Often when you see people giving donations to plant trees, or saving a forest sometimes it’s never really as close or as significant when it’s right in your own backyard. This is the case with Trillium Forest located on Whidbey Island in Washington. The 664-acre property is the largest piece of privately owned property in Island County. Before it went into foreclosure it was originally divided into 124 plots and approved for development. This property is literally less than 3 miles from where my husband and I are in Greenbank, and just north of Freeland. In a rural setting, this is your backyard.

A nine-inch Northwestern Salamander on a Red Alder log. Whidbey Is. Photo by Robert J. Pennington.

Earlier this year the Whidbey Camano Land Trust was given the option to purchase the property and raise $4.2 Million. If successful, the WCLT would work to turn it back into recreational trails for hikers, birders, horseback riders, etc., and help restore the health and wildlife of a forest that had been logged back in 1988.

If the funds cannot be raised, the property will be divided and sold privately. Originally the Land Trust had until June 10th to raise the funds. As luck would have it they received an extension until September 10th.

So here we are on September 1st, just ten days away and I feel like I’m watching a horse race between thousands of people trying to save a forest and a financial institution. (I promised myself, I wouldn’t go there). Because I am familiar with the work the Whidbey Camano Land Trust does, it boggles my mind to see them spearhead what would seemingly be an impossible mission. As of this writing they need just $900,000. $300,000 has already been promised, leaving $600,000 left. From their newsletter posting today, “To help raise the remaining $600,000, an existing donor has made a pledge to match, dollar for dollar, the first person to donate $100,000 between now and September 10. After the Land Trust raises $600,000, a second anonymous donor will contribute the remaining $300,000 needed to complete the campaign.” That’s not much considering where they started, but it’s a still a big stretch in 10 days.

Curled fern. Whidbey Is. Photo by Robert J. Pennington

While it does comes down to money, it’s about so much more than that. It’s about watching people from all over Island County and beyond, work together to save this giant piece of land. You cannot walk into a local store, cafe, or lumberyard without seeing donation jars with “Save the Forest Now” buttons and postcards on them. Hikers, joggers, birders, photographers, horseback riders, and other groups lead talks and rides through the property. Even small schoolchildren are not spared, helping raise funds and teaching people about why we need to Save the Forest Now.

If saved, I have no doubt this forest could become one of the best teaching grounds and case studies in the U.S., both environmentally and socially. It can even provide inspiration for more successful transactions while leaving an important legacy for generations to come. The reach of what happens in the next few days goes far beyond the waters around an island in Puget Sound. If it can happen here, the lessons learned can teach others everywhere not just how to save a piece of land against the odds and in a recession, but how to bring a much larger community together, regardless of politics, religion or economic status.

So now it’s down to the wire and I’ve got my money on “Trillium” comin’ up on the outside, yelling, “Go baby! Go!” A photo finish for the ages.

Offset your carbon footprint! Find out more about this property and how you can donate, check out the status on the Whidbey Camano Land Trust’s site: www.SaveTheForestNow.org

Or contact the WCLT at:

Whidbey Camano Land Trust
765 Wonn Road, Barn C-201
Greenbank, WA 98253

house coloring sketch...one day...

A few months ago, I read an article in DWELL magazine talking about the “slow build movement” happening in this country. Here I thought we were just slow builders, but it turns out we are actually part of a “movement.” While I’m not too sure the “slow build movement’ is going to catch on like wildfire, (mostly because people don’t like to live too long with unfinished projects), we realized the time we’ve been taking to build may have actually led us do a few things right. We know this because we are still married. Pointing out what could have been done differently is a bit too easy, because it hits you like a cast-iron frying pan on the head. So I thought I would note a few things that have made a huge difference on our project.

Study the land. We spent 4 years figuring this out. Making our way through paths of prickly salmonberry bushes, old skidding trails, taking short courses on forest stewardship, coloring the woods with strange looking ribbons, and noting the changes in the position of the sun in the winter and summer. Watching where water pooled or vernal ponds formed. The best money we spent in the very beginning was getting our property surveyed and knowing where our lines and corners were. The architects and I used the PDFs the surveyors gave us to figure out all kinds of things.

Ted Hunter organizes panels on top of the slab.

Surround yourself with great folks and seek the right help. Find people who won’t dismiss you when you tell them you are going to build your house yourself. Architects Tara Romano and Neil Stevenson from Neil Stevenson Architects gave us a great modern house design, with an open floor plan that would allow us some flexibility. Our contractor, Ted Hunter came with his own crane truck and preferred to work alone with owner/builders. Steve Thornton, a friend and designer/builder became our sounding board and offered up great advice along the way.

Build community. When you build on an Island, everyone knows each other. Building suppliers, equipment rental places and landscapers become a big part of your world, so pay your bills on time and it’s amazing how many people will want to work for you.

Getting electrical through the conduit in utility trench.

Utilities first. We first dug a 400 ft. trench and put in all our lines ourselves, leaving the connections to the experts. We carefully hung the water and telephone lines above the propane and electrical conduit. (Care had to be taken with this trench along the driveway as it went through part of our wetland). More important than a toilet (you can rent those), was having access to the internet, electricity (no noisy, gas powered generators) and a wired phone line since cel reception is spotty. Putting in the lines in first also allowed us to build a gravel driveway to accept heavy equipment in Summer. (See video of utility trench).

Design for dual purposes. Instead of wasting space, much of our space does double duty. For example, a larger hallway is not just a corridor but massive storage space allowing my husband to roll out big metal racks that travel down to the living room/photo studio. At the other end of the house, my office contains a recessed wall bed to quickly become a guest room.

Amazing screeders Conner and Jason Chang

Concrete love. Our first floor is all one big 6-inch concrete slab with a radiant floor heating system. Taking great advice from Jason Chang, our fabulous screeder, I designed a joint control pattern (cuts that are no deeper than 2-inches) that connected all interior corners and left no areas more than 100 square ft. Not only effective but very cool looking. As soon as it was done, our contractor Ted had us put 4×8 sheets of masonite on the entire floor to protect it. It has made a huge difference.

The second floor goes up on a very cold day.

Prefab is fab. We chose to build with a Structural Insulated Panel System or SIPS. Our design was prefabricated and shipped to us and I am amazed at how little waste we have had on site. We’ve been building for two years, and we are only now about to make our third trip to the dump with a small Toyota Rav and a small 4×8 ft. trailer. Are there things that are a pain about building this way that no one tells you? Oh yeah, but I am beginning to see and feel the benefits. One of which was how easy it was to fit and level the windows and doors.

Bob prepares to install a door in his own unique way.

Don’t scrimp on windows and doors. This was our biggest expense next to the SIPs and I have no regrets. (I can live without that fine Italian couch, Herman Miller desk set and Espresso machine.) Between the SIPs and the windows, we noticed the difference immediately when we were able to heat up an unfinished, enclosed room in the middle of winter in just two hours with a couple of electric heaters.

An organized jobsite is a happy site. I am a piler. It is both an attribute and a fatal flaw. When working with SIPs the panels had to be organized in a certain order so the crane could pick them up in succession. I built a workbench for our little tools, bits, blades, squares, etc., and put it on wheels and put together some of our other wheeled shelving for heavier duty tools. Lumber is still stacked in the big room on dunnage. Garbage cans were laid out for food waste, usable wood trimmings, and recycling. A massive stack in the front of our property divides up the good and bad wood scraps. Folding all visqueen and plastic sheeting scraps, saves tons of room. Sweeping up at the end of every weekend, made it so much easier to work.

Draintile surrounded by gravel and wrapped in groundcloth before burying.

Go with the flow. In the Pacific Northwest, water is a major issue and due to a slope in the back of the house, we have installed three lines of defense against water intrusion against the foundation. The first is actually a FormaDrain footing form. Slits in this recycled plastic channel allow water to flow around the perimeter of the house and collect in an outlet on the SW corner. Meeting up with that is a draintile about 2 feet out from the foundation running around the entire back and sides of the house. (Another is planned later). Against the stemwall foundation we installed a Delta Foundation Drainage system to waterproof the stemwall. We have even purchased metal furring strips from Furring Master for a rainscreen that will provide an airspace between the house siding and the weather wrap. Lastly, a cistern will collect runoff and draintile water and be used as fire protection in summer. In winter any overflow is part of a plan to make the hydrology healthier in our wetland through yet another level-spreading infiltration trench.

Jen Pennington is the owner and designer for Rhizome Design & Images. She lives and works part-time in Seattle while building a green house with her husband, photographer Robert J. Pennington on Whidbey Island.

Graphics Plus owner, David Hell in his print shop in White Center. Photo by Robert J. Pennington

WHITE CENTER – “Check out the color!” David Hell exults as he shows me the new lights in his print warehouse in the sprawling White Center Industrial District. He’s had Graphics Plus, a full-service graphic arts, design and printing service at this location for about 15 years. Recently, he joined NBIS, the (Network for Business Innovation and Sustainability) and learned about Seattle City Light’s Quick Lighting Upgrade Initiative. This fit right in with David’s commitment to reducing the environmental impacts of his business as much as possible.

Those impacts traditionally have been pretty substantial in the printing business–volumes of wasted paper, toxic print materials and heavy metal chemical baths–but David had already addressed many of these well before it was a trend to do so. He had already upgraded his production system to a computerized process that eliminated paper waste and the chemical-heavy technologies of printing with metal or paper plates. With more than 38 years in business, he was delighted to learn about another way to save money and further “green” his business–a way made possible by Seattle City Light’s Quick Lighting Upgrade Initiative.

He called Seattle City Light’s Smart Business program and was connected with Industry Program Manager Jerry Wright who gave David a list of contractors and offered follow-up inspection.

A key piece of this program was that it offered the retrofits at virtually no cost to the customer. This 100 percent rebate-subsidy made Seattle City Light one of the only–if not the only–utility in the country offering full funding for lighting change-outs.

City Light and contractor June Hwang of Energy Management Services arranged an energy audit on the building which sits in the La Mexicana Industrial Park which includes four-blocks of mixed-use businesses.

Brighter fluorescent lighting has helped reduce the company's electric bill by about 50 percent. Photo by Susan K. Godfrey

David had standard eight-foot fluorescent tubing in an old T-12 format with magnetic ballasts (the connections at the end of each fixture). They took out the old bulbs and recycled those at Eco-Lights in South Seattle; then installed two four-foot efficient bulbs and new ballasts by Phillips GE. The new bulbs are brighter and cleaner. That helped reduce the electric bill by about 50 percent. The building skylights also bring in natural light.

David is delighted. It goes along with his investment in his new Energy Star-rated Presstek production equipment. Though a substantial investment for Graphics Plus, the new digital prep equipment is efficient, fast, provides top quality plate output and is chemical free. “You have to change to survive,” David says. So, getting the help from City Light to reduce his energy bills further while improving the quality of lighting in his shop is a nice boost for the company and its conservation efforts.

When word about David’s improvements, especially the lighting program, got around to his neighboring businesses, other large businesses became interested.

La Mexicana Operations Manager Bill Frye and owner Keith Bloxham decided that retrofitting the whole complex would be a smart move. Hwang’s crew from Energy Management Services moved in and were able to complete replacing about 500 lights in only about five days.

Because of its great popularity, City Light Spokesman Scott Thomsen says the Conservation Resources program will continue the Quick Lighting Upgrade Initiative, although perhaps at a reduced level. He said it’s a matter of evaluating how the resources are used, comparing costs to benefits, and prioritizing those. Then they will provide rebates and subsidies at an appropriate level.

The fact is, he said, there will be increased demand for power in this area due to increased population using electricity not just for heat and light, but for fancy appliances such as big-screen televisions. Even use of electric vehicles will put more demand on the grid.

Conservation is a crucial component of City Light’s plans for meeting this need. It’s a lot cheaper and much better on the environment to help businesses and other customers conserve energy than to build new power plants. City Light is in year two of a five-year plan to double the amount of energy conserved. Thomsen said that early on, when their subsidies were smaller, they realized they weren’t reaching all small businesses. They were able to move the 100% rebate program forward by emphasizing its ability to reach small business customers while also contributing to new jobs.

Seattle can point to this success story with pride and as an example of how a municipal utility can make a huge impact in its electrical consumption. Case studies of other small businesses that used the City Light program to reduce their energy costs are on the Seattle City Light web site. Details of the conservation program can be found in City Light’s 2008 Annual Report and Environment Report.

The future’s looking brighter–several neighborhoods at a time.

Be sure to check out Graphics Plus online and to learn more about greening your business, contact the Network for Business Innovation and Sustainability at: www.nbis.org.

As an owner/builder, I’m always on the lookout for new products that make a difference in how we build or use materials. Walking the tradeshow floor at Globe 2010, I found four products that caught my eye as we look toward the future of the built environment.

Solar Shingle installation. Photo with permission of Dow.

USA – Dow Chemical Company- The Dow™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle is the company’s latest innovation showcased at GLOBE 2010. A recent recipient of GLOBE 2010’s Foundation award for “Environmental Excellence in Emerging Technology,” their solar shingles not only protect a roof from the elements, but serve up a photovoltaic charge at the same time. The unique product design has similar weight, reveal and installation practices as an asphalt shingle while also generating electricity. DOW’s Solar Solutions (DSS) technology uses a cost-effective and durable PV material called CIGS (Copper Indium Gallium diSelenide). The electrical circuitry is integrated into every shingle and is connected by wireless plug-style connectors. Dow also recently announced in February, its plans to build the first full-scale production facility for its solar shingle facility in Midland, Michigan, bringing with it more than 1,200 jobs to the marketplace. Could it be affordable, renewable energy roofing solutions are on the horizon?

A sample piece of a MagWall panel shows foam on the inside and a magnesium oxide base sheathing. Photo by Robert J. Pennington

Canada – MagWall Pacific Inc. Tucked into a small booth on the tradeshow floor is a new SIPS (Structural Insulated Panel System) building product that has some very cool new features. SIPS built homes are generally much more efficient than stick-built homes. Think of SIPS like an extremely efficient Oreo cookie. A hard crust on the outside, (generally OSB plywood) with a fluffy foam filling in the middle. On the MagWall systems, the OSB is replaced with sheathing boards that have a magnesium oxide base making it fire and insect resistant and impervious to mold, because there is no wood product in it. Additionally the ability to erect structures in wet or cold conditions is not a problem, so costly delays in schedules are minimized. As a bonus, it can also eliminate the use of costly additional products used in construction. For example, interior and exterior walls can be finished without additional sheathing, and the company claims vapor barriers are not necessary. Currently the company’s focus is on providing healthy, affordable, sustainable and energy efficient buildings, that require less dependence on highly skilled labor. The company is currently in talks with multiple countries, and even UN and Disaster relief efforts. After just completing the envelope of my own SIPS house, it wasn’t hard to see how these MagWalls would have made a huge difference in shaping the course of our project. www.mag-wall.com

MicroHeat’s 9kW electrical instantaneous hot water system. Photo by Robert J. Pennington

Australia – MicroHeat® Technologies PTY LTD. Tankless hot water heaters are nothing new to the market. But behind this little white box is a whole house hot water heater with a 98% efficiency rating saving both water and greenhouse gas emissions. Normal tankless hot water heaters rely on the flow of water to run through heated coils to deliver hot water to a faucet or shower system. This can mean running and wasting water longer than necessary until it is at the right temperature to use. MicroHeat’s electrical instantaneous hot water system eliminates that heating coil element altogether and instead uses water as the conductor. The water is energized (or heated) via inert electrodes in the water stream. The result is instant hot water, but water is not the only resource being saved. Instead of a constant flow of electricity running to heat big tanks of water, this smart system turns on when you need it and can be placed in convenient locations closer to the source of use. The system on display was a 9kW single-phase unit. The best part is, it senses when it needs to add more juice to the system and delivers absolute temperature control. You can increase the flow but retain the temperature. Still in the research and development phase, MicroHeat has already received grants from the Australian Government and support from the Victorian Centre for Advanced Materials Manufacturing. But this little heater is keeping cool about its technology. Currently no website or marketing efforts are available to the public. We’ll just have to wait.

Sherpa aluminum timber connectors. Photo by Jen Pennington

Austria- Sherpa®- Good things come in small packages, and this little mounting and assembly hardware introduces a new technique for traditional timber construction. Available in a variety of shapes and sizes, the product provides a simple, safe and reliable connector between load bearing trusses, joints or any other timber connection. Two aluminum-molded plates contain a male and female piece that slips into each other to form a very strong connection. A concealed fastener and a good alternative to Simpson® Strong ties and a semi-concealed fastener allows the beauty of the hardware to become a part of the design. What makes the product sustainable is in the fact that a structure can be just as easily disassembled without wasting valuable wood resources. Beams are lifted and joints can be non-destructively disconnected.

Find information in English regarding this product here.

Find more images from Globe 2010 at www.RhizomeImages.com

by Jen Pennington

photos by Robert J. Pennington

On a recent tour of the largest living green roof in North America atop the Vancouver, B.C. Convention Centre, one can’t help but be awed. The tour organized by Dow Chemical Company as part of Globe 2010 was a rare glimpse into the dichotomy of what you see vs. what you can’t see. Designed by LMN Architects, the building is the world’s first LEED Platinum convention center. It’s about taking in something visually and understanding at a deeper level that natural beauty and the creation of new wildlife habitats in urban settings can successfully coexist with the right mix of landscape architecture, engineering, and construction. The fact that one can easily take for granted the man-made materials underneath an organic surface is a testament to its success.

Brilliantly colored sedums looking towards the water

As you step out the doors onto the first level, one is struck by the brilliant red, orange and pink beauty of native sedums blooming in spring amidst a precisely placed irrigation system. Bruce Hemstock, Landscape Architect for PWL Partnership explains that the irrigation system utilizes black water from the convention center and desalination machinery to water the plants making it a very sustainable system. The vast expanse of this orderly growth is amazing and you can’t even see the grasses above yet. Walking along the sloped path that leads to the green areas of the main roofs, one passes by the apiary of bees that help pollinate the area. As you step up to the grassy rise of the roof you are instantly transported to a park in the sky. It is so large at six acres that you never feel as if you are on an actual roof, and therein is the real beauty of it. Now in its second year of growth, the illusion is so surreal in an urban environment that it’s easy to disregard what lies beneath the top layer.

Roof layers and substrate display at Dow's both at Globe 2010.

Digging down into what makes the roof so unique is the fact that the layers that go into a normal roofing system are inverted. As Mike Kontranowski, the Strategic Market Director, Architectural Markets for Dow Building Solutions explains, “It’s turning the roof upside down.” In this case, 2.5 million board feet of Styrofoam™ brand insulation and more than 500,000 board feet of Styrofoam™ Highload insulation from Dow sits directly on top of the roof. On top of that lies a series of other substrates, and protective barriers before the placement of soil and the thousands of indigenous plants and that grow there. With the addition of all these materials, the lightest weight component, keeping the roof thermally stable, reducing weight load,  and enhancing energy efficiency at the base is the Styrofoam™. A dimpled water barrier on top of that prevents water from seeping through and also holds droplets of water to retain moisture in the soil.

The roof is truly inspiring with its many levels of beauty and sustainable attributes. As green roofs become more popular in cities, my hope is that those in the design, building and materials industries share this knowledge readily. Not just amongst the largest architecture firms and contractors but down to the small business levels of builders and designers in outlying areas or smaller cities where adoption is slower to manifest. If we are truly concerned about creating eco communities and championing environmental and energy efficiency benefits, the challenge for all is how to inspire change broadly while making it affordable to install in the first place.

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All photos copyright 2010 Robert J. Pennington.

Vancouver Convention Center

Every two years in Vancouver, B.C. a collection of delegates, speakers, innovators and mediators assemble to map the future of business and sustainability in a green world. The list of speakers ranges from academia, to corporate officers, government officials to researchers. This year’s theme is “Building a Global Low Carbon Economy.”

Globe is organized into a series of seminars consisting of a panel of experts that take turns talking about their roles and expertise in sustainability. Delegates attending the seminars are from over 84 countries and bring their own individual diversity to the seminars. After the presentations an open mike is offered to the delegates for questions and discussion. The speakers are from three diverse disciplines to promote the widest views in the seminars; academia, government and corporate. There are large multinational corporations represented by CEOs along with innovators just starting to bring products to market. From the academic world are professors and researchers from a global selection of universities, colleges and research facilities. Government Delegations of Ministers, commissioners and officials are from North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. This uniquely diverse collection from around the world ensures insightful, provocative, and inspirational series of discussions.

Globe 2010: Tradeshow floor

Globe also has a Trade Fair that features over 400 exhibits from some of the most innovative, leading edge, sustainable, products and services from around the world. The products can be prototypes to full production contributing to a cleaner future.

This all takes place over a very full three days in one of the gem cities of the Pacific Rim, Vancouver, B.C., recent host of the 2010 Olympic Games. Vancouver’s Convention Center is literally on the water. The structure has an innovative stretched fabric roof and the newest building features the largest green roof in North America at six acres.

Over the next couple of days, Ecozome hopes to bring you a glimpse into some of the unique products and presentations from the conference. We also hope to get on the largest green roof in North America!

I have a small business, I mean, really small. No partners, boards, employees, no office, just me. It is like the “atom” of the business universe, unable to be further reduced, split or simplified. It serves its purpose of providing my economic livelihood, with a simplistic ease. As with any business, the dollars and cents of it flow through a bank, my clearinghouse for income generated by my little enterprising atom. In technical terms I am a sole proprietor, cash accounting, a minimalist of capitalism. My simplistic approach to my business extended to banking, just the basics–a checking account to move dollars to and fro, with a savings account to accumulate the occasional bounty. All is handed over to a very gifted and thorough accountant. Credit was in the form of a credit card. The credit card is where my simple world became a lot more complicated. I have had credit cards from an early age. It took me till after college to truly understand the advantages and consequences of having credit and using it wisely. Mortgages, loans, and the other credit depending activities have been relatively painless to obtain despite being self-employed in the arts.

Then the banking crisis hit last year. I watched CNN and a host of others explain over and over the credit crisis we were going through. I heard what they were saying, but had no direct tangible evidence of the world of banksters and billions moving about like galaxies of which my atom was a smallest part, seemingly unaffected, until I went to buy a fancy new hard drive at my favorite retailer. Card declined is what Les said. My atom was about to have a bumpy ride through the universe.

The next call was with the bank, Wells Fargo. Four phone transfers and about an hour later I learned a new term, underutilization. It sounds like I am not using my credit card enough, but it really means that the bank is not seeing enough of a profit from my atoms credit activities. I was told the decision was final and that I was welcome to re-apply for a credit card. Surely this was some sort of glitch or error. I had used that card, paying off the balance every few months, occasionally using half the available balance, but sometimes not using it at all, and never late or over balance. My atom takes little to function. This was not what the bank wanted. I need to speak to someone in person, explain the situation, review my years of bank records, show them how happy and productive my little atom has been. I went to the local Wells Fargo Branch, with a plan. First I would request to close my accounts, to get their attention, and it did. I sat in a chair explained the situation to a young, professional banker, the reason for my unhappiness and pointed out the various qualities of my atom. He sympathized, and sincerely showed frustration over my account-closed situation, but could do nothing, except take it to a higher power, like a Cardinal of Disputes. I felt optimistic in the review of my case. I gave them til the following Monday to resolve the issue with my atoms’ credit card. I also gave the young banker another option, instead of closing my account, just cut the high credit limit they have given me back to my original credit amount, thus improving my utilization of balance verses available balance. Didn’t seem to take the Cardinal very long to decide…no. Back in the car and back to the Wells Fargo, I closed the accounts.

Chase Bank is where I had some of my personal accounts and on occasion they have solicited my business accounts, somebody wants my atom in their galaxy, feels good to be wanted. The fanfare for a new business account at Chase is full of choices and options, advantages and privileges and rewards, all explained with graphics and smiles. It started to remind me of buying a car or talking to an insurance or real estate agent, did they really want to help or just assimilate my atom? I explained what had happened over at Wells Fargo, and that I was looking for something elementally simple, checking, saving, and a credit card with a reasonable limit similar to what I originally had with Wells Fargo before they had upped it into the utilizationsphere. The young banker had bank speak down, “we will do our best to serve your needs”, “we want your business.” He stopped short of saying anything about the credit card, other than the need to fill out the application. Decisions, it seems are to be made not in the branch, but further up the banking food chain. I left with my temporary checks, fancy folder, pages of agreements, and the hope that soon, my atom would have its credit card back.

A week later I sat at the counter in my condo sorting the days mail. It was here, my shiny new credit card for my atom, not exactly. My new credit card had a limit of only $1,000.00, twenty-four percent interest, and was not a business card but another personal credit card. I decided the banking crisis was now trying to split my atom. I also received a letter from Wells Fargo informing me that they had cancelled my credit card, how timely.

What next for my atom? How can I get credit for my business when two, too-big-to-fail, banks said no? Several independent things seemed to line up for my answer. My accountant told me to look at non-profit banks, or credit unions. Huffington Post reported on the “Move your Money” movement. Basically, don’t put your money in big, too-big-to-fail, banks, but local banks and credit unions. It was time for my atom to take charge.

Call it providence, luck, or coincidence…the defunct taco place on the corner had morphed into a BECU (Boeing Employee Credit Union). It is an entirely different banking experience, and happily I felt I was never being sold anything. This is just what I needed, business checking and savings, and a credit card. Two weeks later I had all three in my hand, including a credit card with a reasonable interest and limits. My atom does have a place in the universe.

Bob Pennington is a freelance photographer and frequent contributor to Ecozome and Rhizome Images.
Photographs copyright Robert J. Pennington.

Last Thursday, January 21st, a panel of business leaders spoke at Antioch University to a full room of entrepreneurs, students, faculty and members of the business community. Each gave a great presentation on how their company is working to create social and environmental benefits through innovative practices.

NBIS presented the program as part of Antioch University’s Center for Creative Change series on Global Issues and Perspectives. Karl Ostrom, Co-director of the Network for Business Innovation and Sustainability (NBIS) moderated the discussion with Seattle-based executives from a variety of businesses with global footprints.

David Basson, CEO of Greensource Organic Clothing

Valerie Bone, Director of Quality/Corporate Social Responsibility, PMI

David Okrent, Brand Director for Environment for Boeing Commercial Airplanes

Dennis Gawlik, Faculty Member at Bainbridge Graduate Institute and Director of Purchasing Services for the University of Washington

After the presentations the panel joined in a discussion on what sustainability means to each of them. Questions were taken from an enthusiastic audience, and Antioch was pleased to see so many people stick around afterwards to converse with the speakers. It just makes you realize it’s how we harness people energy that will make the business world a better place.