Be an agent of hope.

The Living Building Leader program cultivates thought and action leaders. A series of interactive sessions, it provides the building industry with a means to develop a diverse and intensive skill set to effect transformative change. Sessions are arranged into thematic categories mirroring the Living Building Challenge: Site, Energy, Water, Materials, Indoor Quality, Beauty + Inspiration, and Design Process + Leadership.

These ongoing eLearning sessions are accessible to practitioners throughout the country and around the world.

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Get your introduction to the green building universe!

Green Broker is a new and exciting conference designed for the commercial real estate and financial communities that provides a solid introduction to the fastest growing and most important sector of the building industry: Green Building.

Leverage your professional expertise with:

Keynote Speakers: Bill Browning of Terrapin Bright Green LLC and Martin Melaver of Melaver, Inc.

Visit the Green Broker website for more info and to register!

This is the guide to all of the major conferences, events, workshops and lectures that Cascadia is hosting in the 2008 year. With this document in hand, you can now plan all of your continuing education for the year in one sitting!

Click Here to download the 2008 Cascadia Programming Guide.

The Transformational Lecture Series aims to inspire all building industry professionals to embrace their role in creating a sustainable built environment now, as well as ensuring that sustainability becomes integral to all development in the future.  The world’s most visionary thought leaders will share their experiences and wisdom on the topics that underpin and motivate the green building industry, including Cascadia’s Signal Issues, sustainable communities, and the power of collaboration.  By reminding us why we must act boldly and helping us to imagine a world where sustainability is the baseline, these lectures promise to inspire a revolution!

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As of January 1st, the great State of Alaska is officially a part of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council - joining British Columbia, Washington and Oregon. The Alaska Branch of Cascadia will become actively engaged in our regional efforts to change the design and construction industry. Cascadia will seek funding for an Alaska State Director in 2008 and will be rolling out programming for Alaska in the second quarter. Please join our staff and board in warmly welcoming the Alaskan members to our organization!.

Click Here for more information.

In June of 2008 Portland, Oregon will be the first American city to host the annual conference of the World Carfree Network. This is an international conference focusing on the future of urban transportation and livability. Titled "Towards Carfree Cities: Rethinking Mobility, Rediscovering Proximity", this conference seeks to find creative, practical solutions to the environmental, economic, community, and public health problems that arise from car-oriented urban policies, culture, and development.

This year's conference theme is "Rethinking mobility, rediscovering proximity." The theme is intended to promote discussion of urban livability, mixed-use development, local agriculture, pedestrian safety, strong neighborhoods, accessible public space, and sustainable transportation.

PROPOSALS SOLICITED

World Carfree Network and Shift are now seeking program proposals on the theme of "Rethinking Mobility, Rediscovering Proximity". Proposals are requested in the following categories:

• Research abstracts

• Presentations of programs (e.g., government, non-profit, or private sector initiatives)

• Presentations of World Carfree Network members' organizational activities

• Panelists on the following topics: a) alternatives to the private automobile; b) closures of parks or city streets to cars, c) carfree towns, housing developments, or shopping districts; d) experiences of carfree individuals and families, e) World Carfree Day events

• Interactive workshops, activities, and tours

• Films

• Works of art

for more information.

Cascadia Region Green Building Council has won a USGBC/ Milliken & Company Award of Excellence for Education.  The award was presented at the annual Greenbuild Conference and Expo to Cascadia's Washington Director, Marni Kahn.

Providing transformative models for the future. In 2006 the Living Building Challenge was launched to set a new bar for environmental performance in our homes, offices and buildings of all types. The response has been inspiring as people from all over North America have risen to the challenge and are attempting to transform their projects from buildings that are “less bad” to transformative models for the future. The race is on to build the first Living Buildings in communities around the continent.

And yet, to be ultimately successful in securing a sustainable future, not only do our buildings need to be ‘living,’ so too must the spaces between. What would it mean to design a living roadway? A living park or pier? A living plaza or playground? This document addresses these questions by applying the same logic established in the Living Building Challenge protocol.