Topic:  Beyond "public" and "private": Lessons in community-based sustainable design from Recode Oregon

Speaker: Brenna Bell, Environmental lawyer and educator; Co-founder, Tryon Life Community Farm

Recode Oregon is a community group that engages the grassroots as leaders in changing local and state regulations that inhibit sustainable building and land use.  This talk will discuss Recode's successful campaign to legalize the re-use of graywater in Oregon, drawing lessons about how we can unleash community driven planning to facilitate decentralized, coordinated innovation in the values and practices of sustainable urban living.

Brenna Bell's Bio:
Brenna brings to her work a lifetime of passion for the Pacific Northwest, twelve years of organizing experience, and an extensive background in environmental law and education. Using her experience as a co-founder of Tryon Life Community Farm - a community sustainability non-profit in Portland, Or. - Brenna helped launch Recode Oregon in 2007. Through Recode, Brenna was the lead organizer and government liaison for the campaign to legalize graywater reuse in Oregon.

Brenna attended Lewis & Clark College, where she self-designed a major in Social Ecology, and later attended Lewis & Clark Law School, where she graduated cum laude, served as President of the Student Bar Association,  and received an Environmental and Natural Resources Certificate.

Brenna has worked with numerous non-profits, including Oregon Wild, the Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center, TLC Farm and Willamette Riverkeeper. Brenna is on the board of directors for TLC Farm, and has served on the boards of the Oregon Sierra Club, NW Constitutional Rights Center and the National Lawyers Guild. She also lives, and is raising her two young children, in Cedar Moon - the intentional community at TLC Farm.


Short panel discussion to follow with:

Andrew Pask, Director, Vancouver Public Space Network



Andrew Pask is the Director of the Vancouver Public Space Network, a non-profit, city-building organization.  Founded in 2006, the VPSN works on advocacy, education and outreach relating to the city's public realm -- and does so by mixing more conventional forms of change-making with creative interventions in city space. 

By using 'public space' as a unifying theme, the VPSN has been able to work on everything from the development of community gardens, to creating internationally recognized design competitions, from mapping all the non-compliant billboards in the city, to throwing skytrain parties, public policy debates, and community development workshops. 

Andrew was trained as both an anthropologist and city planner, studying in Holland and Canada.  He has worked with municipalities and non-profit organizations across the country. 

VPSN Website


and

Dr. Freda Pagani, Former Director, Sustainability, UBC



Freda has an undergraduate degree in architecture and postgraduate degrees in environmental studies and resource management. She is a registered architect and a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.

Freda has worked for a variety of private architectural firms in Britain, the U.S. and Canada and for Public Works Canada. Most recently the University of British Columbia has employed her, first as Associate Director, Campus and Community Planning and subsequently as Director, Sustainability. In that capacity she founded Canada’s first Campus Sustainability Office and has successfully led the university in programs to reduce energy, water, paper and greenhouse gas emissions. The UBC Sustainability Office is widely recognized as Canada’s leader in campus sustainability. Freda has been consulted by many North American organizations and has made numerous presentations on sustainability.

Freda has lectured widely on sustainability at universities across North America. She has been an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia for many years and is an Associate Faculty member of Royal Roads University. She has published several articles on sustainability and is in the process of writing a book on catalyzing human ingenuity for action towards a sustainable future.

Cascadia thanks the City of Vancouver for sponsoring the venue.