The Importance of Innovation
In this time of uncertainty, we wanted to share some of the ideas and stories that have kept us both inspired, and grounded in our commitment to innovation. Below are some of our favorite insights, the latest on our educational offerings and two quick updates on the impacts of COVID-19 to the real estate and construction industries.
Insights and inspiration
Our company was founded on the principle that we need deep innovation to move the needle on climate change. Mark Canlis recently summarized the importance of innovation, especially during this unprecedented time, as part of the Adapting podcast, "Pretty quickly we realized that it would be just as risky to do nothing as it would to do something really radical.” You can listen to the entire podcast, here. In his closing comments, Mark added, “To a City that needed to hear it, we are capable of making it through.”
We’ve received many questions regarding how this pandemic will dovetail with broader issues of climate change, sustainability and human health and wellness. A significant number of articles have been circulated over the past week. Below are highlights from some of the resources we’ve found most valuable:
Renee Cheng, Dean of the University of Washington, College of Built Environments, emphasized the importance of ensuring equity during a time of expediency. You can read her blog post, Equity and Expediency, here.
“Climate Fwd:” the climate-focused newsletter of The New York Times provided some thoughtful insights regarding the connection between climate change and the current pandemic.
From Should Airline Buyouts Come With Conditions, “‘The focus right now is on saving jobs and preventing a deep recession, and that should be front and center,’ Mr. Rutherford said. ‘But air travel is eventually going to bounce back after this crisis subsides. And if the industry gets bailed out without any change to the underlying status quo, we’re going to see emissions continue to rise in the years ahead.’”
From Climate Change as a Threat Multiplier, “‘In closing, she made one more connection between this pandemic and the slower-moving catastrophe of climate change. ‘This crisis really brings home what matters to all of us,’ she told me. ‘What really matters is the same for all of us. It’s the health and safety of our friends, our family, our loved ones, our communities, our cities and our country. That’s what the coronavirus pandemic threatens, and that’s exactly what climate change does, too.’”
You can access the full newsletter, here.
A significant amount of our work at Sustainable Strategies focuses on supporting the industries that manufacture and market “healthier” materials. Recently, National Geographic did an excellent job of explaining Why Soap is Preferable to Bleach in the Fight Against Coronavirus. Among other reasons noted in the article, “using bleach ‘is like using a bludgeon to kill a fly.’” You can access the full article, here.
Educational Resources
At Sustainable Strategies, we understand this is a time of constant change and significant unknowns. We have been working hard to find ways to better support the communities we serve. Below are two strategies we recently launched:
Free Resources - we created and shared two free resources:
Six No-Cost Activities That Teach Kids About Sustainability
Seven Ways to Support Health and Wellness While Indoors
We released these resources via our social media channels and received extremely positive feedback. These resources are also available for free on our e-products page, or by following the links below. We will continue to create and share resources via social media, so feel free to connect with us on LinkedIn or follow us on Instagram @sustainablestrategiespllc.
Moving Educational Content Online - we are moving our in-person educational content online, so it can be accessed by students and practitioners while working from home. We will offer courses on a range of topics related to sustainability, real estate, the built environment and health and wellness. To add greater value, for some of these courses we will also pursue Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits for Washington lawyers and Continuing Education (CE) hours for sustainable building practitioners (LEED and WELL APs). We plan to launch these educational offerings soon, and will provide regular updates on our progress. If there are specific topics you would like covered, please reach out to nicole@sustainablestrategiespllc.com.
Real Estate and Construction in Seattle
Below are two important updates regarding impacts of COVID-19 to the design and construction industries in the Seattle area.
Energy Benchmarking Report Deadline extended - under the City of Seattle’s Energy Benchmarking Program, SMC 22.920, owners of non-residential and multi-family buildings over 20,000 square feet must track and annually report building energy performance to the City. The City recently extended the deadline for reporting of 2019 data to July 1st, 2020. More information is available on the City’s website, here.
We plan to provide educational programing related to the City’s Building Tune-Ups Ordinance, SMC 22.930, and its impacts to owners and tenants. Stay tuned for more information.
Adoption of 2018 Seattle Construction Code Delayed - the July 1, 2020 implementation date for Seattle’s construction codes (building, residential, existing buildings, mechanical, energy, fuel gas, plumbing) has been delayed until November 1, 2020. With respect to the Washington State building codes, the City has indicated that, “if the 2018 Washington State construction codes effective date is delayed past November 1, we will align the effective date of our codes with the State.” More information is available on the City’s website, here.