doing, and hopefully see that they’re saying, “Oh look, we’ll fast track your permitting.  Oh look, we’ll look at the impact fees and realize that you’re developing sustainably, you’re having less of an impact on the environment and maybe you shouldn’t have to pay as large of a fee as others are paying.” or maybe there’s some sort of tax incentive. So, I think there’s a lot of opportunities that we can be researching right now, I don’t know that necessarily all of the cities are in that mind set yet, because of course they’re also struggling with budget cuts. So, right now it’s almost a survival mode but I think once we make it through the survival mode we’re really going to start thinking on a different level of how to incorporate really innovative practices and more environmentally responsible practices in growing.

What are some of the hottest topics or projects happening in your field right now?
I think that if I look at the things that are going on right now, I am seeing affordable housing, obviously being a very important sector in our economy. There’s a huge demand for it, a huge need for it, and we are seeing and realizing that if we provide affordable homes that are inefficient it really doesn’t help the individuals that need the home to begin with.  I’m seeing trends from the cities and the counties saying what can we do to improve the performances of these homes, we want healthy homes for individuals and we want efficient homes for individuals. I’m also seeing a lot of movement from the green lodging standpoint. As we know, the governor passed an executive order that basically said “If we have overnight stays or conferences we are only going to do that in green lodges.” So, we’ve seen exponential growth of the green lodging program. We’re also seeing land developers, because of the new storm water regulations that are coming into effect; those have been postponed till 2010, but of course looking at water quality and I think we look at green and it’s a word we see all the time and we’re use to seeing energy and whether its energy star or energy efficiency, but I don’t think people realize the importance of water when it comes to growth, future growth and sustainability. I think we’re really starting to look at trends on the water quality and water use side as well, and health has always been a driving force. I would say affordability, seems to be affordable housing seems to be one of the trends, definitely more emphasis on water, looks like it’s a significant trend. Of course large planned communities, renewable energies and how do we all work and move that together and forward. And we’re in a unique position from our state because when you look at a national average we’re looking at buildings the maybe use 36% of energy on average in the state. And when you look at Florida, Florida buildings use 83% because our industry is hospitality, our industry is healthcare, our industry is construction so all of those three key industries that we have in the state really go back to large buildings. So they go back to large hotels, large hospitals and so when we look at that we realize we have a unique situation of existing structures, over 50% of our energy in Florida is being consumed by existing single family homes. So from a state level what we’re seeing with the planning for stimulus funds, and how do we really impact and improve what’s happening in our state, we’re seeing a focus on what can we do with the existing buildings. Codes and innovative technologies look like they will be taking care of new construction, but what can we do, how can we create mechanisms and incentives for all of those existing houses and existing hotels and hospitals to help them help us protect the environment.

That’s great. So you also star in the Discover channels newest environmental series, Discovery Project Earth, could you talk about your experience working on the show?
(Laughter) Oh man, the Discovery Project Earth was incredible. The experience itself was well worth the year of no sleep and traveling the globe. It was an opportunity to meet some of the absolute top scientists with respect to climate change and what is really happening and what do we really need to be paying attention to, and if needed can we take these great ideas out of the lab and actually put them into practice and have them work? So, it was just incredible from a standpoint of engineering and technologies. I think one of the things that I didn’t expect, I expected to learn about new technologies and I expected to travel to different places around the globe, but what I didn’t expect was to have the biggest impact on me, be actually from the cultures and the people than the science. I’m an engineer by trade so I immediately go. I look. I see a problem. I try to start solving the problem, and when you’re in Greenland and you realize that 10 generations of individuals have been fishing and that’s been their livelihood and now they’re getting to a point where that’s no longer an option, and they don’t know anything different and that is the industry they have and they’ve grown up with and you’re seeing a culture impacted by a climate change. That I think was the most significant thing for me, much more so than seeing ice melt or glaciers shift or moulins or making clouds, any of the things we did. I think it was actually the human element that had the biggest impact on me.

Wow, that’s really great, really interesting. Well thank you for speaking with us today Jennifer, we look forward to seeing you at Green Cities and you are presenting Standards for Green Homes by the Florida Green Building Coalition. We wish you all the best in all that you’re doing and have a great day!
Thank you so much, I look forward to seeing you there!

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Founder and President of Trifecta Construction Solutions, Dr. Jennifer Languell is a nationally recognized leader in green building education. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Materials Science and Engineering, a Master’s in Civil Engineering and Construction Management, and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering and Sustainable Construction.

For over a decade, Dr. Languell has been one of the country’s preeminent consultants in the creation of healthy, efficient and sustainable projects in the residential, commercial and, land development sectors and with green building demonstration centers. She conducts approximately 100 educational trainings, seminars and workshops annually for the building and development industries. As a renowned authority on green building, she regularly appears as a speaker at national and international conferences.

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“Its time, in my opinion, to rewrite our zoning codes, our building codes, our health and public work codes to really address what’s needed to have more renewable energy. Less use of fossil fuels, and to take into account how climate change is going to affect our public health systems, our agriculture, and infrastructure.” – Alex Hinds

Transcript of Interview
February 17, 2009

Tell me a little about yourself and the work you do.
Well I’m currently working as the Interim Director for the Center for Sustainable Communities at Sonoma State University, a small university located an hour north of San Francisco. Before that I had a career working in the local government planning and administration up and down the state of California.

So what is it that you will be discussing at Green Cities?
The session that I’ll be discussing at Green Cities highlights several leading green governmental initiatives in California. We’ll be addressing topics such as climate change, land use planning, local food systems, green building, green business and the like. Included in this will be a summary of Marin County California where I used to work, award winning general plan and sustainability programs, along with tips on how to get started, obtaining public support, measuring success, funding and those things. An in addition we have a group out here called Green Cities California and I’ll be discussing initiatives from other member cities as well as examples of municipal cooperation with local universities

I see that you were one of the founding members of Green Cities California, how did this come to be?
Well I should really give most of the credit to Jared Blumenfeld from the city and county of San Francisco, as well as Dean Kubani from Santa Monica, we all met many times and decided working together we could collaborate and help spread various initiatives around sustainability, and that’s been going on for a couple years now.

So why focus on the cities specifically? What is it about a city that can help advance environmentalism and sustainability?
I would say local government in general should play a central role in institutionalizing best practices in regards to energy and sustainability. I think cities, and counties, are a great place to start because they are very close to the public. They can start out immediately with providing technical assistance, and faster permit processing rebates. And probably equally important is by implementing these practices on public facilities so that they can provide a learning opportunity for folks.

What was the thing that interests you most about coming and speaking at Green Cities?
Well I think it’s a great opportunity to not only speak but learn what’s going on, on the East coast. I’ve been kind of a resident of the west coast. It will be great to go there and share ideas, learn what’s happening up and down the states, north, south, east and west.

Is there any specific topic that you are looking forward to learning more about?
Well you know what, out here in California right now it seems that climate change, no pun intended, is the hottest topic and I’m very interested in what other communities are doing. Particularly in Florida where you have a lot of low lying land and a rising sea, so that’s one area that I’m very interested in. Both speaking about and learning about, as well as a variety of various renewable energy practices, green business, and the new green economy. All those things are really important topics that I look forward to getting involved in.

So you just mentioned the new green economy. Do you want to talk about that and your take on the current economic situation and where we are headed?
Well we are obviously in a big mess right now but being an optimist hopefully it’s also a wakeup call. So invest in green jobs and green infrastructure that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil and reduce our gas emissions while creating new jobs and making it more competitive and safe in the long run.

If there is a pivotal moment, what prompted you to do the work you do now?
I guess I’m a product of the environmental awareness and ecology movement from the latter half of the last century. I think the pivotal moment was an appreciation of the natural beauty of certain world places, like the Grand Canyon, Arizona, the Rainforest, and Hawaii. Which lead to a real appreciation for natural systems and an interest in escaping from the city, frankly and working to maintain agriculture and the quality of life in rural areas. However it didn’t take too long to realize there is a real connection between land use planning and other sustainable development practices in both urban and rural settings and as a result I went on to work primarily for local government.

So what are some of the projects that you are currently working on?
Well I am currently the Interim Director for the Center for Sustainable Communities at Sonoma State. I am coordinating their Green Building Certification Program, as well as instructing some of the classes and also providing technical assistance on implementing energy and sustainability to the county of Marin and will be working with students and faculty to assist other local governments on a number of topics.  My background is working in both planning and building and planning departments and environmental health departments. It’s really to help make sustainability a core business practice rather than something we would like to do.

So what would you like to see happen in cities that currently are not happening as it relates to sustainability?
What I would like to see happen is for cities to rewrite their plans, ordinances and other rules to make sustainability the lens which they look through the rest of their practices. Its time, in my opinion, to rewrite our zoning codes, our building codes, our health and public work codes to really address what’s needed to have more renewable energy. Less use of fossil fuels, and to take into account how climate change is going to affect our public health systems, our agriculture, and infrastructure.

How do you think the new administration is going to affect sustainability initiatives, green building, and how cities just build and exist?
Well, I think they are certainly sympathetic. I hope that their model will continue to be “yes we can”. Obviously we are in a tight budget situation, so there will be certain constraints, but I am looking forward to the new policies coming out of Washington D.C. and hopefully we’ll be seeing some investments at the national level, as well as what has been occurring at the local and some of the states.

What’s an interesting project or topic that is emerging in your topic or field that is going to happen in 2009 or the next couple years?
I think one of the most interesting topics right now is, first of all, how to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions so that we can reduce the severity of climate change in the future. Also, it’s rethinking our programs and how to adapt to it, and that’s a topic that is really starting to catch on. We are starting to see that integrated into our land use plans and our building codes and I am looking forward to being a part of that.

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Alex Hinds has managed county land use and resource agencies in California for over 24 years and has directed the Marin County Community Development Agency since 1999. Alex is currently president of the board of the California Planning Foundation and a former president of the California County Planning Director’s Association.

Alex has been responsible for many award-winning planning programs and documents. These include Marin County’s sustainability program which was awarded the coveted American Planning Association’s 2008 National Award for Excellence, and the update of the Marin Countywide Plan which comprehensively addresses climate change and sustainability issues – and was selected as the outstanding comprehensive general plan for the state of California. Mr. Hinds is one of the founding members of the recently established Green Cities of California and a frequent presenter at national, state and regional forums. Alex teaches at California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo and regularly guest lectures at Sonoma State and other universities. Alex was a former Fulbright scholar in Ecuador.

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“Buildings are very important. They are the world’s largest industry. When you include the products in it and cover the supply chain, which our standards do, it covers about 80 percent of all global economic activity. So it’s a very powerful engine to promote global sustainable improvement and economic improvement and the cities are the leaders.” – Mike Italiano

Transcript of Interview
February 12, 2009

I’m going to be covering our capital markets partnership sustainable investment initiative, which covers several things. Green building underwriting standards, and their use in the market, our capital markets briefing paper which concludes after 4 years of Wall Street due diligence that green buildings certified sustainable products, smart certified, which is consensus standard are more profitable, less risky and preferred by investors without exception in a survey that we initiated with standard of porous governments covering over 3.2 trillion dollars in assets. Part of that will include green building financing programs that we have ongoing pursuant to those activities including a $500 million dollar sustainable building security. That is a bond backed by 100 percent green buildings. Also what we are doing in California with EBA11, which is California statute providing green building financing through local governments and financial institutions, which is taking off and moving throughout the country.

So what interests you about speaking at Green Cities?
Well Green Cities is important because the cities are early adaptators in sustainability. They are farthest along compared to other governments and corporations, so they are the leaders and this is where you know we’re making the most of the progress. This is true both in green buildings and certified sustainable products and other activities.  The cities are the leaders in climate change. This is really where the action is, it’s where things get done. We have a resolution of support by the US Conference of Mayors that’s very much in line with the activity of the Green Cities program.

I was looking into your background a little bit and I saw that you had worked with the White House Science Office. Do you want to talk a little about what was that like and the kind of work you were doing there?
Yeah, I worked there both during the Carter and Reagan administrations, so it was few years ago. What we were doing was placing a priority for, in the federal budget, for eliminating hazardous waste generation, number one, and improving clean air and clean water. So we had a specific relationship with local governments on those activities and improving the priority of science within all government. So those were the primary activities at that time.

So it sounds like you were laying the groundwork there for the environmental initiatives that are happening now in some way with the work that you were doing then.
Yeah, very much so and also other work that we did on standards that the market place has adapted including standards for environmental cleanup, which we worked at and got approved, national consensus standards, as well as standards for dealing with commercial real-estate including the green building standards, the LEED standards. We set up the US Green Building Council. I’m the founder, back in 1992, and put together a few years later the LEED standard. We also put together our sustainable product standard, the SMART standard, which has now been incorporated into the LEED. Sustainable products are a lot more complex than green building, if you can believe it, because you have to cover the entire global supply chain of manufactures so those standards were actually a 20 year process.

That is a lot of time.
That is a lot of time. That is a lot of work, it was very controversial. But it adds enormous value. The leading manufactures certified, that are smart certified, are climate neutral at their manufacturing facilities, and that’s a huge benefit to society.

Could you talk some about founding the Green Building Council?
Yeah, it evolved out of our efforts through a national committee that I chaired on consensus standards. We developed consensus standards for environmental cleanup and commercial real estate. We tried to develop green building standards but the industry trade associations blocked it so we couldn’t make any progress. So we had to create a new organization and set up our own consensus process and have rules for industry trade association participation and the federal government. So that allowed us to developed the standards to get them out in the market, to get substantial traction and success which would not have happened if we did not create a whole new organization. So we also launched it with some funding that we got through our lobbyist from the federal government, it was about 10 million for green buildings, so both those activities really helped. Although it was a long, hard, arduous process because even though we set up our special rules the industry trade association then dominated. The building industry is the worlds biggest and has the most players and still is most controversial. Although now both with certified sustainable products and certified green buildings, the LEED and the Smart standards, they are both motherhood and apple-pie because people have seen the value and our underwriting standards and our briefing paper with Wall Street to show that these are more valuable and that people prefer them.

So what initially got you involved in doing this kind of work? What was the pivotal moment, if there was one?
Yeah the pivotal moment was when I was in high school and a neighbor of ours taught civil engineering at Syracuse University and was working on cleaning up the most polluted lake in North America, which has gotten much cleaner now, Onondaga Lake, because its major industry polluters have closed down. Their manufacturing facilities have shut down. He invited me to one of his classes and I just became fascinated with it and it was the reason I got into both environmental law and environmental science, both professionally and academically.

Speaking of the current economic climate, in a way, what are your thoughts with what’s going on with the economy and how that’s going to affect green building that’s happening?
Well green building is still fairly strong, it slowed down definitely because the economy. Getting the capital market to move forward with green building certified sustainable products can literally get us out of this recession, prevent a depression. And we’re working to make sure that all the ground work is laid and top management can understand that we can get the financial institutions and governments to realize it and move forward in a united front to commercialize both of these activities, which is over an $800 billion market. That’s just in the U.S. We think it will happen globally, the Capital Markets Partnership, which is another organization I run, has four countries as members, the U.S., Canada, U.K., and Australia. We see that this will happen simultaneously. We did this in the past where we commercialize standards in the entire building industry and it generated huge risk reduction and value creation and enormous profits by Wall Street. The investment bank partners that we have now that is working on the sustainable building security believe, as we do, that this will do the same and can get us out of this depression. So there is a lot of money to be made in green buildings and certified sustainable products. We need to launch them, commercialize them to get us out of this recession, and also prevent eminent irreversible dangerous climate change. One of the reports that we put together, with the state of California and also the NASA and the IPCC scientists, calculates how much climate pollution we need to reduce by 2015 to prevent dangerous climate change from going irreversible. We’ve put that into a report and it was peer reviewed by the capital market partnership and was adopted by the US Conference of Mayors as a resolution and specifies that we need 2.8 million green and climate neutral buildings and 2.1 million sustainable certified products by 2015 to stop dangerous climate change from going irreversible. That includes 60 percent margin of safety in using the worse case climate pollution projection of IPCC. So that’s an important milestones that we still have to be very mindful of and try to reach because there is no climate change legislation, and it’s uncertain that we’ll get some soon, and even if we do its uncertain it will move fast enough.

So do you think with the new administration, do you think there will be new climate change initiatives?
There already has been. One of the first things that the president did was to direct transportation to move forward on the fuel efficiency standards, I think by 2010. That was a very important component. The Department of Energy obligated $80 billion for federal green building and the stimulus bill $20 billion more and there is substantial funding for renewable energy financing, which the new administration supports. But there is no climate change legislation to deal with the irreversibility problem, and that’s because the stimulus is taking priority, but he has done some things that will deal with that.

So what do you think is the role of cities in building in the environmental movement? I have spoken with some people who think that buildings specifically are the cornerstone upon which we should be building the environmental movement.
Buildings are very important. They are the world’s largest industry. When you include the products in it and cover the supply chain, which our standards do, it covers about 80 percent of all global economic activity. So it’s a very powerful engine to promote global sustainable improvement and economic improvement and the cities are the leaders. They really control where the buildings are. They’ve taken that lead. They have adopted more green building programs both for their own buildings and the private sector, more than any other entities and also taken the lead on sustainable products and purchasing. So the cities are really critical to the progress we have made and future progress.

So what cities do you know that are on the fore front of green building?
Well, San Francisco is one of the leaders. Mayor Newsom, of San Francisco, is Chairman of the Capital Market Partnership representing the US Conference of Mayors. They have adopted green buildings for their city buildings and also for the private sector. Los Angeles has done the same, Washington DC; I think there might be 10 programs where they mandated green buildings for the private sector. There’s probably over 100 local government programs for green building programs in one way or another.

In these cities, what do you think they do well, and what could they do to make these programs better?
Well I think on the financing side, which is really critical, the cities have moved forward and have the framework in place.  We have partnerships with the state of California and San Francisco and other cities, Santa Monica, but also with the council of development financing agencies. There are 250 local governments that fund private sector activities in the public interest. There is a need to educate the cities on proper underwriting using green building underwriting standards, and consensus certification so that the financing of green homes and green buildings is done in a way that we know will reduce climate change, pollution, reduce conventional energy, and therefore add value. Our underwriting standard documents for commercial buildings on a one to 1000 score for all properties and portfolios. What activities increase cash flow and reduce expenses. That’s how the markets value buildings. For homes it’s what reduces expenses and increases value and our standards cover both of that. Again for all homes and portfolios. So understand this for private sector buildings because the cities now have a very important role with financing, is really critical so that the money that is being spent through California statute and these federal legislation proposed is going to be money that is well spent, is actually reducing conventional energy. Therefore the financial institutions will embrace it and put a lot of capital into it. Without good underwriting everybody will lose because we know from sub prime that we cannot afford to do that in the future.

Do you have any projects that you have on the horizon that you are excited about that you would like to share?
We are very excited about the 500 million sustainable building security because we think that this is going to be copied and can really get securitization going. The securitization market is 40 percent of our economy and essentially dead now and there is no money to be lent so we think this is a way of using good underwriting, having higher valued collateral, in other words these buildings are worth more, generating a lot of improvement to the buildings stock while also making money for people and adding almost a trillion dollars a year to the economy. We have monetized that based on actual green buildings. So that’s very important and we are using the underwriting standards in that. I think the 2nd thing that is very exciting is the opportunity with the local governments and the state governments to move forward on green building financing and sustainable product purchasing.

In your field, in general, what is a hot topic or project going on in the field that is something that is interesting to be aware of?
Well we have one green building financing pilot we are working on which is a billion dollar green building. We are working on creating the financing and also getting the financing at more favorable terms. So what we have done is scored the proposed public. It’s a public/private building with the underwriting standard. It scored an 87 it is at a platinum green building level, LEED certified, and included that in a report that Ernst & Young is recommending including our capital markets briefing paper for financing feasibility. We’re working on a proforma that will show increased cash flow and reduced expenses that will be in a report to the city where this is to recommend the first $500 million in bonds and then we plan on including that proforma also in the official bond statements, so the investors know in this added value and then working with the LEED banks, JP Morgan, Chase, Bank of America, on cheaper cost of capital for the private sector funding the 2nd 500 million.

Wow that does sound pretty exciting. Sounds like a big project.
It’s a big project; it is very exciting because these are all things where we can actually get the financing to work and to have a cheaper cost of capital incentives. This could include actually higher ratings for the $500 million bonds that are issued.

Okay so last question, on a more personal level. Aside from green building and law what else do you like to do?
Well, I do spend a lot of time of this because we are at the threshold of the meeting together of speak, greet, and sustainability which I think will solve a lot of problems, but I also do enjoy a lot of hiking, golf, rollerblading, you know aerobic activity like that, it keeps me occupied.

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Mike Italiano is President & Chief Executive Officer for Market Transformation to Sustainability (MTS) and Capital Markets Partnership. He founded the Capital Markets Partnership, MTS, U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), Risk-Based Corrective Action (RBCA) Leadership Council, and American Society of Testing & Materials (ASTM) Committee E50 on Environmental Assessment. He is a Director of MTS, USGBC, USGBC CEO Board, Sustainable Furniture Council, and former Director of ASTM and Chairman of ASTM E50. Mike has been responsible at over 200 waste sites for expert testimony, litigation, cleanup, settlement, and scientific and technical analysis.

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