Over the next few weeks, we will run a Q+A blog series showcasing the ten incredible change-makers who represent our 2019 Living Future Heroes. Introducing Lisa Petterson, Principal at SRG Partnership:

Q: How did you become involved with ILFI?

A: I first time I heard about the Living Building Challenge was when Cascadia Green BC hired Jason McLennan. From the moment the LBC was announced in 2006, I have been a fan and advocate. At the first Living Future UnConference I submitted a project that won an award for being the most thoroughly analyzed project that year. Later I was a part of the first Living Building Financial Study, which looked at long term costs of LEED gold buildings versus Living Building Challenge projects. In 2010 I was elected as the Oregon representative on the Cascadia Green Building Institute. I served on that board until 2014, when CGBC was dissolved. I was then one of three members that transitioned to the ILFI Board. 

Q: What was your “aha” moment that inspired you to join this movement and become involved in ILFI programs?  

While I wasn’t present at Greenbuild when Jason introduced LBC, when I heard about it after the fact, I immediately became an enthusiastic supporter. I always thought that what LEED was missing were the true gravitational forces for architects – beauty, health, inspiration. Two days after LBC was announced I saw the standard and knew that LBC was it.

A: How did your background lead to where you are in your career now?  

I am a University of Oregon graduate and I attribute much of my interests to this degree, focusing on the Environment. I now teach Environmental Control Systems at the Portland campus of the University of Oregon, hoping to inspire my students the way my professors inspired me.

Q: How do you see yourself creating a Living Future in the next 5 years? How have you in the past 5? 

A: Over the next five years I hope to plan to make living buildings at a larger scale, because I want to be able to show all that is possible for Living Buildings.

Q: What is your Call to Action for the green building community?

A: I believe it is up to all of us to create a Living Future – to me, a Living Future entails Equity and diversity. Combined together with original tenets of LBC these make a powerful movement we can all stand behind. With the full package of equity and diversity as well as traditional sustainability we can achieve amazing things.

Written By

ILFI Staff