Terry Tempest Williams is an author, public lands conservationist and activist, and naturalist. Her most current book is The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks, and she has won the Robert Marshall Award, the Distinguished Achievement Award, the Wallace Stegner Award, the David R. Brower Conservation Award, and many more. Terry delivered the Opening Night keynote address at our Living Future unConference this past May in Portland, OR, and I had the opportunity to sit down with her before her keynote and talk with her about her message, our sense of place, and what gives her hope as an environmental steward. While Terry calls Utah home, at the time of our interview, she was living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as a Writer-In-Residence at the Harvard Divinity School. 

Alaina Kowitz: When I think about you, I think of public lands conservation and conservation of wild places. How does that overlap with green buildings? What kind of message are you hoping to give our green building community here tonight?

Terry Tempest Williams: I think you have to be true to who you are, and so for me to talk about green building and urban landscapes wouldn’t be very authentic. I know nothing about them except for I appreciate them. What I think we have in common is the source of our inspiration, which is the earth itself. And so I’m going to be talking about a liturgy of home. We know that these are ecological issues. We know they’re political issues. We know they’re social issues, issues of justice. But I think at the core, they’re spiritual issues.

And if we are talking about sustainability, be it a building or a national park—what sustains us—I think we have to ask the question are we living sustainable lives? Are we taking care of ourselves as we take care of the earth? If we’re all exhausted and type A personalities and running on a treadmill, then it doesn’t matter if we’re on Wall Street or if we’re in Portland, Oregon.

It’s a call to slow down, and pay attention, and not look away from the hard things. So I think I’m talking about internal landscapes as well as external ones.

AK: For people who won’t be able to attend your keynote tonight, what will the top three biggest takeaways be?

TTW: For each of us to find not only our sense of place, but an ethical place. I’m calling that a liturgy of home. To slow down and reflect, and in so doing, act. This isn’t a talk about reflective activism and what that looks like. I think it’s about the very real fact that we are not the only species that lives and breathes on this planet, and how important it is to remember that.

Whether it’s a bison, whether it’s the Mariposa Grove in Yosemite, or whether it’s our own backyards… to be mindful of the fact that the supremacy of our own species is exactly at the expense of others. And I think especially in our urban landscapes—I’m living in a city right now in Cambridge, Massachusetts—it’s very easy to think we’re it, and we’re not.

So that’s one of my main points. And then the other is: we all fall in love with the world. The challenge today is can we continue to fall in love with the world when our hearts are broken? So I think it’s to not be fearful of the grief that we’re experiencing, as so much of the world as we know it is changing.

And I’m particularly aware of that, living in Utah, in the desert right now, which is under siege by oil and gas and fossil fuel companies, even uranium mining, which is being activated even at the expense of this fragile red rock desert, sacred lands to many tribes, Hopi, Navajo, Zuni, and the Ute nations. So this talk is about not only finding beauty in a broken world but creating beauty in the world we find.

AK: You said that right now you’re living in the city. What role do you see cities playing in the environmental movement in the near future?

TTW: In many ways, I think cities are more ecological than suburbs. We live in the desert, and we have a small community. We try to be sustainable, but in many ways, I think a city like New York City or Portland serve more people in a dense way, rather than fewer people in a sprawling way. And in that way, I’m loving where we’re living because we don’t have a car. We walk everywhere. It’s a much more engaged experience than living in a place like Salt Lake City. Here, you can take mass transit. But growing up on the outskirts of Salt Lake, you were driving. You were driving to the University of Utah. You were driving downtown. You were driving everywhere.

Now we’re catching up. But I think it’s imperative that cities follow the blueprint on ethos that is here in a place like Portland or Seattle or even Boston.

AK: That point that you made about it not being very sustainable to live out in less dense areas…it’s a balance between where is your place, one that really speaks to you, and then how do you live in a way that isn’t detrimental to the environment? Living in Seattle, I feel like I run into that a lot.

TTW: I’m in the Harvard Divinity School, and to me, some of the most fascinating projects that are happening at the University are in the Design Department, where people are really talking about what does regeneration look like, and how do we resacralize our cities and forests? I think the really big questions are being asked there.

AK: So how do you find nature and that spirituality of connecting with a place? How do you find that in a city?

TTW: Well, I think for me, it’s always about listening and talking to the people who live there. I lived in New York City for a while, and I absolutely loved those primary moments, where the forsythia would be blooming, it was a blue sky, and suddenly a cardinal would land. And you’d have this yellow, red, blue moment. Or when you see a lunar eclipse between the canyons of skyscrapers. Or you go to a place like Central Park, which we did often, and see the migration of warblers.

I had a friend whose job, sadly, was picking up migratory birds that had slammed into windows on Wall Street. You don’t think about that. And then certainly in Boston, you’ve got the Boston Harbor. You’ve got whales off the coast. And I’m very mindful with these nor’easters that we’ve had, what a phenomenon that is. I’ve never really seen horizontal rain. I’ve never been so aware of trees. Where I come from, the trees are shoulder height, with Pinyon and Juniper. I think every city has its ecosystem, regardless of where you are.

And to be mindful of where the water comes from, or where the waste goes. Again, it’s looking at sources where the power plants are, the infrastructure.

AK: Things that might not be visible as you’re going about your daily life.

TTW: And what makes a livable city? Spaces of light, spaces of quiet.

AK: One of the things we try to accomplish at the conference is to inspire people to continue creating positive change in the world. What is a story that has inspired you, maybe when things are hard, to continue to fight the good fight or continue to create positive change?

TTW: At this moment, what’s inspiring me are the tribes who are really leading the way of sustaining sacred lands in the face of extremely draconian practices of the Trump administration. It appears that Ryan Zinke in the Department of Interior and Scott Pruitt in the EPA care very little about native people and what they are asking for.

I remember talking to Willie Grayeyes after Bears Ears had been gutted as a national monument by Donald Trump on December 4th of 2017. And I said, “Willie, what do I do with my anger?” And he said, “Terry, it can no longer be about anger. It has to be about healing.” And that’s what I see them doing. They are in ceremony. They are telling stories. They are doing spirit runs. They are remembering who they are, and where they come from, and what sustains them. And that’s been a really powerful model for me. I think our tendency—and I’ll speak as a privileged white person—is to fight harder, be more fierce. I’m now seeing a different definition of what ferocity means, a different definition of what fighting means, of really holding your ground with tremendous dignity and courage and a very deep history of enduring grace. So that, to me, is where I am taking my inspiration from.

And ironically, being away from home, I’m getting a sharper sense of what home is and how precious these lands really are in terms of public lands and public commons, and how we really can’t take them for granted.

That’s what I’m thinking about. How do we bring such disparate interests, and people, and populations, and urban and rural and wild together? What is our shared story? And for me, it really is about how do we create just communities that take into consideration both the human and the wild together?

AK: Do you have a vision of what that kind of community would look like?

TTW: I have to say, I think Portland is a really beautiful model, as is Seattle. The Pacific Northwest has been commanding in their leadership of urban spaces and wild spaces and what that looks like, and also in relationship to native people and urban spaces. I think California also has taken the lead.

In the interior West, I think we’ve really taken a lot for granted, but there was so much space that we just kept sprawling. So you have big cities like Denver, or Albuquerque, or Phoenix, or Salt Lake, and I don’t think they’re ecological, especially in the desert. Our use of water is appalling, and the number of golf courses, those kinds of things. So I think we have a lot to learn.

AK: Do you have any advice for people like me who might just be starting out in our careers and working to make a positive difference in the world?

TTW: I think it’s about finding your passion. And really, I’m very aware of what gives me energy, and I’m very aware of what takes my energy. When you find what you’re passionate about, then there’s endless energy and serendipitous moments, and doors just keep opening. I’m very aware when I’m not on my path—it’s obstacle after obstacle after obstacle. So by paying attention to our bodies, paying attention to our energy level, paying attention to our own sense of purpose, you can really find out what you care about.

And we need you. I’ve always been aware that conservation in all its manifestations is a generational stance. It’s never about winning. It’s always about showing up, and speaking truth to power, and not being afraid, not looking away, but to really stay with the troubles. And I know the people who did that for me, and hopefully you will carry that on. And that to me is how we continue to take care of the earth. And it doesn’t take a lot of people. It just takes committed people.

This interview has been edited for clarity. Thank you for your wisdom, Terry! 

Alaina Kowitz: Where do you live and what do you do?

Amanda Oborne: I live right here in Portland, Oregon, and am on a mission to fix our food system! I lead a team of passionate and creative individuals at Ecotrust who help Pacific Northwest schools, hospitals, colleges, and other institutions connect and buy from local farmers, ranchers, and fishers, and create the infrastructure networks to make those relationships work at scale.

AK: What are you most excited about for this year’s Living Future unConference?

AO: I’m on a panel with a couple of incredible women who are changing the world – Lane Selman in particular is literally influencing what’s in the ground and on menus at the hottest restaurants in Portland and Seattle. She works with chefs to translate the tastes and flavors on which they’re fascinated, and connects them with plant breeders and farmers to adapt seeds from cuisines of the world to grow right here in the Northwest. She’s taking local food to a whole new level.

AK: Can you give us a taste of what you’ll be talking about in your session at Living Future?

AO: My part of the conversation will probably focus on meat. Meat has by far the biggest economic footprint and the biggest ecological footprint of anything in our food system, so if we change the game in meat, we change the whole game. First meat game-changer is to eat less of it, so hurray for folks motivated to become vegan or vegetarian, or to simply shift toward more plant-based diets. When we do eat meat, ideally it would be from integrated farming systems that build soil, improve nutrition, and treat animals well.

AK: Where do you think we should be focusing as a sustainability community in 2018?

AO: I would like to see us think collaboratively about how to measure whole systems, rather than just component parts. It’s a simple idea in concept, but incredibly challenging in practice.

AK: If you’ve been to Living Future before, what’s your favorite thing about the conference?

AO: I am always blown away by the caliber of the keynote speakers. I’ve seen Raj Patel before and find him one of the most eloquent and entertaining speakers out there talking about food and economic systems, so I can’t wait to hear what he has to say.

AK: What’s the most exciting thing that has happened to you over the past couple of years?

AO: Last year we launched a new project in Portland called the Redd on Salmon Street. It is part food hub, part entrepreneurial incubator, and part living laboratory for growing the regional food system. Home to exciting start-ups like B-Line Sustainable Urban Delivery and New Foods Kitchen, and the national headquarters of the innovative nonprofit, FoodCorps, the Redd is ground zero for collaborative innovation and a model of regenerative design in its own right.

Attend Amanda’s panel and other inspiring sessions at Living Future this May: livingfutureunconference.org

Alaina Kowitz: Where do you live and what do you do?

Drew Shula: I’m Founder & Principal at Verdical Group. We’re a green building consulting firm headquartered in Los Angeles. We work with our clients to build high performance projects, and we also throw the nation’s largest annual net zero building conference. Our built environment work is super diverse and includes: building certifications like LEED and Living Building Challenge, net zero energy, sustainability master planning, and technical services like energy modeling, and commissioning. We like to say we’re a full service green building shop, but what we really do is inspire our clients to build the best possible future. We want to see the built environment function in harmony with the natural environment.

AK: What are you most excited about for this year’s Living Future unConference?

DS: Hanging with my tribe. Living Future brings together an incredible group of sustainability leaders and I look forward to both seeing old friends, and meeting incredible new people. I always leave the conference recharged and inspired to dive back into my work making a positive impact on the world.

AK: Can you give us a taste of what you’ll be talking about in your session at Living Future?

DS: I’m speaking on a panel of changemakers from companies who are leading the way to redefine what it means to be “corporate.” These are for-profit companies that have achieved a B Corporation certification or a JUST label. These business certifications are all about transparency and measuring how a company can be well rounded — giving back to the environment, community and employees, rather than being solely focused on financial profit. Verdical Group is a B Corp and I’ll be speaking about our journey to certification, the challenges we faced, and the positive impact it’s had on our company and all those we touch.

AK: Where do you think we should be focusing as a sustainability community in 2018?

DS: Net zero. California often leads the way for the nation on environmental issues, and the upcoming California building code changes to require net zero residential building by 2020 and net zero commercial building by 2030, are a huge deal. 2020 is less than 2 years away! We’ve seen significant growth in our Net Zero Conference over the past four years since it’s inception and we see the momentum continuing to build in the years to come as we move toward 2030, but it will take a lot of work to realize a net zero future.

AK:If you’ve been to Living Future before, what’s your favorite thing about the conference?

DS: The keynote speakers are always amazing — a few of my past favorites have been Van Jones, Naomi Klein, and Denis Hayes.

AK: What’s the most exciting thing that has happened to you over the past couple of years?

DS: Watching Verdical Group take off from a start-up to a more established company has been really exciting for me as a Founder. Sometimes I can’t believe how cool the projects are that we’re working on and I feel so lucky to go to work every day with our awesome team. On the personal side I’d have to say anything my daughters Acadia (age 7) and Cali (age 3) do is exciting for me, because there are so many firsts! Reading, riding a bike, swimming, walking…. Watching your kids learn really tunes you in to the beauty of every day life and see the world through young eyes again.

Attend Drew’s panel and other inspiring sessions at Living Future this May: http://2018.livingfutureunconference.org/ 

Alaina Kowitz: Where do you live and what do you do?

Joel Cesare: I live in Venice Beach, CA. My day job is Sustainable Building Advisor for the City of Santa Monica. I also run an action-sports, sharing-economy startup called StokeShare and serve on the Executive Committee of the Surfrider Foundation.

AK: What are you most excited about for this year’s Living Future unConference?

JC: I am excited for the unexpected inspirational moment that Living Future always provides. This will be my fifth Living Future. What makes it the best conference in the world is the guarantee that I will learn fascinating new ideas, meet incredible leaders, and witness groundbreaking projects come to life.

AK: Can you give us a taste of what you’ll be talking about in your session at Living Future?

JC: The City of Santa Monica is building the world’s first municipal full Living Building Challenge project, our 50k-square-foot addition to City Hall. Our session will illuminate how our design team navigated the numerous regulatory challenges we encountered to make it happen and how city leaders maintained their commitment to the Living Building Challenge in the face of some public opposition.

AK: Where do you think we should be focusing as a sustainability community in 2018?

JC: Urgency. The world needs more Living Buildings and Living Communities and we need them now. I’m proud to be a part of the ILFI movement but I worry about its slow adoption in the private sector. The world’s natural systems don’t have time for us to be patient. How can we make this movement scale faster?

AK: What’s your favorite thing about Living Future?

JC: The people I meet. I am always in awe at the brilliant, passionate, incredibly hard-working people I meet who are spending their professional lives trying to make the world a better place.

AK: What’s the most exciting thing that has happened to you over the past couple of years?

JC: I am the project manager for a building that will be in the conversation for the world’s greenest building. It feels important. I dreamed of being part of something that matters. Going to work every day trying to meet the demands of the Living Building Challenge is pretty special. As Denis Hayes once said, “In any rational world this is the future of architecture.”

Register for the Living Future unConference to hear Joel’s session: 2018.livingfutureunconference.org

1. Network with the Best

The Living Future unConference brings together the leading minds of regenerative design, green building, and sustainable architecture. This is where introductions are made, ideas flow, and inspiration is sparked. Don’t miss out on this once-a-year opportunity to meet peers and thought-leaders alike who value the planet and each other. From chatting between sessions to meeting on the afterparty dance floor, there are ample opportunities at Living Future to make connections that last.

2. Raj Patel

There are some who literally believe that award-winning author and activist Raj Patel is the messiah. Look it up. Or just come to LF18 to listen to his keynote and then decide for yourself. Even after getting degrees from the University of Oxford, the London School of Economics and Cornell University, Patel seemingly still hasn’t gotten enough of academic life and is a research professor and associate at the University of Texas in Austin and Rhodes University in South Africa. He focuses his work on the global food crisis, food politics, and economics. He may not actually be the messiah, but his work suggests that he is, in fact, saving the world.

3. Terry Tempest Williams

Naturalist. Conservationist. Advocate. Feminist. Writer. Award winner. Terry Tempest Williams wears many different hats. If you have a soft spot in your heart for our country’s national parks and public lands, chances are you’ve heard of her. If you haven’t heard of her, chances are you’ve visited a wild place protected by her words. Williams is the recipient of the Wilderness Society’s highest honor given to an American citizen, the Robert Marshall Award, and the Sierra Club’s John Muir Award honoring a distinguished record of leadership in American conservation. She is our opening night keynote and we fully expect to be delirious with inspiration by the end of her message.

4. Using Biomimicry to Design Organizations

Here at ILFI, we view our organization as functioning like a flower, with multiple petals creating a self-sustaining organism. We are not the only company to employ biomimicry in configuring their organizations; stok, a sustainable real estate company, will share best practices and experience creating their Organizational Biomimicry structure. Matt Macko, founder of stok, will guide attendees in applying these concepts to their own company’s organizational challenges. Neat!

5. Advancing Social Equity in the Workplace

ILFI’s own Social Justice Program Manager Francis Janes will work with session attendees on best practices to advance social equity in the workplace, as well as highlight companies who have pursued the JUST label. Francis assists companies who are working to develop progressive policies, programs, and practices that lead to more engaged, happier, and more productive workplaces. The cherry on top is the JUST label, which encourages workplace transparency and social equity. Actually, Francis is the cherry on top, because he’s a gem of a person.

6. Applying the Living Community Challenge to Campuses

The Living Community Challenge (LCC) is used by practitioners looking for ways to implement resilience and climate commitments on a multiple-building scale. Two such registered projects are Williams College and Cal State University in Monterey Bay; as campuses begin to implement climate and health commitments, the need for a regenerative design process involving more than one building grows. We have the solution! This session will cover the LCC and its case studies, as well as offer lessons for those looking to take holistic approaches to their campus planning.

7. Authenticity in Action in Egypt

This year’s theme for LF18 is ‘Authenticity + Action’, and we can’t think of a better example of authenticity in action than Amira Ayoub Hassan. Hassan is Egypt’s first WELL certified designer, first ILFI ambassador and collaborative facilitator in Egypt, first to present the Living Building Challenge in the country, establisher of Egypt’s first Green Academy, and works on the first registered LBC challenge in Africa and the Middle East. That’s a lot of firsts, and to be honest, we probably missed some. Basically, the green building community in Egypt owes Amira a debt of gratitude, and we’re immensely grateful to have her visit the U.S. to present on water certifications in arid communities at LF18 this year.

8. Exploring, Documenting, and Designing for Urban Biodiversity 

We’re taking to the streets! To document the biodiversity of Portland, that is. This hands-on session/BioBlitz will lead participants through the neighborhoods and green spaces of the city to collect data on urban species. Urban biodiversity is critical to the health of communities, but we often don’t have enough data about our non-human neighbors. BioBlitz leaders will then work with participants on designing to support biodiversity. This session is for the inner naturalist in all of us!

9. Tackling Gentrification Head-On

Portland has been touted as the mecca of New Urbanism and livability, but as more and more people relocate to the city gentrification and forced displacement are on the rise, particularly in low-income and communities of color. Enter Right 2 Root, a three-year initiative spearheaded by Portland’s African American community to address the alarming rate of community upheaval and organize community assets and resources. Participants will learn the strengths-based Feelings-to-Action process pioneered by Right 2 Root, which break down barriers that originate stereotypes and restrict progress for people to uplift themselves from poverty.

10. Portland, OR: The ‘Weird’ City of Roses 

If you’ve never been to Portland, OR, you’re in for a treat—there’s something here for everyone. Craving pastries with unique toppings and a dark twist? Head over to Voodoo Donuts (and bring cash—no plastic accepted. Old school, man!). If a regular-sized bookstore just feels too cramped for you then check out Powell’s City of Books, which takes up an entire city block. Want some ice cream from an alliteratively-named shop? Better find Salt & Straw. And never fear, Portland is practically overrun with green space. Stroll through Washington Park, the Portland Japanese Garden, Forest Park, the Lan Su Chinese Garden, Waterfront Park, the Grotto…you get the picture. Don’t forget to take the MAX!

Register for the Living Future unConference, May 1-4, 2018, online at 2018.livingfutureunconference.org/register. We’ll see you there!