NAU inspires worldwide audience to build green

Northland Greenbuild
To capture the Greenbuild 2009 conference in the northland, events are planned for “Flagstaff’s Green Weekend,” Nov. 13 through 16, featuring local green attractions, tours of NAU’s green buildings, trips to the Grand Canyon, green parties and local discounts for conference goers.

What do Al Gore, Sheryl Crow and Northern Arizona University have in common? They will be featured at Greenbuild 2009, the world’s largest green building conference and expo convening in Phoenix Nov. 11 through 13.

The conference, hosted by the United States Green Building Council, attracts up to 30,000 building professionals from around the world to engage in sustainable building educational sessions, seminars, networking events and green building tours.

This year NAU is in the sustainability limelight.

The university will be featured in conference exhibit booths, an off-site NAU green building marketplace, an NAU hospitality suite and a daylong bus tour to the Mountain Campus for a up-close view of its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified buildings.

“Our presence at Greenbuild is a great way to showcase NAU’s leadership in sustainable building,” says Susan Thomas, a lecturer in construction management who advises students headed for LEED certification. “This conference is important to our students who are the builders of tomorrow and will have a huge impact on the environment.”

NAU President John Haeger will be on hand to reaffirm his sustainability pledge during an NAU Greenbuild hospitality reception on Nov. 12 at the Hyatt Regency.

NAU’s Greenbuild reception attracts
U.S. sustainability leaders
Some of the leaders in the country’s sustainability arena will be attending NAU’s Greenbuild reception at the Hyatt Regency in Phoenix on Nov. 12.NAU President John Haeger, a charter signatory and leader in the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, will be joined by Anthony Cortese and James Buizer, members of Second Nature, an organization working to accelerate movement toward a sustainable future. The organization supports senior college and university leaders in making healthy, just and sustainable living the foundation of all learning and practice in higher education.Cortese, president of Second Nature, co-founded the organization with U.S. Sen. John Kerry. He also is a co-organizer of the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment and co-founder of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Educationand the Higher Education Association Sustainability Consortium.Buizer, is the science policy adviser to Arizona State University President Michael Crow, and serves as director of the ASU’s University Center for Integrated Solutions to Climate Challenges. He also is a professor of practice in climate adaptation policy and institutional design.

NAU’s alliances and commitment to green building will be represented in the exhibit hall in displays by Kitchell Construction, Timmons Design Engineers and Arup construction consultants—businesses that partnered with NAU to construct its LEED-rated buildings, including the award-winning Applied Research and Development building.

An NAU Greenbuild Marketplace on Nov. 11 at Sundt Construction’s new Gold LEED-Certified sustainable headquarters in Tempe will be the place to learn more details about the university’s hands-on green curriculum and the alliances that make it successful.

The marketplace program will showcase the greening of northern Arizona based on collaborative and educational efforts and alliances. Private industry and public agency partners, including Sundt Construction, Kinney Construction Services and the Grand Canyon National Park, will join NAU faculty, staff and students to offer a presentation about perspectives and lessons learned when planning and building green.

About a dozen “market stalls” will highlight student-led conceptual designs, including a LEED Gold-rated office building, a LEED-certified native plants greenhouse and a green transit-stop shelter program for Tusyan, near the Grand Canyon.

“The marketplace will focus on the industry and agency initiatives that offer mentored internships and other professional experiences to engage students in real-world LEED and sustainability challenges,” Thomas says.

The conference, which touts learning, networking and celebrating, will feature a keynote address by former Vice President Al Gore and a concert by Grammy winner and environmentalist Sheryl Crow.