“Our imagination has the ability to go far beyond the limits imposed by inequality, in order to visualize a truth much bigger than our gender, our race, and our place of origin.”

She does that through her provocative art pieces, community organizing, and political empowerment programs. She often speaks about how art is an integral part of culture change and how artists can help to shift paradigms. The world needs a dramatic paradigm shift in order to act against climate change and reconcile human’s relationship with nature. What is required of us is to come together as a human species to solve and reimagine the way we live. Art is a powerful platform for this and allows people to push past what they believe is possible.

In the following interview, Favianna shares the power of art and how it is can play a critical role in supporting positive change. She explores how art can be a storytelling platform, a place of empowerment, a bridge to social justice and environmentalism, and much more.

Joanna Gangi: How can artists create a new narrative for change, specifically related to the fight against climate change?

Favianna Rodriguez: Art is about how we see the world, whether it’s a painting, film, or other things, it is a reaction to our human condition. Throughout history, the relationship between art and society is such that it helps people to innovate.

Artists help us imagine how things can look different and they can help tell a story of the future. They create some of the things that we as human beings most attach to like music and books. They create such compelling narratives for a society and civilization, and if we know that to be true, then artists cannot go unorganized, nor can they go unresourced. What I mean by unorganized is that, when we’re dealing with significant human challenges such as racial and gender inequality, and climate change, we need to understand that artists are solutions in that space and artists can help us address how we challenge those kinds of very engraved problems.

Problems are often a consequence of habit and of systemic ways of working. Artists can disrupt those habits or those systemic ways by showing complexity and by actually shining a light on what’s really happening, which helps people change focus. Artists introduce complexity and stories that help us be empathetic to each other as human beings and to the planet.

Artists can expose ways that are emotionally based and can help tap into what kind of world we do want to build.

JG:  There are three components to social change—culture, politics, and economics. You say that cultural change proceeds political and economic change. Why is culture an essential component to this?

FR: Denis Hayes’ creating Earth Day is such a critical example of why culture matters. Earth Day is a cultural practice that’s kind of like a holiday.  It’s a cultural tradition that was building, which led to a lot of great things.

The culture around marriage equality helped drive political change. There were television shows about the issue, there were sports icons speaking up about it, there were authors and many more people building the momentum. Together they composed a lane of culture that happened faster than the politics and it moved people differently. So, by the time of the Supreme Court victory in 2015, the cultural space had already been activated many years before.

For the climate change movement, there are a lot of white artists in the space, but where is the hip-hop sector or Latin music sector?  It’s not happening—and even though climate change impacts disproportionately affect communities of color, their stories are not being told. The issues around climate change are seen as less important than issues around violence or incarceration that many communities of color are facing. But, in reality, these are all urgent things and are all connected.

We need musicians, filmmakers, and visual artists—people really embedded in communities that are affected by climate change to tell another story about it. We need another organized group of people that is advancing a different kind of story and a different kind of narrative.

JG: Your work through CultureStrike does a beautiful job of showcasing the many different faces of the environmental movement. Why is it important to show the many faces and diversity of environmentalism?

FR: Climate change is a human problem and historically has been caused by humans that have had more power. Colonial forces built an entire society based on dirty energy and some of the consequences of that are being seen in migration. Migration is happening because years ago the colonial powers ravaged the natural resources and the ecosystems of those countries where people could no longer sustain themselves.

For example, up and down the Central Valley in California where a quarter of the food is grown for this country, there are people with respiratory diseases, there are people who are exposed to pesticides, and many of these communities are communities of color. It is a similar scenario in Texas with the location of oil refineries and communities of color.

Unless we hear the stories of those affected, then we have less ability to feel empathy but also to understand the impact of how the system works because climate change and environmental degradation can only happen if people are not seeing the impacts.

What we can’t see prevents us from having a well-rounded analysis of the problem. If we’re seeing a very homogeneous story about climate and the environment, we’re not seeing the full story. For human beings to make informed decisions and find solutions to climate change we need to tap into our empathy and our connection to each other, and know that if one community is suffering we are all suffering.

JG: How can the environmental movement be more inclusive and diverse?

FR: I think awareness is changing. I think it’s changing very fast because the very compelling examples like Standing Rock or Flint, Michigan, where the movements are being led by communities of color.  So I believe we are in the midst of a shift.

And the way the movement can be more inclusive is first to take a moment to really educate on and understand how climate injustices are playing out in your local community and elsewhere. Having an understanding of that can help you connect with some of the organizations that are working on their behalf and helping to tell the story.

Also, inviting communities and leaders of color to the table and investing in their leadership will help break the silos and encourage an intersectional approach.

JG: Can you describe how the intersectionality of the sustainability movement and the social justice movement are important?

FR: We have to be able to connect the dots. Many social justice issues are related to an extractive system and many environmental issues are related to extractive systems. And these systems impact human beings. The prison system is extractive. The agriculture industry is extractive. Extractive systems don’t work. It doesn’t work whether you’re extracting from a mountaintop or whether you’re extracting from communities. We need to think beyond that. We need to imagine another kind of like coexistence so we understand we’re interdependent.

JG: Your art represents a very powerful message. What message do you have for young people who may be struggling to find their voice but also know that they want to make a positive difference?

FR: Be an artist and be creative. Create new stories and messages that really speak to your heart and be bold in imagining a future. Tell us and show us what that future looks like.

As the world’s leading commercial flooring manufacturer, Mohawk Group never stands still. Its motto of “Believe in Better” is woven through every facility, emphasized in every department, and crafted in every product and process. And this same attitude is behind the company’s commitment to sustainability.

While other businesses were vaguely pondering sustainability, parent company Mohawk Industries was putting the minds of its employees, its money, and its energy into finding ways to make a difference. It was not an overnight process for a company with more than 37,000 employees in 30 countries, but gradually the company is seeing results.

It is reducing the amount of resources that it uses in its manufacturing processes: Since 2015, its facilities have reduced the amount of water consumed by 277 million gallons. Since 2010, its plants also have reduced GHG intensity by 12.8%, energy intensity by 1.9%, and water intensity by 35%.

Mohawk is also increasing the amount it recycles: 7.1 billion pounds of recycled waste, 500 products with recyclable materials, 5.5 billion plastic bottles recycled annually, and 148.5 million pounds of carpet diverted from landfills with its ReCover recycling program since 2007.

“Mohawk’s sense of responsibility to product transparency encourages us daily to look for ways we can meaningfully set the bar higher for sustainability through innovative products with reduced environmental and social impacts,” said George Bandy, vice president of sustainability at Mohawk. “We seek to produce products that leave not a carbon footprint, but a handprint that gives back more than it takes from the resources of our planet.”

This attitude led to the creation of commercial division Mohawk Group’s Lichen Collection, a modular plank carpet system that has become the first floorcovering to achieve the International Living Future Institute’s Living Product Challenge Petal Certification. Living Products are free of toxins, regenerate nature, and improve the quality of life.

What makes Lichen a true Living Product, both inside and out? It began with the design. Mohawk Group commissioned Jason F. McLennan, of McLennan Design and founder of ILFI and the Living Product Challenge, to work with its design team to create the collection. Like Mohawk, McLennan believes that we can be agents of restoration and regeneration, creating a world better than how we found it.

Inspired by the idea of “Nature’s Carpet,” the team looked at natural assemblages of rich multihued, multitextured lichens from extreme climates as the foundation for the look of the collection. “Using biophilic design principles to create the Lichen Collection helps to enrich our connection to the natural world,” said Jackie Dettmar, vice president of design and product development for Mohawk Group.

Lichen consists of three pattern types. The anchor of the collection is a large-scale field of lichen “blooms” that change in shape and form by colorway. Other patterns include a transition style that has less bloom and a style that is solely textured ground. They can be used together as a system or separately, depending on the desired configuration of texture and color.

Innovative precision tufting technology was used to craft the collection, so the textures and colors are more pronounced. Lichen is made with Mohawk’s Duracolor solution-dyed premium nylon yarn for permanent stain resistance, and comes standard on EcoFlex NXT, Mohawk’s Red List Free backing. It is installed with Mohawk’s FlexLok tabs, the only Red List Free installation system in the marketplace. Additional sustainable attributes include an average 55% recycled content, NSF 140 Gold and Green Label Plus certified for IAQ.

Lichen has a net positive impact for people and the environment through innovations in materials, manufacturing, and community involvement. It is manufactured at Mohawk’s Glasgow, Virginia, carpet facility, which is located in biodi­verse and environmentally robust surroundings that allow the employees to experience nature in their daily lives. The setting is a certified wildlife habitat and, since 2011, an official Appalachian Trail Community. Part of all Lichen sales go to support the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, which is dedicated to protecting and preserving the beauty and cultural heritage of the 2200-mile trail, as well as to the World Wildlife Fund for the preservation and conservation of natural habitats.

To save more water than is used to make Lichen, Mohawk retrofitted 140 showerheads in the dormitories at Morehouse College in Atlanta with low-flow fixtures. This partnership will result in the savings of an estimated 1.2 million gallons annually.

Not only does Lichen come with total ingredient transparency through its Declare Label and has Declared Red List free status, but Mohawk is utilizing responsibly sourced packaging with an average 45% recycled content for the tiles.

With the Lichen Collection, Mohawk Group is setting a higher standard to help ensure products contribute to healthy spaces, are designed to inspire, and will give back to the environment more than they take.

“Lichen isn’t a singular, isolated accomplishment for our talented design team, but a sign of more offerings on the way,” said Dettmar. “Lichen has been a strategic opportunity to introspectively look at different ways we can have a net positive impact on people and the environment, leaving a handprint as we seek to touch the built environment like never before.” 

About Mohawk Group

Mohawk Group, the world’s leading producer and distributor of quality commercial flooring, delivers industry-leading style, cutting-edge innovation, unmatched service and superior sustainability. As the commercial division of Mohawk Industries, Mohawk Group has a heritage of craftsmanship that spans more than 130 years. The company’s enduring family of brands—Mohawk, Karastan and Durkan—are widely regarded as the most trusted names in the commercial flooring business. Together, these brands function beautifully, delivering the perfect flooring solution for all markets and price points. Rounding out its esteemed product offering, Mohawk Group also offers a full spectrum of hard surface flooring products and installation accessories that exceed the most rigorous performance standards. For additional information about its proven design solutions, and to learn more about what is next from Mohawk Group, visit www.mohawkgroup.com or call (800) 554-6637.

This article was first published in the Green Building Alliance’s Viride Magazine.

American manufacturing has been on the decline for decades. Like immigration and healthcare, the nation’s industrial state of affairs has become a recent point of contention, simultaneously an opportunity or a challenge to shape the future of the country’s economy. Pittsburgh has very publicly experienced both sides of this reality—polluted rivers and lead-laden soil along with fair wages and consistent community reinvestment.

Regardless, manufacturing still represents the United States’ largest economic output by a considerable margin, more than the six smallest sectors combined (which include mining, construction, transportation and hospitality). So, perhaps the debate lies not in the acceptance or rejection of manufacturing as a whole, but rather in the character of industrial enterprises and their strategies for growth. In other words, what if manufacturing focused not on doing less harm (i.e., meeting regulations), but instead on positively impacting people and the environment from the top to the bottom of the supply chain? Pittsburgh just might answer this question in real time.

A SHIFT IN THE PARADIGM

Reimagining the relationship between industry and society requires a monumental perspective shift. Rather than calculating how businesses deplete resources, a regenerative approach asks how a system can renew and revitalize the communities that it serves. So what would this look like? Imagine a manufacturer of office chairs. The company starts by assessing the material composition and lifecycle impacts of their chairs’ production, transport, use and disposal. This analysis reveals that the chair’s surface coating contains perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), which are known to accumulate in the human body and contribute to toxic body burden. Additionally, the power tools used to assemble the chairs use a disproportionate amount of energy.

After months of research, testing and implementation, the company rolls out a fundamentally different product. They have removed the PFCs and several other “red listed” chemicals from their chairs, ensuring that assembly workers, residents in their manufacturing communities, and future consumers won’t be exposed to toxins. The company then installed a 775.5 kilowatt photovoltaic system, generating more electricity than it needed for production, which allowed neighboring communities to power their homes with clean electricity. Facility managers also installed skylights over the production area to give workers more access to natural light and planted a pollinator garden to support the proliferation of essential pollinating species like bees and butterflies. The company also built a simple rainwater catchment system that feeds their production needs and turned “nuisance” storm water into a valuable resource. They also filled the adjacent river with oysters to help filter and clean their water source.

Far from representing a utopian manufacturer, this scenario describes the New York-based company Humanscale, which produces the abovementioned Diffrient Smart Chair. Per founder and CEO Robert King, “Being a net-positive manufacturer is not only about reducing harm, but about actively making a positive impact on our communities and the environment. Every time someone makes a purchase, they are not only getting highly functional, healthy products, they are also making a positive contribution to the environment.” Suddenly the dichotomy between environment and economy has a nuanced disruptor.

REGENERATIVE MANUFACTURING IN PITTSBURGH

Humanscale is just one of more than 50 companies rethinking their impact through the Living Product Challenge, a certification process that evaluates products based on their effect on human health and the environment. Now, Pittsburgh manufacturers are angling to be the center of this production revolution. In 2016, the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development funded a new initiative called the Pittsburgh Living Product Hub, which is tasked with educating manufacturers about regenerative design. The Hub is run by the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) in collaboration with Green Building Alliance, and is working with manufacturers to imagine Living Products. Taking nature as inspiration, Living Products using only renewable energy in production, while enhancing functionality and beauty. From makers and startups to established manufacturers and industry giants, the Hub helps companies to optimize the material impact of their products from production to disposal, retooling existing products and inspiring the creation of new lines.

The Hub is focusing first on the building products sector, reflecting Pittsburgh’s longstanding leadership in metals, coatings, ductwork, glass and insulation. This product concentration geographically corresponds with one of the nation’s strongest green building movements, which saw more than 35 million square feet of space pursuing LEED certification alone.1 Recently completed buildings such as the Tower at PNC Plaza and the Frick Environmental Center, for example, required extensive material vetting to lower the carbon, energy, and water footprints within their supply chains, while ensuring a healthy indoor environment for their occupants. Situated within 500 miles of half of the population of the United States, Pittsburgh-based manufacturers are ideally positioned to capitalize on this market shift by providing healthy and sustainably produced products.

Manufacturing still pumps Western Pennsylvania’s economic pulse, but the energy that flows through it is increasingly renewable, its materials an opportunity for regrowth and revitalization. With advancements in robotics and additive manufacturing, rivers could be lined with facilities that improve water quality, while communities benefit from skilled jobs that stay local. There is a tremendous opportunity to embrace Pittsburgh’s history of leadership in manufacturing with an equitable, regenerative ethos. With careful repositioning, a once-prominent industrial leader stands to yet again forge the foundations of the modern world.

Over the past 11 years, thanks to the transformative work of committed groups of owners, developers, and design and construction professionals, the Living Building Challenge has catalyzed regional change with each and every new project. As more and more visitors to certified projects are exposed to the concept and reality of regenerative design, the volume of inquiries ILFI staff receives has increased to a steady hum. The questions are harder to answer these days, too, as the industry has familiarized itself with program requirements and project case studies. Major design firms and contractors, and a lot of smaller firms besides, are building their internal capacity to deliver LBC projects to clients. Design schools teach the framework; ILFI staff members routinely field requests for education and resources from university professors. The next generation of designers to enter the workforce is ready, willing, and hungry for the opportunity to work on an LBC project. As a whole, the industry is poised to deliver a proliferation of Living Buildings.

Meanwhile, in a warming, crowded world, a growing number of large businesses are strengthening their commitment to sustainability. One meaningful, highly visible way that businesses are choosing to demonstrate their sustainability chops is by greening their real estate portfolio. This isn’t purely altruism, of course. Millennials, as a generation, make up the largest proportion of the labor force: More than one in three workers in the United States today are millennials. As a group, these workers are defined in part by their desire to work for mission-driven organizations that are making positive change in the world. An investment in sustainability is therefore an investment in employee attraction and retention, and smart companies are taking note. Some of the most influential and profitable companies in the history of the world are choosing to pursue the Living Building Challenge because they know that it is the most rigorous standard of sustainability for the built environment, and because they are attracted to the credibility conferred upon the certification by its requirement for proven performance and by its third-party audit process.

Companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Etsy, as well as other globally recognized brands that have requested confidentiality, pursue the Living Building Challenge to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Beyond that, these companies pursue the Living Building Challenge to demonstrate that they prioritize the health and well-being of their employees. Etsy’s Petal Certified new headquarters in Brooklyn is a shining example of setting a new standard that creates a space healthy and creative space that is rooted in craft. Google’s new Petal Certified office in Chicago challenges the boundaries of conventional sustainable design and provides a healthy environment for employees.

These companies are not alone, of course. They join a growing cohort of nearly 400 registered projects, 74 of which are certified. These projects run the gamut from small, single-family homes to environmental centers to large industrial, commercial, or institutional buildings. The diversity of owner-types is impressive as well. Some Living Buildings are owned by individuals, while others are owned by nonprofits, foundations, government agencies, or corporations. Even speculative developers are jumping on board.

The recent attraction of the Living Building Challenge to spec developers can, in part, be attributed to incentive programs like Seattle’s Living Building Pilot Program. Pursue the LBC, and you get an extra 10 to 20 feet of building height above zone restrictions, and a density bonus besides. That translates into more leasable square footage, which is often enough to make the pro forma pencil. ILFI’s policy team is hard at work exporting this concept to other cities, and we would benefit from local advocacy. Reach out if you’d like to help!

As Living Buildings take root around the world, ILFI staff are having conversations with a wide diversity of project types in a variety of different contexts and climate zones. Over the years, some themes have emerged. Notably, one recurring topic is that the LBC is impossible to achieve for some building types. Hospitals, for instance, are very energy intensive, and efficiency only goes so far for critical care facilities that require around-the-clock lighting and climate control as well as all manner of medical equipment. It’s not unheard of for hospitals to have energy use intensities of more than 1,000 kBTU/sf/yr. For purposes of comparison, that’s more than 10 times as energy intensive as an average commercial building in the United States, and more than 60 times as energy intensive as the Bullitt Center, a certified Living Building in Seattle, Washington. Other buildings, such as high-rise offices—and especially those in arid regions—simply don’t have sufficient roof area, relative to their leasable square footage, to harvest all of their water needs on site. In many cases, such buildings are sited on contaminated or inaccessible aquifers, precluding their ability to use groundwater to account for their demand.

It serves no broader sustainability purpose to exclude such projects from pursuing the Living Building Challenge. In order for the Living Building Challenge to remain accessible to all buildings, at all scales, in all places, ILFI has recently released two new exceptions. The first, pertaining to energy, is the Off-Site Renewables Exception. This exception allows certain project types, under certain conditions, to locate renewable generation infrastructure off site. Buildings pursuing this path must still incorporate industry-leading efficiency measures, but there is now a path forward for even projects such as data centers. The second exception, pertaining to water, is the Municipal Source Offset Exception. This exception is available to projects that, after maximizing both on-site water capture and implementing best-in-class efficiency, are simply unable to meet the Water Petal. Such projects may connect to the municipal water supply, but they must also offset any water they draw from that supply by introducing efficiency measures in neighboring buildings. In this manner, the project still results in a net reduction in demand from the municipal supply.

It’s safe to say that the Living Building Challenge has reached a new stage in its evolution. An ever-growing number of design and construction firms stand ready to deliver world-class Living Buildings. Clients of all stripes are demonstrating their appetite to build the world’s most sustainable buildings, enhancing their communities, their cities, and—not for nothing—their reputations in the process. And for its part, ILFI is working to accommodate new project types without sacrificing the rigor of its sustainability requirements or deviating from the essential philosophy of the program. The built environment is ripe for change. We invite you to join the Living Future community, and to help create a future that is socially just, culturally rich, and ecologically restorative. There’s strength in numbers, and we can’t do it alone.

This is an excerpt from Juliet Grable’s Brock Environmental Center for a Living Chesapeake.

DESIGNING WITH NATURE

The Living Building Challenge Standard mandates the incorporation of biophilic elements into the design of buildings in order to nurture the innate human attraction to natural systems and processes. The ILFI considers this natural connection essential to physical health and mental well-being. Much like the human tropism toward beauty, this intuitively felt truth has been ignored too often in modern architecture. Recognition of biophilia, or the inherent human affinity for our natural world, was a part of the Brock Center design from the earliest sketches right up to the time when the final coats of paint were applied. For guidance, the design team paid heed to Dr. Stephen R. Kellert’s Six Principles of Biophilic Design. Although it is easy to experience the elegant natural design elements of the Brock Center and intuit that it is informed by the philosophy of biophilia, it is also possible to identify specific features by Kellert’s biophilic design categories:

ENVIRONMENTAL FEATURES:

Elements include the use of color and natural materials, and the incorporation and enhancement of views and vistas. Before choosing colors for the building, the design team studied photographs of the site during different seasons. The Brock Center’s palette complements and mimics these natural color schemes, which include the blues of The Chesapeake Bay, the green of Loblolly Pine needles, the straw blond of salt meadow plants, and the rusty orange of resident marsh grasses. Many of the building’s features work together to enhance views and encourage visitors to connect with the landscape. These features include the building’s long form, abundant windows, elevated grade and its orientation on the site.

NATURAL SHAPES AND FORMS:

The Brock Center incorporates natural shapes and forms inside and outside the building, and on the macro and micro scales. The entire building was designed to resemble an animal; in particular, the conference room, with its curved roof, hints at the terrapin’s shell, a gull’s wings, and an oyster’s shell; the overlapping zinc shingles resemble fish scales. The interior vaulted space curves, and the beams recall the curving limbs of live oaks that grow on the site.

NATURAL PATTERNS AND PROCESSES:

This category includes natural patterns on different scales, called fractals, and elements that suggest the passage of time, among others. In the Brock Center, the inward-spiraling pattern in the conference room flooring creates a central focal point and makes a complicated room cohesive. Similarly, the diagonal flooring pattern in the lobby and open office areas help integrate the different parts of the building into a unified whole.

LIGHT AND SPACE:

The many windows, abundant natural light and high ceilings in the office area and conference room create feelings of spaciousness and evoke a natural environment. In contrast, the lower ceilings of the corridor, combined with the continuous curve, direct attention out the windows. The dog trot—essentially an outdoor room within the building mass— serves as a transition space between indoors and outdoors. “The biggest compliment that we get about the building is that it feels so comfortable. Whether that’s because of the choice of paints or the curves, nothing feels sterile or like a ‘normal’ office building. Every aspect of the building has a bit of fun in it.”

HOW IS THE BROCK CENTER LIKE AN OYSTER?

The design team admired the native oyster not just for its pleasing physical form, but for its functions, which are so vital for the health and water quality of The Chesapeake Bay, and which matched many of the goals for how the Brock Center would function. This approach marries biophilia with biomimicry—the practice of taking cues from natural forms and processes to create better buildings, materials, and products that are nontoxic, low energy and do not produce waste. Here are some of the characteristics of oysters that the design team looked to for inspiration:

• Oysters are tolerant organisms, able to withstand wide variations in temperature.
• Oysters provide valuable shelter and habitat for many other estuarine organisms.
• Oysters filter the water and remove sediment, improving water quality.
• Oysters stabilize the bottom and buffer the shoreline from erosion.
• Oysters transform trash into treasure by encapsulating irritants and turning them into pearls. •
• Oysters open and close for protection, responding to environmental conditions.

PLACE-BASED RELATIONSHIPS:

The siting and form of the Brock Center pays close attention to the site. The building’s horizontality reflects the topography, with its low-growing marsh grasses and uninterrupted views of the water and sky, and its gentle curve mimics the shoreline. The Brock Center also pays homage to historic and indigenous structures, including longhouses, which are characterized by their long form, vaulted space, and overall simplicity. The Brock Center also draws from the plantation houses of European settlers, notable for their elevated structure and wrapping porches, and from Southern dog-trot houses, which utilize a central breezeway to unite public and private spaces.

EVOLVED HUMAN-NATURE RELATIONSHIPS:

This final category includes concepts such as prospect and refuge; exploration and discovery; and affection and attachment. The Brock Center addresses many of these functions simultaneously. The physical approach to the Center decouples humans from their cars; the peaceful, forested environment creates a literal physical transition from the fast-paced, car-centric built environment to a slower-paced, more sensual place. The education pavilion serves as a place of prospect and refuge—its roof protects people from the elements but does not cut them off from the smells of the marsh and sounds of the rain. The pavilion also serves as a classroom for CBF’s educational programs—a place that nurtures exploration and discovery.

Purchase your copy of  Brock Environmental Center for a Living Chesapeake here.

Every so often, a project comes along that perfectly aligns craftsmanship, unique customization, and LightArt’s passion for sustainable products. The Seattle-based lighting company had an opportunity to tackle that project early in 2017.

The ILFI approached LightArt with a challenge to build a light fixture that mimicked the Institute’s orange flower logo. They also requested that the chandelier comply with all ILFI Declare program parameters, which require complete material transparency among all building products and finishes. LightArt, as the first lighting manufacturer to achieve Declare status, was able to meet this challenge with a large-scale lighting feature.

The ILFI worked directly with LightArt’s president, Ryan Smith, to collaborate on a concept for the piece. LightArt’s organically blooming artisan pieces were a perfect fit for the project. After determining the fixture type, LightArt was tasked with finding an interlayer for their product that would comply with Declare requirements. “Working on this project pushed us to find a gorgeous new interlayer, and to further consider each and every piece of material and technology that go into our fixtures,” said Smith.

To develop a sustainable fabric interlayer for the material that would make up the fixture, LightArt turned to Washington-based Botanical Colors. Botanical Colors supplies artisans and industry with the materials and know-how to dye textiles in a way that uses less water, is non-toxic and biodegradable, and draws its incomparable color palette from humble plants and natural sources. Kathy Hattori, owner of Botanical Colors, helped the LightArt team to achieve a palette of rich oranges and reds through various dried wildflowers.

After completing the organic interlayers with Botanical Colors, the hand-dyed fabrics were pressed in 3form’s Varia Ecoresin, a 40% post-industrial recycled PETG. Once the interlayer was pressed in 3form and laser cut into petals, LightArt’s artisan James Coury then heat-formed the delicate shapes to create blooming botanical fixtures. Once complete, the flowers were grouped and attached to a center canopy for easy installation in the Bullitt Center’s lobby.

The resulting fixture is a cluster of handmade flowers mirroring the signature ILFI branding. The cluster of flowers incorporates color in a unique way by using organic dyed fabric to highlight ILFI’s orange brand colors without overwhelming the minimalist palette of natural materials seen in the Bullitt Center. The fixture hangs in the center atrium at the Bullitt Center and greets visitors upon arrival, while passersby can see the glow of the fixture from the street. Best of all, the entire fixture is lit by just sixty watts.

Regan from Minnesota put her passion for the natural world into action by becoming a member of the International Living Future Institute. In Minneapolis, she began a zero-waste community group that quickly grew to include over 100 members and local supporters. Recognizing the importance of radical group action in addressing the overwhelming issue of climate change, she decided to become a member of ILFI and join a greater community working together towards a regenerative future.

Luke became a member of ILFI in order to join a network of peers challenging the status quo and creating a positive impact as a result. Working at Humanscale, whose line of office furniture includes certified Living Products and red-list chemical free materials, Luke has learned that this community can achieve goals we would have never been able to on our own.

An ILFI member and ambassador in Cairo, Amira has delivered ILFI education to seven Middle Eastern countries over this past year. As young children slid on desert rocks outside, she inspired a nomadic group to utilize the simplistic elegance of the Living Building Challenge to create their built community structure.

At the International Living Future Institute, we believe that we can change everything with the help of our community.

Over the past few months, we shared these and many other stories through our summer Membership Campaign. Our goal was to raise $20,000 and grow our member base to support the work and mission of the organization. We met this ambitious target. Yet, what really stood out in this campaign was the incredible stories of our members. Their work and dedication are passionately driving forward the transformation toward a Living Future and a better world for generations to come.

Our staff see this in each of our programmatic work: in the surge of solar energy, in the growing awareness of innovative water solutions throughout the country, and in the development of Living Buildings around the world.

This membership campaign has ignited a spark in us at the Institute, and will power our work moving forward. It inspires us to look back at this campaign and stoke that flame, as we hope it will for you.

Becoming a member of the Living Future Institute:

• Supports our Living Product + Declare label programs that push the marketplace towards healthier, chemical-free environments
• Helps us create a world liberated from fossil fuel dependence through Living + Zero Energy Buildings
• Enables important strides in research on water policy, affordable housing, and biophilic design

And the benefits are priceless:

• Invitation into our network of sustainability ambassadors and access to join your local collaborative group
• Ability to register your buildings or products for certification + collaborate with others
• Discounts to the Institute’s events, conferences, and suite of online education

We look forward to changing everything with you.