Portland, Ore. - The Cascadia region will be host to some of the world’s most visionary leaders of the sustainable built environment in 2008 with the launch of the Transformational Lecture Series, a partnership between the Cascadia Region Green Building Council, the City of Seattle, BetterBricks and the City of Vancouver, BC.  The free lecture series was inspired by and has evolved from Seattle’s Urban Sustainability Forum.  Visiting the major metropolitan centers of Oregon, Washington, Alaska and British Columbia, as well as smaller regional hubs, the speaker lineup promises to inspire building industry professionals as well as the public at large to take action and make changes now that will ensure social, economic, and environmental prosperity long into the future.
 
Upcoming lectures include Toronto Food and Policy expert Wayne Roberts on February 21 in Seattle, who will explain how food policies can positively affect the health of people, neighborhoods and city finances. On February 27 and 28 in Portland and Eugene, Oregon, architect and longtime leader of the green building movement Bill Reed will present “Sustainability is Only Half the Story.” 
 
"It's exciting to see this series expanding the inspiration and influence of Seattle's Urban Sustainability Forum throughout Cascadia—uniting more people in a shared vision for our region's future," said Diane Sugimura, Director, Seattle Department of Planning and Development.
 
“We're pleased to join in bringing such engaging, thought-provoking speakers to the Northwest who will continue to challenge us to create and manage better buildings," said Skip Schick, manager of BetterBricks.
 
International leaders, such as environmentalist and best-selling author Paul Hawken and social justice advocate Van Jones, will discuss topics as diverse as zero energy buildings, green collar jobs, and individual actions that lead to transformative change.  They’ll reveal that effective solutions for truly sustainable communities require much more than advanced technology and design.  Intangible factors are just as vital for the movement to enter the mainstream.
 
“With their creation of the Living Building Challenge, the Cascadia Chapter has a reputation for being on the cutting edge of sustainability. I can imagine no more rewarding place to engage in dialogue than this series,” said Doug Farr of Farr Associates, who will talk on sustainable urbanism in Vancouver, BC on March 12.
 
"We don't merely need 'progress' in green building, we need a revolution in how we build, work, live and play,” said Jason McLennan, CEO of Cascadia.
 
Further details about the free lectures and registration can be found at www.cascadiagbc.org/education/transformational-lecture-series.