February/March 2009
Sustainable Development
C O N T E N T S
Executive Director's Corner: Crossing The Potomoc
LEED: Fort Carson Building Awarded First Army LEED Gold
Neighborhood Development: LEED Neighborhood Development in Colorado
Recyling News: Some Thoughts on Recycling Old Office Furnishings
Sustainable Development: Creating a Sustainable Future
Getting Green Done: Forgive Me Father, I Don't Have the Money
Sustainable Strategy: Creating Effective Collaboration and Leadership Tactics
Executive Director's Corner: Major Speaker Announced for May Conference
Metro Branch Update: Denver Metro Branch is Looking for Volunteers
VISION
Promote responsibility for Colorado's environmental legacy.
MISSION
Advance and promote sustainable planning, design, construction and operation of the built environment through education, improving industry guidelines, policy advocacy, and information and resource sharing.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Dana Kose, Chair
Universal Development Company
Jim Bradburn, Vice Chair, Chair Elect
RMH Group
Megan Christensen, Secretary US LendLease Communities
Sebastian De Atucha, Treasurer
3BY
Clay Benson, Director at Large Mortenson Construction
Mike Lowell, Director, Advocacy US GSA
Bobby Molinary, Director, Membership
Julie Edwards, Director, Education
Oz Architecture
Matt Arabasz, Director, Northern Colorado Branch
RB+B Architects, Inc.
Joshua Radoff, Director, Resource Development, and Communications
YRG Sustainability Consultants
Bethany Trumble, Director, Southern Colorado Branch Farnsworth Group, Inc.
Liz Sharrer, Director, Metro Branch
Holland & Hart
Mike Kolesar, Director, Emerging Green Builders Facilities Engineering Associates
Deb Kleinman, Executive Director
USGBC Colorado Chapter
Colorado Building Green is the official newsletter of the U.S. Green Building Council – Colorado Chapter, and is published bi-monthly. If you are interested in submiting a story, ideas or other information for publication, please contact the editor at dgloffreda@msn.com
Creating A Sustainable Future
Twenty eight students from CSU, CU and the University of Costa Rica join Professors Brian Dunbar and Alejandro Ugarte in Costa Rica to study sustainable development and green building.
By Clayton Bartczak and Helene Gotthelf, CSU graduate students
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The Institute for the Built Environment and the Department of Construction Management at Colorado State offered the first of a planned annual course in Costa Rica, in collaboration with the University of Costa Rica. 28 students from CSU, CU and the University of Costa Rica joined Professors Brian Dunbar and Alejandro Ugarte for 11 days in early January to study sustainable development and green building in a country that continues to search for ways to protect its rich ecological heritage. The students gained knowledge on sustainability, culture, and green building, and collectively left the setting with an urgent, yet hopeful will to better connect the built environment with the natural environment. The following is an account of the class, written by two students from the graduate program in Sustainable Building in the Dept. of Construction Management at CSU.
“I see skies of blue, clouds of white, bright blessed days, dark sacred nights. And I think to myself, what a wonderful world”…and thus, our trip began. Brian Dunbar, our professor from Colorado State University (CSU), had given us our first assignment - listen to Louis Armstrong, look out among the lagoons of Palo Verde National Park, and breathe in the humidity.
During the first morning, we learned we were just two among twenty six other students: eight Costa Rican students (Ticos, as they fondly call themselves) and eighteen other students from Colorado representing both CSU and the University of Colorado at Denver (UCD). The course was led by two outstanding professors, Brian Dunbar from CSU and Alejandro Ugarte from the University of Costa Rica (UCR). Although everyone came from diverse cultural and educational backgrounds, it was clear that we all came to make a positive impact on the world through a better understanding of sustainability and green building.
The classes were amazing. We had a total of seventeen class sessions in eleven different settings. We learned while celebrating the sun at Playa Hermosa, overlooking lagoons at Palo Verde National Park, during a tour of the Monteverde Cloud Forest, sketching in an old barn, within forest classrooms, and the list goes on. We were constantly connected to our surroundings in a way that is impossible to achieve inside a traditional classroom. Because we spent so much time outside, we were able to experience a plethora of wildlife. Everyone was “ooing” and “ahhing” at Iguanas, Spider Monkeys, Tarantulas, Wild Pigs, Howler Monkeys, Crocodiles, Quetzals, and other fascinating animals many of us had never seen before. Not to mention the variety of fauna, especially at Monteverde. We came to realize the majesty of all living creatures of the world. Being close to such a variety and abundance of life reminded us that we all share the same home and that we must therefore all do our part to protect it.