Earth Day '08 at Pringle Creek

Earth Day was a great event! Local school groups displayed their environmental study and service projects--we were really impressed. We had a singing performance by the HOPE Team Choir. The workshops on Bamboo, Worm Bin Composting, and Urban Chicken Keeping were all great – thanks to Dain, Sally and Jim for presenting. Thanks also to Larry, Blake and Phil for being on hand to answer all questions on green building. And a big thanks to everyone that made the event a success: Deborah, Becky, Jackie, Tony, Elizabeth, Don, Joe, Luca, Dan, Robbie, Marie, Sally and Bill, and especially all the teachers that took time out of their Sunday to support kids helping the environment.

Santiago

Below is a 25 second video from the festivities

Pringle Creek hosts 5th graders designing house of the future

Below are some photos from yesterday’s visitors--125 fifth graders from West Linn working on a long-term project to “design the house of the future.”

We divided into five stations: Rainwater, Food & Agriculture, Forestry, Fish & Wildlife, and Energy. The questions we asked were, “How will the design of your house impact the world around us? Can your house be restorative, can it actually improve all the other systems we rely on? How?”

Partners that helped with the stations were Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, Marion Soil & Water Conservation District, Marion-Polk Food Share, and OSU Extension Service Sustainable Living Project. Evann Remington from Organic Fresh Fingers arrived at noon to provide organic snacks for the kids.

A special thanks to the volunteers from these organizations for taking the time to help, and to Organic Fresh Fingers for the healthy snacks.

We asked if we could display the concept designs and scale models that the kids create as soon as they are done – probably this summer. The level of sophistication of the curriculum and the kids’ understanding of sustainability was very impressive!

Santiago

Earth Day '08 at Pringle Creek

Presentation on Green Building

Pringle Creek Community is pleased to host a special evening slide show presentation by international green building expert Joe Karten, LEED-AP, on Wednesday, April 16th at 6 p.m.

Joe will present on a number of sustainable buildings in Europe, such as the Agustenborg project in Malmö, Sweden, the Vauban District Community Development and the Solar Fabrik PV factory in Frieburg, Germany, and the EcoBox in Madrid, Spain. He will also present on some of Australia’s most advanced green building projects, such as Melbourne’s CH2 building and Sydney’s “30 The Bond” (see photos below).

Joe received the Regnier Fellowship Award in 2006 to conduct a nine-month study of international sustainable buildings, which took him throughout Mexico and Europe. Joe is a LEED Accredited Professional and currently resides in Sydney, where he works for the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), and manages a portfolio of over 100 projects working towards green building certification.

Please join us for this rare and engaging glimpse into modern green building practices outside the U.S. There will be a reception following Joe’s presentation with light hors d’oeuvres.

Please RSVP to sarah@pringlecreek.com or 503.763.1770

DATE: Wednesday April 16th at 6 p.m.
LOCATION:
Painter’s Hall
Pringle Creek Community
2110 Strong Road SE
Salem, OR 97302

CH2 Building

30 The Bond

Oregon cities are among the “Best Green Places” (Salem is #16)

Country Home magazine has put out their second annual Best Green Places list. They “analyzed hundreds of cities on key points, such as official energy policies, green power, green buildings, and the availability of fresh, locally grown food.”

Very interesting: Out of 379 cities, Corvallis is #1, Portland-Vanco-Beaverton is #2, Eugene Springfield is #6, Bend is #9 and Salem is #16. Many other “Cascadia” cities are also high up. That should make us appreciate all the more our little corner of the continent.

A comparison of last year's list has me wondering if "locally grown food" is a new consideration. How else explain that Salem jumped from #54 in 2007, and that Burlington VT dropped from #1 to #36 and Ithaca NY dropped from #2 to #68?

There are a number of things going on in and around Salem that should be considered substantial efforts toward sustainability. For instance:

• There is the work to protect the watershed that provides our excellent quality water.
• We have Marion County ranking highest in Oregon recycling efforts.
• I think making the downtown area vibrant, especially the new downtown housing, will help to keep the city compact, although, let’s face it, even with the urban growth boundary it’s a sprawling city. It seems like the City and business leaders and citizens work together to make this happen.
• Buying the train bridge to turn it into a pedestrian bridge, the other planned footbridge, expansion of Minto-Brown Park—this will create a fantastic network of bike and pedestrian trails.

There's a lot more that can be done and hopefully Pringle Creek Community will serve as a model and an inspiration.