One of my favorite books, Ecotopia, is being reissued by the publisher this month and the New York Times has a nice story about the book.

The story starts with the Pacific Northwest having seceded from the United States to form its’ own country named, Ecotopia. Washington, Oregon and Northern California make up the new country and base their economy on sustainable principles. The rest of the remaining US is thrust into a recession driven by partisan politics and old models of industry and energy.

Sound timely? Yes, except that it was written in 1974.

I had the prescient author, Ernest Callenbach, give a talk to a packed house at The Commonwealth Club in May 2005. He is the most charming and delightful man and lives just across the bay in Berkeley.

While you’re reading it, be sure to also read the follow up prequel he wrote, entitled, Ecotopia Emerging. In many ways, I like it so much better than the first book.

The brilliant minds over at WorldChanging recently called their smartest, most interesting friends they know to answer the following question:

In 100 words or less, what should the next president do in his first 100 days to address the planet’s most pressing problems?

I was flattered to be included in that group. The resulting ideas for our next president are astounding. Some highlights:

from Simran Sethi:
Aggressively address climate and energy. Fossil fuel combustion accounts for 80 percent of the rise of CO2 in our atmosphere.

from Jeremy Faludi:
Appoint the following cabinet:
- Amory Lovins, Secretary of Energy
- William McDonough, Secretary of Housing & Urban Development
- Thomas Barnett, Secretary of Defense
- Vinod Khosla, Secretary of Commerce
- Wes Jackson, Secretary of Agriculture
- Bruce Schneier, Secretary of Homeland Security
- Peter Newman, Secretary of Transportation
- Stewart Brand, Secretary of State
- Frank Rijsberman, Secretary of the Interior
- Van Jones, Secretary of Labor
- Dee Hock, Secretary of the Treasury

READ FULL STORY HERE: To The Next U.S. President: 100 Words for 100 Days

My advice?

Our next President must embrace the idea of an inevitable future free of fossil fuels. I propose a call to action similar to the civilian rationing programs of World War II. Back then, it was in the name of “victory” and so our next President must redefine “victory” to mean a sustainable economy free of fossil fuels. The $78 billion of taxes used to subsidize the oil industry will be reapplied to renewable sources instead. Gasoline that is rationed and adjusted for true costs is no match for abundant subsidized solar or wind power.

I am thrilled to announce Green Your Home for Dummies.

It is not an entirely new book, but a compilation of 7 green books in the For Dummies series. It contains several chapters of my bestselling book, “Green Building & Remodeling for Dummies”, and select chapters from:
* Green Living For Dummies
* Energy Efficiency For Dummies
* Green Cleaning For Dummies
* Sustainable Landscaping For Dummies
* Organic Gardening For Dummies
* Buying and Selling Green Homes For Dummies

It will be available in January 2009, but you can pre-order it now.

I look forward to the West Coast Green Conference each year. Of all the conferences I attend, it is by far my favorite. Most of the time, I’m giving a lecture to room full of doubters and skeptics, so it’s uncommonly fun to speak to the enthusiastic crowds at West Coast Green. I have been honored to be one of the advisors to the conference since it’s inception, and am thrilled to contribute to the success of the event.

In preparation for the conference, I create an entirely new presentation. I throw out everything and start from scratch. It is akin to a standup comedian trashing his act to write entirely new material. And though this is incredibly time consuming, it forces me to rethink how I talk about design and sustainability.

The process of developing a new keynote speech takes an entire year of thinking and research. It starts at the previous years West Coast Green conference as I learn of new ideas and memes emerging. Topics, stories and information rattle around in my head, while I stuff notes, images and thoughts into a folder throughout the year. By letting the subject marinate, I find the gaps in my research and in the final story I will be telling.

Once the narrative is fairly complete, I can begin putting the actual slideshow together. The process of building the slides is conducted over two months before the conference. I work closely with my interns during this process we find ways to connect boring data with something relevant and memorable. Slides are shuffled, reordered and edited. Images we like are replaced with new, better images we love.

We continually try to find ways to inject humor into the talk. Ironically, this is incredibly serious business and the hardest part. How do you write something that will always come off as funny amid all of that “doom and gloom” talk? How do you balance humor with the need to make a point? I don’t want the humor to allow people to ignore the bigger issue or overshadow the point… the humor is key to the success of the talk and the hardest thing to add. There are always more facts to be found; but humor is impossible to simply “dig up.”

The slides are tweaked up until the start of the conference. I practice the final draft of the talk in front of my students; which might be the only chance I get to perform it in front of a real, live audience before the actual conference. I use this as a chance to test the timing and humor; often recording it for later viewing.

I’ve posted before about the tools I use to I create my presentations, skipping PowerPoint and using Apple’s Keynote instead.

We’re still working on the final version of my talk, “The Myth of Sisyphus: A plan to green our buildings and avoid extinction.” In short, I discuss how our buildings are like Sisyphus, constantly pushing boulder uphill in order to survive. The talk outlines how to change this paradigm and find the hidden opportunities in green building.

I will be speaking at West Coast Green on Thursday, September 25th at 1:30 – 2:30pm. A booksigning will be held immediately following the talk.

Be sure to do what you can to attend the conference. It is well worth the cost and time. Register for the conference here.

For those of you who haven’t heard of West Coast Green, it is the largest residential green building conference in the country and is held the last week of September. This years conference will be September 26, 27 & 28th in San Jose, California.

I have been on the Advisory Board of the conference since it’s inception, and watched it grow in size and scope each year. Each year brought new things to the conference as well.

For this years conference, one of the new features is the video section of the website, where you can watch recorded talks by this years speakers.

You must watch the talk by Van Jones, who brought the crowd of thousands to their feet with his take on green collar jobs.

Of the 40+ conferences I speak at each year, West Coast Green is by far my favorite. I urge you to attend the conference. Some discount passes are still available, so feel free to contact me directly if you’re going to attend.

The good folks over at Apartment Therapy interviewed me. I love these short types of interviews, they’re quick and get to the point.

FULL STORY HERE

The New York Times reports on the naturally occurring phenomenon of radiation in quarried stone. But sometimes the result is more than you might expect from your granite countertop.

A routine home inspection revealed elevated levels of radon in Lynn Sugarman’s home. So she called a radon technician to find the source.

“He went from room to room,” said Dr. Sugarman. But he stopped in his tracks in the kitchen. His Geiger counter indicated that the granite countertop was emitting radiation at levels 10 times higher than those he had measured elsewhere in the house…

and this frightening image:

“It’s not that all granite is dangerous,” said the lab tech who took the radiation measurements. “But I’ve seen a few that might heat up your Cheerios a little.”

But perhaps the most distasteful part, is the all-too-predictable reaction from the corporate shills:

Allegations that granite countertops may emit dangerous levels of radon and radiation have been raised periodically over the past decade… but the Marble Institute of America has said such claims are “ludicrous”.

Just once I’d love to see a trade organization actually take the side of truth over financial self-interest.

FULL STORY

Last month, I sat on a panel for the Luxury Marketing Council to discuss the issues of sustainability in the luxury market. The packed audience consisted of high end real estate agents, bankers, jewelers, and the like. I always love exposing these ideas to groups who do not normally come into contact with green that often.

They usually become incredibly excited at these ideas, a testament to the logic and need for sustainability.

On the panel with me was Mike Freed, owner of Passport Resorts the company that developed various Eco Resorts: such as Post Ranch Inn and Cavallo Point .

BTW, The Post Ranch Inn was designed by a mentor of mine, and fellow organic architect, Mickey Muennig .

Zahid Sardar, Architecture critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, wrote an article today about the success of Passports resorts as luxurious architecture.

Also on the panel with Mike and myself were:
* Kimberley Gardiner
Marketing manager for Lexus Hybrid

* Helge Hellberg
Marketing director of Marin Organic
(who, by the way, charmed everyone with his enthusiasm and personality!)

Full Story via SFGate.com

I am honored to be named one of the environmental leaders in San Francisco by 7×7 Magazine for their April (Earth Day) issue.

The article begins:

You already know the elders of the green tribe–Gore, Waters, McDonough. Now, meet SF’s next wave.

It is also great to see my friend, Matt Golden, from Sustainable Spaces as one of the honorees. San Francisco is a wonderful place filled with so many great people doing amazing things, and Matt is a perfect example of that.

Full Profile via 7×7 Magazine
All of the profiles for the issue

Why Economic Stimulus Should Be Green

James Boyce has a thought-provoking piece in the Huffington Post on what the government should be doing to protect our environment:

There are hundreds, nay thousands, of examples of politicians talking the talk about the environment, how we need to create green jobs, and green industries, encourage green living, blah, blah, blah, alternative energy is my energy, blah, blah, blah…

Part of the problem with our current economic woes is massive short-term overconsumption.

Part of our environmental problem is massive short-term consumption.