Michelle Peiffer

Monday Morning in Urbandale

It’s Monday morning and I’m sitting in a local coffee shop with John Konior, Assistant to the City Manager of Urbandale and one of the leaders in Central Iowa’s movement towards energy efficiency. Less than two months ago, Konior and his team launched ShareGoodEnergy.org, a website dedicated to sharing stories on energy efficiency in our communities.

In 2009, the cities of Ankeny, Des Moines, Urbandale and West Des Moines received an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) to reduce energy consumption and share the lessons they’ve learned in completing projects that save energy and money. Share Good Energy is a twelve month campaign to spotlight what the Des Moines Metro is doing to increase energy efficiency in homes and businesses.

John Konior, ShareGoodEnergy.org

The website highlights the initiatives that these cities have undertaken to conserve energy. For example, Ankeny’s police department recently purchased new hybrid vehicles which are expected to generate fuel savings of $1,300 annually per vehicle, as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Sustainable Change

Urbandale has been looking into three main categories to conserve their energy usage: insulation, heating/cooling and lighting. The city just installed their first solar powered trash compactor and recycling unit this month and will be converting the streetscape on Douglas – from Merle Hay to 72^nd – with new poles and LED lights. In addition to the money saved by using more efficient lighting, the hope is that this will help revitalize the area and create a greater sense of neighborhood.

Everything that the cities are implementing will have a simple payback of seven years or less. “We want to show the residents that we care about both the environment and costs, [that w]e’re being good stewards of their tax dollars,” said Konior.

The most important piece of the campaign is to spark ideas and share information with the public. Technology has come a long way and manufacturers have learned it’s just as much about being convenient as well as being green. In addition to posting the initiatives on the website, representatives from the four cities are going out and speaking with neighborhood organizations on all the simple things as individuals we can do to help reduce energy inefficiencies.

Community Involvement

John Konior, ShareGoodEnergy.org

Some people see energy efficiency as a big, far-flung green theory. Most people don’t realize that the little things they’re already doing like conserving water and lights can have a big impact. “We want to start conversations on energy efficiencies so that people are aware of simple transitions we can all make,” said Konior. “I think the biggest power comes from sharing our stories and showing that these changes are easy, convenient and can reduce future usage.”

The biggest hope from the Share Good Energy campaign is to get more neighborhoods and metro communities involved in the conversation. “Our goal is to get the communities and other cities to share their stories as well,” explains Konior. “I’d love for people to get on to the website and share. Stories as simple as returning bottle deposits, changing lights, or sharing a new rebate incentive will get people excited and connect us with the people and place we call home.”

– Michelle Peiffer is director of communications strategy for Indigo Dawn. Michelle’s motto is ‘Pura Vida,’ a phrase she easily picked up while studying in Costa Rica. It means ‘Pure Life,’ but more importantly it’s a reminder to let go of worries and enjoy the little things in life.

Johanna Hoffman

Beauty and Sustainability

What is beauty?  Who “gets” it? Why have we, as a society, put so much stock in what is “beautiful” that we easily ignore our health, finances, family and other valued portions of our life to achieve that which is considered beautiful?

Let’s take the Green & Main Initiative for example.  As seen through the eyes of someone who lives in the neighborhood yet whose interests are such that they have come to appreciate the simplicity of freshly painted walls, 50-year guaranteed roofing shingles, newly paved concrete driveway and underground sprinkler system as guidelines to a beautiful project may see this initiative as anything BUT able to fit into any one of those categories.  Take yet another neighbor who has learned to appreciate abstract art, building history and aesthetics, sustainability and the “chi” they feel.  Neither neighbor feels that their outlook is particularly beautiful as individual components, but when each neighbors components are all married together, make the beauty they enjoy.

As quoted by Green & Main project innovator and owner, Chaden Halfhill, “People are starting to expect some shade of green in their housing like they used to expect a two-car garage or a certain number of bedrooms.”  Will this “shade of green” be enough to keep the variation of neighbors feeling it meets their individual ideas of beauty?  We certainly hope so.

Crosscut view of soil and live plant material for the vegetative roof.

Incorporating Green Beauty

One way the initiative is incorporating beauty is by the addition of a natural, vegetative roof.  Rooftop Sedum will be assisting Green & Main with the native, indigenous plant material needed to incorporate the efficiencies of the vegetative roof with a pleasing aesthetic look and feel.  As seen by the examples, vegetative rooftop designs can be easy to maintain.  Native plants are to be handpicked by Rooftop Sedum and professionally installed, per LEED and city specifications, and then maintained by the building owner, in this case Indigo Dawn.

Some of the benefits of having native plant material on your roof:

• More aesthetically pleasing than gravel, tar or asphalt
• Reduces the “urban island heat effect”
• Up to 40 decibel reduction in indoor noise, especially benefiting those who live next to an airport
• Helps reduce the risk of fire

Vegetative roof in an urban setting.

Rooftop Sedum is located in Davenport, IA.  Since its inception in 2006, they grow plants native to Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas.  Being a member of the USGBC (United States Green Building Council) was one of the primary reasons they were chosen to provide this product for the Green & Main Initiative.

It is with a great deal of time and patience that we have begun to see the progress on the ‘ole building at 19^th & Center.  It’s actually becoming quite pleasing.  Straight lines of the addition walls as they are being built handshaking with the dirt work being done for the foundation progress. “Keep it up boys, we are on our way!”

Beautiful?  We think so.

– Johanna Hoffman is a database administrator and project manager for Indigo Dawn and the Green & Main Pilot Project. She likes to make smoothies with avocados and fruit, enjoying them in the evening on her second-floor patio.

 

Michelle Peiffer

The Iowa State Fair

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to camp at the Iowa State Fair.

It was a perfect weekend to walk around the 435-acre fairgrounds (admittedly, that includes parking lots and all). The sun was out and there was a breeze to cool us off when the shade wasn’t available.

As a small town Iowa girl who was active in the local 4-H club, I’m proud of the fact that the Iowa State Fair has been ranked as one of the top events in the country. Attracting over a million visitors, it’s an unrivaled picture of all things Americana. The flashing lights of the Midway, the smells from the Cattle Barn, and the waist-busting variety of fried treats are what put Iowa on the map as the only state fair that’s included in the New York Times best-selling travel book, “1000 Places to See Before You Die.”

The Fair is the perfect place to meander about; I’m weaving in and out of the crowd, gazing at the attractions (and attendees) and occasionally treating myself to the smells that win the heart of my stomach. It wasn’t long before I visited the Iowa Pork Producers Booth for a Pork Chop on a Stick. A favorite treat of this year’s fair, I have the pork chop in hand and am happy that I’m not only supporting the local agriculture but I’m also enjoying one of the best tastes produced here in Iowa. Devouring my way down the chop with a conscious effort to not chomp right into the stick, I realize I’m almost at the bottom and still there’s no stick. Where is it, I wonder? I un-wrap the napkin-wrapped ‘stick’ and am surprised to find out that it doesn’t exist! What I’ve been holding onto the entire time has actually been the bone from the chop. I’m silently amazed at how perfectly this chop blends nature and function. What a perfect combination!

A Sustainable Fair Sensibility

Similar to the pilot project Green & Main, finding a balance between traditions and incorporating the needs of the present can easily go hand-in-hand. For example, when Cambria High School needed new gym floors, Green & Main was the perfect recipient to put the salvaged maple flooring to use. Unfortunately, things aren’t always so easy. Like the complicated nature of trying to blend the historic windows with energy efficiency, the pork chop on a stick was actually just one of a very few things at the fair that I would consider a good use of resources.

Trash compactors at the Iowa State Fair

For example, trying to find one of the recycling bins at the Fair, I was acutely aware of the downside in creating such a large event. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the average American generates 4.6 pounds of trash per day. For a million-visitor event such as this, that’s an estimated 4,600,000 pounds of waste generate from humans alone! It was pretty obvious that the majority of this was going to end up as landfill waste.

True, there were 200 recycling containers on the fairgrounds, but how exactly were they distributed over the 435 acres? When I did see a bin within eye sight, it was almost never placed near the garbage, which meant you had to walk to two different sites just to dispose of your waste in somewhat of a socially responsible manner. That’s a lot of work for unmotivated visitors. In fact, I was the only one in our group who took the initiative.  There were a few times when I offered to walk one of my friends’ cups to the recycling container instead of letting it end up in the garbage. This clearly wasn’t the norm; I got blank looks in response that made me think that they were quietly questioning whether or not I was an alien.

Lighted solar cubes at the Iowa State Fair

See, even though I am a small town girl from Iowa, I spent seven years living in the green city of Seattle. This is a place where you are fined if you put recyclables in the garbage. The Seattle Mariners Safeco Baseball Stadium not only has a water collection roof that uses the water collected in the winter to keep the field green during the summer, but it’s also almost 100% compostable – all the vendors use compostable products. When I tell people this (as I was lamenting over the amount of fair accumulated trash) they often get defensive or challenge me to ‘prove’ that sustainable initiatives actually do any good.  I’m completely baffled at how many people don’t care.

Truth is, I think many people assume that it’s too much work to put efforts into green initiatives. While that can definitely be true in some cases, technology and standards of practice are vastly improving. The compostable stance that the Seattle Mariners have taken actually simplifies the entire process. Instead of putting your recycling cup in one container and your waste in another, it all goes into one compostable container – program, beer cup, and hot dog container (with the hot dog, even).

So while there are a million visitors looking at Iowa’s best in agriculture, industry, entertainment and achievement, why isn’t there more on sustainability? Iowa State University had an amazing booth focusing on their multitude of sustainable efforts. There’s also Expo Hill where they are in Phase 1 of an eco-friendly transformation. It’s marked by the giant MidAmerican windmill, a solar cooling bench, solar powered trash compactors and other green initiatives.

A Sustainable Wrap-up

These are great additions to the Fair, but I can’t help thinking about the aftermath. I’m sure a lot of the decisions revolve around economics and the ability to apply green initiatives throughout such a massive event, but isn’t this where we showcase our leaders of the future?  Isn’t this where we have the opportunity to educate our community and show the world how innovative Iowa is?

I don’t claim to have all the answers, but when I go to the Fair next year I’m looking forward to seeing the green initiatives grow. Like the Green & Main project, I understand the challenges of blending practicality with ideology; it’s not something that can easily happen overnight. How we can effectively strike a balance between tradition and green technology will come from a change in how we invest our actions and dollars today to affect the future of tomorrow. Let’s be the leaders in both agriculture and sustainability! After all, wouldn’t protecting our precious land be the ultimate blue ribbon effort to give back to our future farmers and Fair exhibitors?

– Michelle Peiffer is director of communications strategy at Indigo Dawn. She believes the more travel you cross off your list, the longer it actually gets.

Jason Anderson and family.

Pausing in the Green

If you want to meet the man behind all that’s happening at the Green & Main project site, you’ll have to first wait for him to find a good pausing point from whatever project is currently tying up his hands. You must be patient as you get interrupted for a multitude of construction questions, and then make sure that you’re able to squeeze in a time between the meetings he holds with everyone involved in the project.

Even as I’m sitting under a shade tree, probing the brain of Jason Anderson, manager of all on-site things Green & Main, we are distracted by the rush of water flowing full-force from the water hydrant on the corner. It’s an idyllic neighborhood situation – taking a break on the ledge of a retaining wall, chatting about Anderson’s work (and sanity) on a warm, breezy summer day.

However, our conversation is just as purposeful as the water escaping from the hydrant; the flow is actually being tested to determine the pressure capabilities for the water sprinkler system that will be installed in the Green & Main building.

Leading a Vision

Brick masonry wall addition, looking to the north.

I ask Anderson what it takes to head a project of such magnitude and he replies honestly, ‘lots of patience.’ Three years ago when Anderson began reviewing the plans for the building, he was set to be the on-site manager for construction. But as the other team members and leads had to be pulled off the project to satisfy other demands, Anderson quietly slid into the role of the On-Site Manager, or as I like to think of it, Manager of All Things Green & Main.

“Projects and processes are constantly changing as I’m doing things,” he explains. I think of the gushing fire hydrant, the accumulation and technicalities of his work load, and all I can think is, thank goodness that’s not me. This is the real story of Green & Main.

Anderson does his best to explain to me the complexities between blending historic renovation with modern green technology.  It’s “a long tedious process” filled with many LEED compliance meetings and the delicate dance of trying to make everyone happy. The historic preservation team is fighting for the integrity of the building while the environmentalists are defending their position to make this 80-year-old building more energy efficient than 99% of current buildings.

Anderson explains “I design the windows to make them last and then I have to wait 90 days for the preservation committee to review.” If he’s lucky enough to satisfy that group, he still has to make sure he’s fulfilling his promises to others.  “You have to be really open-minded. Technology is always changing. There are times when something is being developed and the project changes right in the middle. You have to be willing to accept the changes.”

Site source separation bins inside the building.

Anderson states he is not an expert in LEED processes, though he is learning rapidly from all the LEED advisors on the project, as the process is a constantly evolving one that involves the contributions and mentoring of many. “I have a much greater appreciation for the technical aspect as it regards historical and green building design.” That’s the polite way of telling the story. Taking a 1930’s masonry building and aspiring to restore it while simultaneously reaching for LEED Platinum certification is no small feat.

The Patience and Energy of Green

We move into conversations regarding his home life, where he and his wife are managing the chaos of raising an 8-year-old son and a 5-year-old daughter. I ask about the similarity between the project and home, to which he replies, “My kids, like my job, require lots of patience. You never know what it’s going to be like from day to day.” Still, he says, “My home life is a lot more relaxing than here.”

Separating work from home life can sometimes be a challenge. However, Anderson is finding that the blend is pretty good. The kids go to school and learn about sustainability which they incorporate into their home recycling programs and water conservation. Not only is he teaching them the value of turning off the water while brushing their teeth, he likes adding more details to what they are learning. “I enjoy expanding on it. A lot of what I say comes from the knowledge and resources from working on Green & Main.”

So while there are definitely days of frustration and difficulty working on-site at the Green & Main project, the reward is great. “I have a passion for remodeling, not just building. I like to give the old stuff new life and keep it there for many more years.” I would like to add that I think it’s a pretty cool adventure. Not too many aspects in life present us with the opportunity to embark upon such a journey of exploration.

You’ve just met our top astronaut.

– Michelle Peiffer is director of communications strategy for Indigo Dawn. She daydreams of her recent year backpacking through 22 countries, longing for days of village explorations and weaving in and out of markets.

Ann Wilde

A Midwestern Youth

For those of us who remember growing up in the Midwest decades ago, the concept of cohousing isn’t far off from what we experienced in our typical neighborhoods.

As for me, I grew up in the 60’s and the 70’s with hundreds (it seemed) of other kids running amok around a two-block square, and we needed “special permission” to cross streets into “other” neighborhoods. All the parents knew us and knew our parents and it wasn’t uncommon to be corrected by just about any adult who happened to be around to witness what we were up to.

Our parents would get together in their backyards for drinks and barbeques. We invited neighbors over for dinner and there was always someone around to help move furniture, babysit kids or just to shoot the breeze with. Everyone knew the elderly neighbor and pitched in to shovel a sidewalk or run an errand. Even in the dead of winter, we found reasons and ways to get out of the house and congregate. Although we moved away when I was in grade school, I was raised in part of that micro-community… and I can still remember the inside of every single one of the houses on those two blocks.

Living in Northern California

As an adult, I lived for a few years in northern California. (First a disclaimer: northern California is a beauuuutiful place with many wonderful people and you cannot beat the perfect weather.) For a couple years my husband and I lived in a newer suburban area in San Jose. The houses were built with yards all enclosed by 8-foot wood fences. Each had an attached garage extending from the front of the house, with the front door of the house recessed and hidden just to the side of the garage.

On the day we moved in, during the process of unloading our belongings, a neighbor crossed the street to inform us of the places we could, and could not, park on the street. An interesting way to welcome us to the neighborhood, I thought. But as we discovered over the next two years, this was about as much interaction as most people would have on the street. Cars pulled in garages, people went inside and that was that. I had my first child while living in that neighborhood. No one there acknowledged this event or even seemed to notice, despite that we regularly greeted neighbors while walking our colicky infant up and down the street every night.

These were not bad, unkind people. This is just “the way things are” in a hectic, more cautious and transient world. But both my husband and I began experiencing a deep sense of isolation and total lack of community just as we were starting our family.

In the Midwest once Again

For me, the beginning of my move toward a more caring and community-minded life began with us picking up and moving back to Iowa (sans jobs) where we both grew up. Although Des Moines was still three hours from “home” and family, it was better than thousands of miles. And I had hoped that we would find more of a sense of community in a Midwest culture. And indeed, on the day we moved in, at least five of our new neighbors stopped by with cookies and houseplants and other offerings to welcome us.

However, I am still searching. As great as my neighborhood is (I LOVE you guys — to all my West Des Moines neighbors reading this!), I still believe that there is a way for people to live more efficiently and caringly together. Don’t get me wrong, my husband and I have very independent natures, and we truly need our own space. But yet as I plan “play dates” for my youngest, as I struggle to balance work and managing a large house and yard, and as I berate myself for not taking the time to make and nurture some of my own friendship, I wonder why has it changed so much from that neighborhood I grew up in? And is there a way back to that kind of quality of life – for my kids, for my husband, for me?  I don’t know if cohousing is for us.

I admit I took on Part I of this article without having any idea what cohousing was. However, since then I’ve read two books, spent a number of hours on www.cohousing.org and other cohousing sites, attended a presentation by Charles Durrett and took my girls out to visit Turtle Farm. Right now I’m thinking: there really may be something to this.

– Ann Wilde is a Des Moines marketing strategist and writer who also has a special interest in preserving and creating sustainable communities. She likes to make weekly spreadsheets then recycle them.

Charles Durrett Leads Cohousing Discussion

Charles Durrett

During the middle of last month in Des Moines, Iowa, a diverse group of interested individuals, couples and families attend a presentation by Charles Durrett. Durrett, credited with introducing a contemporary European cohousing model for use in North America, spoke in an hour-long discussion entitled “Cohousing, Community and the Value of Custom Neighborhoods.” Durrett outlined many of the basic concepts, philosophies and practicalities of cohousing. The presentation was sponsored by Turtle Farm Cohousing Community, Indigo Dawn, Silent Rivers and RDG Planning & Design.

An award-winning architect and leader in the North American cohousing movement, Durrett and his wife, Kathryn McCamant, now lead McCamant & Durrett Architects. They have designed and consulted in 50 U.S. cohousing communities and are the authors of the book Creating Cohousing: Building Sustainable Communities (3rd edition).

Cohousing : “High-Functioning” Neighborhoods

With about 100 people in attendance, Durrett began his presentation at the Windsor Heights Community Center, augmented by projected images of cohousing developments in the U.S that he had worked on or developed.

“What people have realized is that their lives could be better by working together and giving your neighbors the benefit of the doubt,” said Durrett. “And what evolves out of the development of a cohousing community is a high-functioning neighborhood that is organized, planned and managed by the residents themselves.”

Durrett described the four crucial elements of developing a successful cohousing community as:

• The community should be designed by residents working together to create the neighborhood.
• The community should include extensive common facilities such as a large common house, green areas and gardens.
• The community should be self-managed by the residents.
• The community should be sustainable over time.

A cohousing community in Nevada City, California.

Durrett’s own neighborhood is a cohousing community in Nevada City, California. He developed and designed the community along with the other residents of this 34-unit neighborhood. Of his own experience, Durrett said, “Our cohousing community is what used to happen naturally in neighborhoods – it feels like a little village.”  You can learn more about Nevada City Cohousing here.

Overall, the audience for Durrett’s presentation left with a positive assessment, filling out survey and comment cards for additional information regarding their interest about the possible cohousing community developing at Turtle Farm in Granger, Iowa.

“I’d say that we had about 85% of the audience that night fill out surveys and ask for additional information,” stated Chaden Halfhill, owner of Silent Rivers and Indigo Dawn, co-sponsors of Durrett’s presentation in Des Moines. “There was a diverse group of people in attendance and who expressed interest. The most common questions I heard were about financing for the project and how the development process would evolve. I expect more than adequate interest in the Turtle Farm Cohousing Development that will then keep it moving forward into the planning stages.”

Those who were interested in being part of the Turtle Farm Cohousing Community were invited to view the property at an open house held on Saturday, July 16, two days following the discussion.

Turtle Farm

Angela Tedesco at Turtle Farm.

Located just off Highway 17 in Granger, Iowa, Turtle Farm is currently a 20-acre, privately owned and certified organic fruit and vegetable farm. Owner Angela Tedesco operates this farm as Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). The CSA is a partnership between growers and CSA members who share costs of supporting the farm, including the risks. In turn, members receive local, fresh and wholesome food that’s grown in a sustainable and responsible manner by farmers that they know.

The Turtle Farm Cohousing Community

On a hot and humid July morning, Angela Tedesco of Turtle Farm welcomed more than 20 visitors, mostly from Charles Durrett’s presentation on July 14, to her organic farm and the stretch of land that lies behind her crops. They all came to talk about the potential future of Turtle Farm Cohousing Community.

Walking up the gravel road toward the expanse of open land and the wooded area that borders it, Tedesco talked about why the idea of creating a cohousing development on Turtle Farm appealed to her.

“I have owned and farmed this land for 13 years. As my husband and I plan for our own future and retirement, we’ve discussed a number of options. One of those would obviously be to sell the farm and hope that it would continue to be used as an organic farm and CSA,” said Tedesco. “But the idea we were most drawn to was to create a planned neighborhood, sharing the organic farm and a cohousing community. Our vision statement is simple: To preserve Turtle Farm by creating a model of a diverse, sustainable, cohousing community.”

Tedesco and others interested in Turtle Farm Cohousing Community state that they envision a new model for urban agriculture that places cohousing on the non-farmed portions of the land. The community owns the farm in common, so it can continue to exist as a farm to feed the community or to remain as an income-generating resource, serving residents of central Iowa.

Nancy Rambo and Donald Bustell have joined Angela and John Tedesco in forming TFCC, LLC to support the Turtle Farm Cohousing project.  Together they are moving forward to bring Durrett and McCamant to Iowa in October to lead a “Getting It Built” workshop for the next step in the process.

Indigo Dawn and Silent Rivers

A major proponent and leader of developing and building sustainable communities in Iowa is Chaden Halfhill. Along with others at Indigo Dawn and Silent Rivers, Halfhill’s efforts have been instrumental in helping to increase awareness and education on initiatives such as Turtle Farm and cohousing in Iowa.

“Our work in developing, designing and building sustainable sites makes the cohousing initiative a natural fit for both Indigo Dawn and Silent Rivers,” said Halfhill. “Indigo Dawn’s mission is to champion the initiative for preserving and developing sustainable communities everywhere, not just here in the Midwest. The cohousing movement definitely supports the philosophies of sustainability. We hope that Turtle Farm Cohousing Community is just one of many to be developed in Iowa.”

How to Learn More about Turtle Farm Cohousing Community

If you would like to get involved with the Turtle Farm Cohousing project, please contact Michelle Peiffer, Director of Communications Strategy for Indigo Dawn.  She may be reached at Michelle@indigo-dawn.com.

For a personal account of exploring cohousing, please see Ann’s article here.

– Ann Wilde is a Des Moines marketing strategist and writer who also has a special interest in preserving and creating sustainable communities. Ann prefers it when people include the ‘e’ in her last name and not in her first.

Johanna Hoffman

Profiles in Green is an on-going series on how people incorporate or express sustainability in their lives.

Growing Up and Through

Green & Main, “a pilot project improving the renovation of an abandoned mixed-use brick building located at 800 19th Street in the Sherman Hill Historic District” (as described by sharegoodenergy.org), was just a rundown brick building that my friends and I used to drive by as we came from the city’s west side to hit “the loop.”

In the years since actively chasing boys at the loop, peppered with heart break, a few too many alcoholic beverages, late nights and a family with children who are now grown and following their own paths, I evolved from being a child growing up in the ‘70’s to early ‘80’s into an individual who is conscious of what I put in my body – both internally and externally.

I have made a number of life changes, each of which has left a mark someplace, much like a grove of trees leveled for parking expansion or driving down what used to be a “top notch” neighborhood to see that 1/3 of the housing stock is vacant, abandoned and generally an eye-sore. I did not want to be an eye-sore any longer (to myself or others I cared about) and I began to really evaluate my time here on Earth. Beginning with the impact I make by choosing the services I use, the products I purchase and where my money comes from, I began with me. Next, I looked at the people in my life and what I liked about them. I began to immerse myself in books and groups that supported my growing and changing interests. The long and short of it is that I began a more holistic approach to life.

Life Changes and Sustainability

More recently, I was temporarily living in a type of communal environment with a free-spirited Reiki master, whom I found through holistic connections. My personal interests in health, healing and the earth all manifested into one very obvious move for me to make – dump my then dead-end job in Pella that I commuted to daily (I might as well have picked Timbuktu) from Des Moines and apply at Indigo Dawn (the development company that owns Green & Main and is also responsible for producing the Natural Living Expo and its newest addition, the Healthy Living Expo). I was in HOG HEAVEN! I had sustainability on all levels at home and at my job.

This move meant giving up certain niceties like paid vacation, sick time and health benefits. However, I felt more at home and I was doing something I valued in all parts of my life. As a side note, years previously I had purchased a Victorian home in Riverbend and went through the multi-year process of restoring it. Because the house was on the National Register of Historic Places, I was able to apply for grants from the city and state.

So, take my interest in historic residences and couple it with holistic sensibilities and we have how I became interested in Green & Main. And, in the process…Whoa…I gained a life.

Editor’s note: For other comments by Johanna Hoffman, visit here.

– Johanna Hoffman is a database administrator and project manager for Indigo Dawn and the Green & Main Pilot Project. She loves to drum and to dance.

Jean Danielson

Report on Green Jobs and the Economy

Our Monday postings include information on the integration of green technology and building science.  The flavor of today’s posting is marinated with green jobs, the economy and how these jobs are developed for the short and long-term.

In the middle of July, the Brookings Institute issued a report on green jobs assessment. Talking about green jobs – whether in construction, agriculture, healthcare industry or forestry – is consistently difficult to define. Given one’s perspective, green jobs could have anything to do with sustainability (including makers of Smart Cars to people who paper-push, then recycle) to task-based jobs that create or manage (manufacturers of solar panels to websites that house online, real-time meetings that dramatically lessen the use of oil and gas for travel).

Additional Questions to Ask

In April, Chaden Halfhill and I went to the Northern Plains and Rocky Mountain Consortium Green Jobs Conference in downtown Des Moines. This was a two-day conference in which labor market specialists, economists and a host of others answered questions that included:

• “What are the new and emerging technologies in green energy?”
• “How many people work in green jobs?”
• “Are green skills different from non-green skills?”
• “What does green mean to economic development?

As there was much to cover, the speakers addressed these topics individually in their totality or through the lens of a profession or region. The methodologies were critical in discussing how the data was obtained, but what was of bottom-line importance included the following: 1) Does the government or the private sector initiate greater, more sustained growth? 2) Is the citizenry provided with enough information about the green technology growth sectors so it knows how to make employment and resources decisions? 3) How can training in green jobs be facilitated more quickly for displaced workers?

The answers were similar to the conclusions in the Brookings Institute report.

One of the important pillars identified is for both private and government sectors to work in tandem to stimulate the economy, create jobs and encourage innovation. The Green & Main Pilot Project in Sherman Hill is a prime example of this collaboration, leading to jobs not only created but maintained.  The positive impact of this demonstration building on multiple communities, and the combining of building science and green technologies, is invaluable. It provides tangible examples for home owners, building professionals and small-town community revitalists on forward-looking possibilities.

When you have a chance, check out the report.

– Jean Danielson is director of operations for Indigo Dawn. She is just beginning to read a 900-page novel, The Instructions, and hopes to have it read before the Mayan calendar ends.

Frank Lloyd Wright

Sustainable Building and Cooperative Housing

Like a number of other architects of his era, such as Daniel Burnham and the French early modernist Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright became interested in urban and community planning and gave it considerable attention throughout his career.

While it cannot be said that Wright was a direct pioneer of sustainable building and cooperative housing, several of his principles and practices in the areas of small-home construction and social planning looked ahead to these movements (I’ll talk about some connections to cohousing in this post and to sustainability in a future one).

Progressive Architecture

Wright was a progressive architect who believed architecture had a moral, social and even spiritual purpose—that the spaces people lived in shaped their values and quality of life. So it is not surprising that social planning would attract his attention. Also informing his views were the Progressive movement’s support for cooperative action and self-ownership of homes, farms and places of employment—in other words, self-sustaining and self-determining communities that practiced cooperative decision-making.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s futuristic drawing of a Broadacre City community.

As early as 1900-1901 Wright had developed a ‘Quadruple Block Plan’ in which each home would be placed in an one-acre circle with commonly held and maintained landscaped parcels floating between the circles. His grander vision for community living came later, a proposal he called Broadacre City. In this plan, each family had a home on an acre of land each (hence the name “Broadacre”).

These homes would be grouped around open green space and community buildings which would be centers for the arts, recreation and relaxation, worship and education; however, the effect was more like a medieval village than a modern suburb. Each community would be self-contained and self-sufficient. While the auto made the creation of these communities in exurban locations possible, cars themselves would be pushed to the periphery of each settlement to make the community pedestrian-friendly.

In an upcoming post I’ll talk about sustainable design and Wright’s approach to the affordable single-family home, which has some Iowa connections.

– Joel Schorn is an editor and writer in Chicago who is also a volunteer tour interpreter with the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust. He does not think Thursday is the new Friday.