By press release, the Clinton Climate Iniative:

President Bill Clinton today announced several new partnerships to improve the energy efficiency of hundreds of millions of square feet of public and private real estate throughout the United States.

The Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) will partner with the City of Chicago to enable a green overhaul of privately-owned housing around the city, as well as two major landmarks, the Sears Tower and the Merchandise Mart— the country’s tallest and largest buildings, respectively. CCI will also partner with GE Real Estate to identify and implement building retrofit projects across GE Real Estate’s global portfolio. In addition, along with the US Green Building Council (USGBC) and the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), CCI will create a Green Schools Program to retrofit schools and universities across America.

“The tools we need to dramatically reduce our carbon emissions exist today,” said President Clinton. “When it comes to climate change, the hurdles we face aren’t technological, they’re organizational, which is why my foundation is partnering with cities, businesses, nonprofits and schools alike to design systems and programs that reduce energy consumption. I’m grateful to them all for working to show the world that the solution to the climate crisis isn’t far off in the future— it’s in the buildings we inhabit, our civic infrastructure and the way we organize our lives.”

Partnership with the City of Chicago

President Clinton and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley today announced three joint projects between the City of Chicago and CCI’s Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Program, an effort launched in May 2007 that enables cities to implement cost-effective, green retrofits of existing buildings.

"Chicago has always led by example when it comes to protecting the environment,” said Mayor Daley. “The Clinton Climate Initiative will play a major role in helping us reach our goal of making Chicago the most environmentally-friendly city in the country.”

CCI and the City of Chicago will work with the Merchandise Mart, the world’s largest commercial building and largest wholesale design center, and the Sears Tower, the tallest building in America, to complete audits and subsequent overhauls to increase their energy efficiency and reduce their carbon footprints. In addition, CCI is developing a targeted program for energy retrofits of privately-owned, multi-tenant housing in Chicago. Under the auspices of the City’s Department of Housing, building owners will jointly contract for energy performance contracts and use future energy savings to finance the project implementation.

Partnership with GE Real Estate

GE Real Estate is one of the world’s most significant commercial real estate companies, with more than $72 billion and more than 385 million square feet in assets in 31 countries throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia/New Zealand. CCI is partnering with GE Real Estate to identify and implement building retrofit projects across their global portfolio. Work will begin in CCI’s partner cities where GE Real Estate owns significant property.

“The Clinton Climate Initiative and GE Real Estate share the view that improving the environmental performance of existing properties is essential toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing property efficiencies, positively impacting the health of tenants and thereby improving the value of our properties,” said Ron Pressman, President & CEO, GE Real Estate. “As one of the world's largest owners of commercial properties with thousands of buildings in our portfolio, and more added each year, we believe we can make a significant, positive impact on the environment while benefiting our business. This is another great example of GE's ‘green is green’ strategy.”

Green Schools Program

CCI and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) will work with K-12 schools throughout the nation to establish a Green Schools Program to reduce the energy consumption of school buildings.

“We are honored to have partnered with the President’s Climate Initiative to convene this historic effort to green our nation’s schools,” said Rick Fedrizzi, USGBC’s President, CEO & Founding Chair. “Green schools are a powerful demonstration of our commitment to our children's future, and it’s a powerful way to show the next generation how we can all make a difference in this world.”

CCI and the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) will also work together to retrofit hundreds of colleges and universities across the US, helping them to meet their commitment to attain climate neutrality while lowering their energy bills.

Additional partners in the Green Schools Program include: Allegheny College, American Federation of Teachers, Arizona State University, Association of Sustainability in Higher Education, Chicago Public Schools, College of the Atlantic, Council of Educational Facilities Planners International, Dakota County Technical College, EcoAmerica, Earth Day Network, Illinois Association of School Board Members, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, LA Community College District, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Middlebury College, National Association of School Boards, National Education Association, Ohio School Facilities Commission, Rio Rancho Public Schools, Second Nature, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Idaho, University of Illinois at Chicago and Washington, DC Public Schools.

About the Clinton Climate Initiative

Building on his long-term commitment to preserving the environment, President Clinton launched the Clinton Foundation’s Climate Initiative in August 2006 with the mission of applying the Foundation’s business-oriented approach to the fight against climate change in practical, measurable and significant ways. In its first phase, CCI is working with cities around the world to accelerate efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In May 2007, President Clinton announced the creation of a global Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Program, a project of the Clinton Climate Initiative. This program brings together eight of the world’s largest energy service companies, five of the world’s largest banks, and seventeen of the world’s largest cities in a landmark program designed to reduce energy consumption in existing buildings. The program provides both cities and their private building owners with access to the necessary funds to retrofit existing buildings with more energy efficient products, typically leading to energy savings between 20 to 50 percent.

Portland Fashion Week is set to launch another season of sustainable fashions from October 19-24.  Portlanders will be able to watch as local favorites like Anna Cohen, with her moda italiana take on green fashion, and LeAnimal, winner of the 2007 Portland Mercury sustainable fashion show, mix it up on the runway with Nike’s new “Considered” line, and ranks of others.

This week will embrace the innovative departure that leading large and independent labels are making to embrace sustainable practices.  The growing trend toward green fashion has revealed that designers must be just as innovative in their approach to materials as they are to aesthetics if their work is to continue to inspire the public.  Now in it's third year, the PFW will bring us closer to exorcising the tie-dyed ghosts of green fashion past.

Months of robust promotion throughout the Blogosphere will come to a head today as over fifteen thousand blogs participate in Blog Action Day.  The criterian for involvement is simple: bring environmental messaging to your audience in the way you know best.

Thousands of bloggers are sure to fire off a hit parade of changes we can make in our homes and habits to affect positive environmental change during this day of action.  Alas, I will not be doing so.  Rather than emboldening you to pass the day swapping CFLs for incandescents or learning vegan cooking, I'd rather encourage you to get in touch with the values driving us to make such changes. 

Take today to remember why this place might just be worth saving.  Get outside.  Breathe in some crisp fall air.  Dig in the dirt.  Crunch into a ripe [local, organic] fall apple.  Enjoy yourself.  Let inspiration lead to action.

As the 2007 GreenBuild Chicago Expo stands only a month away, I have a confession to make:  I suffer from an intense case of trade show-phobia.  Fellow sufferers, you know what I’m talking about.  There is something about that swirling, flashing thunder dome and its winding labyrinth of displays and booths that always seems to overwhelm.  And yet, the curious thing is that, year after year, I’m mysteriously drawn back  to them.

And so it was that I came to wonder about what, exactly, it is that keeps drawing me back to them.  Recently, it came to me.  It isn’t so much the speakers or forums.  It isn’t the potential to run into celebs or different industry heroes.  And, despite the fact that I’m currently sporting socks from a trade show swag bag as I write this, I know it isn’t even the omnipresent giveaway bags that keep me coming back.  

It’s the people.  It’s the opportunity to experience a coming together of like minds.  Depending on the industry in which we work, we all have our own culture, our own language, and we accordingly circle around certain kinds of discourse.  When we’re at a trade show surrounded by our like-minded peers, we get to let our freak flag fly.  We get to draw upon our industry specific line of acronyms without having to apologetically provide footnotes to our non-industry peers. 

And, as we find ourselves largely on the same page, we begin to take our conversations deeper.  With such conversation defining our interactions, we have an increased opportunity to build the kind of collaborations that catalyze divided efforts into becoming collective progress.   

The question now arises:  how do we shake the fearsome distractions of the trade show while tapping into its relational benefits?

I believe we can find a valuable solution to this quandary presented by the PDX Lounge, a sustainable business network who will be participated in this year’s Greenbuild Expo. Since its conception in 2006, this Portland, Oregon-based collaborative project has actively redefined the nature of the business network.  Assembling diverse regional partners in sustainability, the PDX Lounge has shown value in bridging the divide between urban and rural, and public and private.  Cooperation among diverse interests enables all partners, even those who usually see each other as competitors, to more readily incubate ideas, innovate, and grow.

These bolder strokes of the vision embraced by the PDX Lounge are representative of the way in which we must move green industries – away from competition and into more active collaboration – if we are to remain vital in today’s hypercompetitive business climate. 

But, perhaps more relevant to this discussion on my disdain for trade shows is that the leadership of the PDX Lounge is turning the traditional model of the trade show on its head.  By taking up residence in a hip lounge setting, and replacing the typical barrage of logos and informational displays with sights, sounds, forums, and fashion, the PDX Lounge embraces the reality that most conference attendees would prefer: a personal conversation, cocktail in hand, in a relaxed setting, over a fleeting, business-focused discussion which leaves them merely weighted down with yet another promotional brochure.  I think they’re on to something.

For, at the end of the day, when you return to your hotel room, remove your sustainably-manufactured, fairly-traded shoes and rub your tired feet, you will briefly recall the booths and promotions that outlined your day, but they will soon be forgotten.  The part of your day that you will lastingly consider will be the conversations you shared and the people with whom you shared them.  By cutting out the extraneous fare of this great green exposition and creating an environment that celebrates the importance of interaction and engagement across company and industry lines, the PDX Lounge promises to inspire new meaning, not only in the way we conduct trade shows, but in the way we do business.

And, yes, I hear cocktails will be served.

During one of our think tank’s projects, we put our brains to work on a unique scenario, in which marketing, business development and R&D issues intersected. Here it is: The company in question is an architecture firm. It is a for-profit, values-driven organization that specializes in urban revitalization and sustainable design. The vision: leadership in designing “living buildings,” as defined by the Cascadia Region Green Building Council. The problem: How does this firm fund the research required to stay on the cutting edge of green building knowledge and expertise, while keeping its pricing competitive?

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