For many of us it has been hard to cling to a sense of hope when we see basic human rights such as clean water, clean air, and freedom of religion under attack. Our work here at the Institute often requires courage as we seek to create a Living Future for all. Van Jones has been on the forefront of making positive change for our world, from founding Green for All and DreamCorps to his current role with CNN. As a changing political climate was brewing, my intuition told me that we would need courage and the genius of brilliant ideas to keep our work moving forward this year. Having Van agree to keynote the Living Future Conference almost a year ago cemented this vision.

Genius and Courage is the theme that Van will open for us when we gather in Seattle this May. We will come together to regain hope and continue the momentum that we have built toward creating living, healthy, and thriving communities.Leading up to Living Future we are committing to 10 courageous actions.

1. Get outside—get engaged with those who support and protect our precious natural treasures. Visit one National Park with a child, pass on your appreciation and reverence for our uniquely American landmarks, and support the National Parks Foundation.

2. Write a letter to support the diversity that makes our country the richest in the world. For letter-writing advice and other ways to support refugees, visit OXFAM.

3. Engage in a #messytruth conversation with someone you care about today, get inspired about how to do that with the #LoveArmy—the organization founded by Dream Corps and our LF keynote speaker, Van Jones.

4. Sign the petition to #FixFlint so that we can combat environmental racism in cities like Flint, Michigan.

5. Go Net Zero – support the rapidly growing market by making your home or business Net Zero Energy.

6. Join our volunteer network of engaged, global citizens who are working to bring sustainable design to their city.

7. Contribute to an organization that provides political empowerment for underrepresented communities. We like Presente, the largest national Latinx online organization advancing social justice with technology, media, and culture, co-founded by our LF artist in residence Favianna Rodriguez.

8. Ask your employer to make a commitment to transparency by disclosing social justice and equity policies through JUST.

9. Get out of your bubble by organizing your neighborhood to perform a (nonpolitical) day or afternoon of service to a local organization.

10. Make a commitment to lighten your personal footprint by choosing to buy less stuff, eat less meat, and take alternative transportation.

I invite you to join us in this commitment and share your actions and courage with us by using #CourageousFuture. Join us at the Living Future unConference in Seattle, May 17-19.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray with Amanda Sturgeon, Denis Hayes and others at the legislation signing of the LBCPP.

On Friday, October 7th, Mayor Ed Murray signed legislation to continue the Living Building Pilot Program until 2025. The updated Living Building program legislation expands on a pilot program started in 2009 and increases the number of buildings that can participate to 20. There are new provisions and adjustments in the legislation that align better with city and state laws, as well as streamline building codes to incentivize developers on adopting regenerative building practices.

The Living Building Pilot Program (LBPP) applies to existing and new construction projects that pursue the Living Building Challenge—the world’s most rigorous sustainable building program. The Living Building Challenge calls for the creation of building projects at all scales that operate as cleanly, beautifully and efficiently as nature’s architecture – projects that generate all of their own energy with renewable resources, that capture and treat all of their water, and operate efficiently with maximum beauty and addressing equity.

The legislation incorporates updates from the LBPP Technical Advisory Group (TAG) that met for over a year to recommend adjustments that maintain the rigor of the program while incentivizing Living Buildings. Incentives including a 15% increase in floor area ratio (FAR) and a height increase incorporating 10’ in zones with height limits of 85’ or less and 20’ in zones with height limits greater than 85’.

Additional changes include updates to the two City requirements for projects that decide to pursue the Petal Certification pathway: energy use must be 75% or less of targets established in the energy code, and potable water cannot be used for non-potable uses. With the new legislation, these incentives are now granted outright for developers participating in the LBPP which provides more certainty for project teams, in lieu of the previous system that allowed similar departures achieved through the design review process.

“The Living Building Pilot Program is an important tool to encourage developers who are transforming our City to construct to the built environment’s most rigorous performance standard – The Living Building Challenge – while meeting important implementation targets outlined in the 2013 Seattle Climate Action Plan,” said Amanda Sturgeon, CEO of the International Living Future Institute.

The new adjustments to the LBPP are important to Seattle as a leader in green building and are critical in meeting the City’s climate action goals. Currently, Seattle has two certified Living Buildings, the Bullitt Center and the Bertschi Living Building Science Wing. As construction skyrockets in Seattle, it is crucial that new and existing buildings adopt regenerative building practices and the Living Building Pilot Program intends to further that.

The City of Cincinnati and the City of Miami Beach have also incorporated the Living Building Challenge into legislation.

Learn more about creating a fruitful urban landscape from Jackie and other experts during the Urban Agriculture and Community Food Systems webinar, part of the Living Community Challenge series. 

Seattle’s Beacon Hill Food Forest is the first project on public land in the United States. The food forest is tended to by the local community and offers an open and ethical harvest to anyone who visits. The project has gained national and global attention because of the team’s vision to share freshly-grown food on public land. Designed as a permaculture garden, its roots are reaching into the local community and also planting seeds in the minds of food security organizers far and wide.

The Beacon Food Forest is a revival of the commons is sparking a vibrant community: local neighbors from various ethnic backgrounds; young people finding hope in the planting of trees; skilled carpenters and landscapers; office workers looking to get their hands in the dirt; and local school kids all come out to work parties every month (over one hundred have attended each event over the past four years).Watching children eat from the berry shrubs and vegetables is a good measure of success, too. The core organizing team, comprised of 30-40 dedicated volunteers, is continually inspired by the level of participation. The core team’s duties range from managing plants, to writing grants, to coordinating with city officials, and teaching workshops.

The process of creating this public space has been arduous at times. “The Ecology is the easy part,” said Michael Pilarski, a seasoned permaculture farmer and educator with 40 years experience, in reference to the challenges of creating the Beacon Food Forest. The community has met with City officials to amend city code, learned how to make decisions with a newly-formed group, and spread the message of ethical harvesting to a neighborhood that speaks over 52 languages.

Permaculture provides ethics and principles for designing human landscapes, which includes the social aspects. Our project is guided by the principles of “Use and Value diversity” and “Apply Self-Regulation and Accept Feedback,” among other permaculture values. These values apply to the land and to our interactions with one another. People gain resiliency when they learn how to work together and obtain skills to feed their families. As a result, they are more well-equipped to handle life changes that come their way. The Beacon Food Forest provides food, but it also provides skills and a place to feel good about the future of our community.

Our community food forest now serves a variety of purposes:
• A place to plant perennial food crops that will enrich the soil and regenerate the land.
• An emergency hub for earthquakes. It’s a place for people can gather to problem-solve and create solutions.
• A space for our community to learn how to work together toward a common vision.

The process of working in the food forest has taught us how to get along despite our differences. We’ve had success in teaching young people public speaking and how to facilitate meetings. We’ve learned from a community of diverse backgrounds and how to make this public land welcoming to everyone. Our lives have all been deeply enriched by this work through its challenges and rewards because this work has opened our hearts.

Over the past few months, ILFI staff and board have finalized a new strategic plan that will guide the organization over the next five years. The opportunity to witness the collaboration between friends and colleagues throughout this process has filled me with energy and optimism for the future. We’re proud of where the organization is heading, and invite you to take a look at the plan. Our work will continue to be guided by the challenges of climate change, energy and resource scarcity, and social inequity. To create this plan, we reflected on our successes and growth points, and arrived at a three key goals:

• Growing our roots
• Strengthening our core
• Widening our circle

The organization has reached a tipping point. We are transitioning from a fledgling organization to an established non-profit.  As we move into our new role, it is critical that we continue to uphold the same standard of integrity and commitment to measurable results.
The past ten years would not have been possible without ILFI’s founder, Jason F. McLennan and his tireless optimism and vision. Jason’s success in transforming the building industry’s paradigm has paved a path for ILFI to continue to make significant positive progress.

I am honored to assume the new role as CEO, and look forward to implementing the new five-year strategic plan. Together we have outlined an inspiring pathway to 2020, but we can’t get there without you. Whether you attend our events, inspire change as an Ambassador, partner with us as a sponsor, fund our efforts or engage with one or more of our programs, each one of you plays a vital role in carrying ILFI to the next level. I am grateful for your support as a member of our community of passionate individuals. Thank you for believing in the possibility of a Living Future.

I am thrilled to announce the release of Trim Tab v.28 in tandem with the launch of the vision for the next five years. In this issue, we celebrate Jason’s ten years of service; explore homes that exemplify proven performance; underline the importance of holistic design strategies; provide anecdotes that show the urgency of divestment; and more.

Learn more about ILFI’s Strategic Vision from Amanda Sturgeon during her keynote and sessions at the tenth annual Living Future unConference in Seattle next month. 

In the northern Alberta community of Little Buffalo, population 500, a 20.8 kW solar installation has been set up to power the First Nation’s health center, and to send additional energy back to the grid. In 2011, this community grappled with one of the largest oil spills in Alberta’s history. Today, the community deals with contaminated water, polluted air and a compromised landscape, but the people of Little Buffalo have chosen to forge a new future and to become powered by the sun.

The traditional territory of my ancestors and my Nation of the Lubicon Cree covers approximately 10,000 square kilometers of low-lying trees, forests, rivers, plains, and wetlands—which we call muskeg—in northern Alberta. My parents’ and grandparents’ generations survived by living off the land—hunting, fishing, and trapping throughout the region. I remember going out on the trapline when the water was still good to drink. But as oil and gas have come through the territory, all of this has changed. For three decades, our territory has undergone massive oil and gas development without the consent of the people and without recognition of our treaty & Indigenous rights, which are protected under Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution.

Currently there are more than 2,600 oil and gas wells in our traditional territories. Over 1,400 square kilometers of leases have been granted for tar sands development in Lubicon territory, and almost 70% of the remaining land has been leased for future development. Our way of life is being replaced by industrial landscapes, polluted and drained watersheds, and contaminated air—it’s very much a crisis situation.

Where there once was self-sufficiency, we are experiencing increased dependency on social services, as families are no longer able to sustain themselves in what was once a healthy environment with clean air, clean water, medicines, berries, and plants from the Boreal. We are seeing elevated rates of cancers and respiratory illnesses as a consequence of the toxic gases in the air and water. And while over $14 billion in oil and gas revenues have been taken from our traditional territory, our community lives in extreme poverty and still lacks basic medical services and running water.

Unceded Territory

In 1899, when Treaty 8 was officially signed in northern Alberta, treaty commissioners overlooked the Lubicon Cree due to their remote and hard-to-reach territory. The Lubicon people therefore never ceded their traditional territory to the Crown. This has led to a precarious and unstable relationship with both the provincial and federal governments as both have continuously undermined the sovereignty of the Lubicon people. For decades the Lubicon have tried to settle these outstanding land disputes, but unfortunately it serves the government’s interests to keep the Lubicon land claim outstanding due to the territory’s rich oil and gas deposits.

When the construction of an all-weather road began in the early 1970s, the Lubicon people started to contest the encroachment of their traditional territory as multinational corporations began to exploit the land. For the 14 years that followed, the Lubicon attempted to assert their rights through various court proceedings at both the provincial and federal levels. By 1988, the Lubicon concluded that it was necessary to use other means of direct action so their voices and message would be heard.

On October 15, 1988, the Lubicon people erected a peaceful blockade, which was successful in stopping oil exploitation of the territory for six days. Only then did Alberta Premier Don Getty meet with the Lubicon chief and agree to a 243-kilometer reserve under the Grimshaw Accord.

Despite this agreement, the Canadian government offered the Lubicon substandard conditions in the land settlement agreement. Even Premier Getty described the offer as “deficient in the area of providing economic stability for the future.”

Unfortunately, due to the take-it-or-leave-it approach of the federal government, the land claim negotiations continued from 1989 until 2003, when the talks broke down completely and both parties walked away from the table. To this day, the Lubicon Cree have been unable to settle a land claim, which has drastically hindered their ability to protect themselves and their traditional territory from further exploitation and destruction.

Canada’s treatment of the Lubicon has been repeatedly condemned by the United Nations, and UN Special Rapporteur Miloon Kothari has called for a moratorium on oil and gas in Lubicon territory. On March 26, 1990, the United Nations Human Rights Committee ruled that Canada’s failure to recognize and protect Lubicon land rights violated the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In 2006, the United Nations Human Rights Committee again called on Canada to address outstanding land claims in Lubicon territory before granting further licences for economic exploitation, yet this resource extraction is still happening.

The Rainbow Pipeline Rupture

On April 29, 2011, a rupture in the Rainbow Pipeline resulted in a spill of about 4.5 million liters (1.2 million gallons) of oil in the Cree Lubicon territory—one of the biggest oil spills in Alberta’s history. When the pipeline broke, oil flowed into the forest, but the majority of it was soaked up into the muskeg, which is like peatland moss and takes thousands of years to be generated. The muskeg is not an isolated system. It’s not “stagnant water,” as the government claims. It’s actually a living, breathing ecosystem that supports life and is connected to all the water in the region.

On the first day of the spill, the nearby school was not notified. When students started to feel sick, they were evacuated from the school under the assumption that it was a propane leak. When they got outside into the field, they realized that the problem was throughout the community.

During the first week of the spill, community members experienced physical symptoms: their eyes burned; they had headaches; they felt nauseated. We were told that air quality was not a problem. Alberta Environment didn’t actually come into the community until six days after the spill, so people were left to wonder what they should do and whether pregnant women and small children should even be in the community. At the very least, the government that grants permits for oil and gas development, often without the consent of the people, has an obligation to take care of those whom they are directly putting at risk.

The Future of Extraction

The Rainbow Pipeline spill is now 45 years old. When it broke in 2006, the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board stated that stress and corrosion in the pipeline’s infrastructure contributed to the spill. Five years later, 5 million liters spilled in our traditional territory again. We’re also seeing pipeline breaks like this in other parts of North America, from Kalamazoo, Michigan, to the Kinder-Morgan spill along the West Coast. Will it ever end?

How many more communities have to be put at risk because of this type of development, and who is really benefiting? What are we leaving to future generations?

For over a century now, the Lubicon Cree’s rights have been neither protected nor respected. For decades, the Lubicon have led local, national, and international lobbying efforts to fight for what is inherently theirs and to protect their right to their land and to clean air and water. Despite years of raising awareness and increasing exposure, the Lubicon people still wait for justice. However, over the past decade of speaking out and demanding justice, I have seen a great shift in how our struggles are perceived. Now people from all walks of life are beginning to stand together and seek justice for those first and foremost impacted on the frontlines of environmental destruction. Now more than ever, people are working together as we know that the fate of humanity is wrapped up in our collective fight for a better, more just world for all.

First Nation communities have been on the front lines of resource extraction for far too long, and we have paid dearly for the price of humanity’s addiction to oil, but we also see a way out of the crisis we are currently facing in Alberta and around the world.  We need to shift away from a fossil-fuel-based system and to push for renewable energy systems that enable us to be self-sufficient and self-sustaining.

Communities like Little Buffalo are refusing to be victimized by the game of fossil fuel roulette and are leading the way toward energy independence—making The Leap toward a new future that some of the world’s leading thinkers say everyone else must follow.

The Clean Energy Revolution

Although Alberta is the oil capital of Canada, solar energy is taking off in the province. Albertans want to see change, and solar is huge part of making that change happen— but we need to demand this change. A just transition needs to happen not only in communities that can afford renewable technology but it must happen and begin in communities facing the brunt of the environmental, social, and health implications from the extractive industry and climate change. I think it is time for this change to be made across the planet, especially in places like the Alberta tar sands.

Most of this solar installation was done by community members who have never installed a solar project before. Now they can use these new skills to install more solar projects around Alberta. However, these types of renewable energy projects shouldn’t rest on the shoulders of communities to implement alone; instead, they should be supported by governments around the world that have chosen to subsidize the aging fossil fuel industry for decades. Countries like Canada need to accelerate the transition from destructive, climate-polluting energy sources like the tar sands toward the green, just energy economy that so many of our communities so desperately want and need to see. Canada should set a goal and commit to generating 100% of its power through renewable energy, as outlined in the recent report of 100% Renewables.

Energy democracy can be built through the decentralization of our energy grid so that people are no longer subject to the woes of the boom-and-bust economies of fossil fuels and so that the oil and gas lobby no longer runs our governments. The fossil fuel regime makes us think that we need to remain dependent, but when we decentralize our power we create energy independence in our communities and countries.

Even in the heart of the tar sands, we can build a different kind of economy with clean energy and green jobs without compromising our families and communities. But a just transition needs to prioritize communities like First Nations that are already impacted by dirty fossil fuels. A just transition means our communities will no longer be sacrifice zones.

We are seeing Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples alike galvanized by the sun. Please stand with us—and help build a positive, solution-based economy across this globe. We must do it now, without waiting for governments to decide to do this for us. We must separate oil and state, which is driving us to the brink of climate catastrophe. Every person and every roof can be a part of the solar solution.

The solar panels in my community will still be standing even when the last oil project is finished. Panel by panel, communities will show politicians what true leadership looks like. We’ve been looking down for far too long and digging at the bottom of the barrel for dirty fossil fuels. We must now turn our gaze toward the sun and realize the true energy potential that is available to us here and now. We must choose to build healthy and vibrant communities before it is too late.

In the last 20 years, the green building movement has gone mainstream. The pace of change is extraordinary: at the International Living Future Institute we are pushing boundaries we couldn’t have even imagined a decade ago. Setting a high bar, one that many thought unachievable, has proven to be a catalyst for transformative change. And it’s time to do it again.

As I begin my transition to CEO, my staff and I are exploring new strategies that will help us bolster the fullness of our mission: to create a future that is socially just, culturally rich and ecologically restorative. We must devote our collective attention to what might be the biggest challenge of all—to create a future that embraces and empowers everyone. To create a future that is inclusive and robust for all: #OurLivingFuture. If we are to succeed, it’s critical that we have your participation.

With this in mind, we recently hosted a new event, the Equity Drafting Table, held in cooperation with the Seattle Design Festival. Our aim was to begin a dialogue about what it means to design a fair and just place for everyone to live. When we first imagined this event, we knew we needed to include everyone at the table, all ages, abilities and backgrounds. We quickly realized that we won’t get there overnight: first, we have to foster a culture of inclusivity. We designed an interactive installation, a maze of difficult questions that prompted a response from each participant. We rallied a number of eager partner organizations in the community, and were delighted by an excellent turnout. Residents from all aspects of Seattle’s rich tapestry were in attendance and provided their input.

This event was a promising launching pad, but it was just the beginning.

The good news is that we already have some momentum behind #OurLivingFuture. Each of our programs has an equity component that has resulted in measurable impacts (Just^TM, the Equity Petal in each of our Challenges, Living Building Challenge Framework for Affordable Housing). But it’s not enough.

Over the next few years, we will seek to answer this question more fully: What does it take to make communities inclusive and robust for everyone? The question is one that everyone can reflect upon, and the answers will look different from one community to the next.

A Living Future looks different for every person. It is not just a place for the wealthy or privileged; instead, it is a diverse collection of habitats that operate in tandem with the natural world and without friction with one another; it is a place where everyone belongs and a place that belongs to everyone.

What will you do to make your community inclusive and robust for everyone? Please join us in conversation around #OurLivingFuture, at our events and online. We want to hear your voice. The future is not just yours or mine, it’s ours.

Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood neighborhood has suffered in recent decades as American manufacturers have sent operations overseas and shuttered their U.S. factories. Pittsburgh, once known for its steel production, has transformed itself in the 21st century into a mecca for technology companies, with Google, Intel, Apple, and IBM siting facilities in the city—but by and large, Hazelwood has been left behind by the boom. As jobs burgeoned in wealthier, whiter areas of the city, jobs in Hazelwood—where 45% of residents are black and one in every four people lives in poverty—have trickled out. Pittsburgh’s last steel mill, based in Hazelwood, shut its doors in 1998.

Dr. Nina Baird, Assistant Professor of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) entered into the setting several years ago. Baird has been studying neighborhoods like Hazelwood and trying to understand their plights from a variety of perspectives: racial segregation, urban blight and gentrification among them. Over time, and after some stumbling, she has developed a relationship with the community; enough to visit Hazelwood with her students to discuss neighborhood issues and hopes as the residents see them. The Hazelwood community is now helping Dr. Baird and her students create a case study for collaborative redevelopment. The students are learning how to listen to the community first, and then using an amalgamation of sustainable architecture, affordable housing, gatherings and workshops, they recommend design solutions to meet the resident’s needs. Baird is hopeful that the fusion of her students’ passion with that of the residents of Hazelwood will yield positive results for the community.

The Carnegie Mellon crew, though, quickly learned that supporting residents in their efforts to revive their neighborhood would be no small undertaking. Hazelwood’s last grocery store folded in early 2009, and the community quickly became a food desert. In recent years, food deserts have become emblematic of the injustice of America’s food economy: as grocery stores and markets vacate a neighborhood, the only food left is processed food found in convenience stores. Hazelwood residents travel miles from home to purchase lower-priced groceries, and residents with little mobility seldom get fresh food. Food deserts often hit minority communities the hardest.

What’s more, aging industrial zones (termed “brownfields”)—such as those where steel mills were once located—are often heavily polluted. The coke ovens, furnaces and rail yards of Hazelwood were never clean operations, and even abandoned, may still threaten public health.

In 2013, when Dr. Baird received an Alcoa Foundation Pillars of Sustainable Education grant, CMU students began sitting down with Hazelwood residents and learning the neighborhood’s story. What struggles do people face? What memories of the community did they hold dear? What do they want to see in the future? Racial divides in the neighborhood are still prominent, and residents are frustrated with many nonprofits that come into the neighborhood to help without consulting the residents first. Regardless of good intention, those who cannot relate to the community demographics will not be able to grasp the neighborhood’s plight.

That same year, for the first class Dr. Baird taught about Hazelwood, students advised ACTION Housing, Inc., a local affordable housing group, in the sustainable renovation of several buildings. “There’s a learning curve regarding U.S. building methods and sustainable renovation,” said Dr. Baird, explaining that most CMU graduate students come from rapidly developing countries where renovating buildings is rare—old buildings are likelier to be razed to make way for new, larger ones. In Hazelwood, students got first-hand experience evaluating old and, in places, dilapidated buildings: ACTION Housing will redevelop an old grocery as well as the Spahr Building, a former variety store, for the benefit of the community. The students’ role was to advise ACTION about more sustainable materials and methods on such factors as insulation, windows, lighting and appliances. In the process, says Dr. Baird, they learned a lot about renovating old masonry and about certain stores’ specific needs. Today, a bakery is slated to move into the old grocery store, while the Spahr building will become home to Pittsburgh Community Kitchen, an organization that prepares food and trains food service workers, and will offer sit-down dining in Hazelwood. ACTION is also courting tenants for the upper floors of the building.

One of the first lessons of working in Hazelwood has been the understanding that the community’s largest concerns aren’t necessarily what Baird had on her agenda when she first began volunteering in the community. Prior to receiving the Pillars of Sustainability grant, Baird had led workshops in various cities on weatherizing one’s home for monthly utility savings. Those workshops were successful, she said, but in Hazelwood she soon realized that home renovation was the least of residents’ concerns. “People are trying to make ends meet,” explains Dr. Baird; their priorities center around putting food on the table and paying next month’s rent. Any up-front costs associated with weatherization would be cost prohibitive. Residents are also tired of outside groups coming into the community to help without consulting residents about community needs.

So Dr. Baird and her students set about talking to Hazelwood residents and getting to know the local landscape. What arose were collaborations with locals instead of impositions upon them—a lesson, surely, for all architects interested in sustainable design. The CMU crew offered classes on how to use the Internet, equipping residents with marketable online skills. They also taught Geographic Information System (GIS) software to teens, as software is used in many professional environments, and offered map-reading classes for children. CMU students also offered a bike repair workshop for residents and local police donated bikes for repair and use. The bike workshop was so successful that it will occur again in 2016. More recently, CMU students have offered their own version of Operation Better Block—a community gathering to clean up debris, plant trees, bushes and flowers, repair concrete foundations and sidewalks, and reroute storm water.  In November, Hazelwood hosted the debut of CMU’s  digital fabrication trailer, providing the community with information about technology and jobs in building design and construction and working alongside a group of veterans providing construction skills for neighborhood projects.

Today, Hazelwood residents are expressing concerns over the rate at which old houses are being demolished. The CMU architecture crew doesn’t see their job as pushing for new development, but rather as safeguarding the structures and community that already exist. The renovation of the old grocery and the Spahr building, in line with such a sustainability plan, are scheduled for completion in mid-2016.

“It’s a work in progress,” admits Baird. But similar to almost all work in collaborative community redevelopment, “good work builds on itself and can inspire more hope and creativity. My own hope is that everyone involved in these projects, the students and the residents, recognizes his or her ability to be a change maker and to help shape a better future.”

The work presented in this article is part of the Pillars of Sustainable Education program that funds universities to support the realization of community-based projects to explore innovative uses of sustainable materials and design. More information about the program – made possible by Alcoa Foundation – can be found at pillarssustainableeducation.org