TOM KELLY is the second generation owner of Neil Kelly Company, a leader in Portland's home building and remodeling industry. The company's Hood River "net-zero" energy house is the first home in the Western United States to be awarded a LEED Certification. The home serves as a demonstration home for Neil Kelly customers and a learning retreat for Neil Kelly employees.
NANCY STEUBER is the Director of The Oregon Museum of Science & Industry. The museum is one of the largest producers of museum exhibits in the country. OMSI's Innovation Station is their first sustainably designed and built exhibit, using materials that can be unbolted and reused and parts that are interchangeable with other exhibits.
Sarah Severn is the Director of Corporate Sustainable Development at NIKE world headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. NIKE was one of the first Portland area companies to sign on for Natural Step training, and the company has implemented the Natural Step principles, reflected in the design of its campus, which blends natural wetlands and wooded areas with world class design and LEED Certified buildings. The company's integration of Natural Step principles into improving its labor conditions in contracted factories, its product design, to maintaining climate neutrality and to bringing sport to excluded youth to improve their lives are examples of the company's commitment to sustainability.
Anna Cohen is a designer and manufacturer of sustainable, couture fashions. Her dream is to move the fashion industry toward sustainability by following the principles of The Natural Step. Anna's commitment to sustainability principles is seen in numerous choices she makes, from her selection of growers of organic materials to her design principles which exclude the use of materials which will not decompose naturally when returned to the earth.
WATCH ANNA COHEN SEQ. ON YOUTUBE!
Susan Sokol-Blosser is the owner of the Sokol-Blosser Winery. "It wasn't enough just to farm organically - which means not using any synthetic herbicides, pesticides, any chemicals. We still worry about how many trips we make, the kinds of machinery we use and the number of trips we make through the vineyards with that machinery - what we do in different practices and how sustainable those are. How we dispose of the materials we use in the vineyards, the stakes, the plastic that we use for growing. All these are issues we never thought about before."
Patricia Uber is the owner of TerraClean. Patricia founded her company based on research that demonstrated that a successful cleaning company could operate free from dependence on fossil fuels. (All the TerraClean vehicles and equipment runs on recycled vegetable oil.)
Jim Houser is the co-owner of Hawthorne Auto Clinic. Looking at his business through the eyes of The Natural Step, Jim sees that "this is a pretty dirty industry. Liz Dally [Jim's wife] refers to the cars as "mobile hazardous waste generators." But somebody has to keep the wheels turning. Thankfully, Jim tries to stay on the cutting edge, bringing innovation into the garage to reduce waste and emissions and providing the latest training for his technicians.
Dave Yudkin is the owner of HotLips Pizza. You may have seen him on "Good Morning America," or the Hallmark Channel's morning show. The popularity of Dave's pizzas comes from the imaginative ways he is able to use locally grown produce to create an ever evolving menu of surprising tastes and combinations. In addition to HotLips using electric cars to deliver their pizzas, Dave takes his employees and school kids on field trips to their vendors' farms to learn more about sustainable agriculture.
Bill Hart is a Principal at Carleton-Hart Architecture. The firm focuses on a wide range of projects, from airports to golf courses, but they are particularly proud of their work in designing sustainable, affordable housing projects like the Oleson Woods project featured in "A Passion For Sustainability." The success of projects like Oleson-Woods has evolved, in part, from Carleton-Hart's application of Natural Step principles in their designs.
Cheryl Welch is the Sustainability Coordinator at the Tualatin Valley Water District, where Natural Step principles are applied to every aspect of operations, from the front office and library to the District's fleet and their teams in the field. Cheryl has taken her Natural Step training and passed it on to the District's employees through a series of work groups that have brought greater awareness of the need for sustainability to the entire District.
Marc Gaudin is the owner of The Joinery, where each piece of fine furniture is individually hand-crafted. As someone who once spent ten years fighting forest fires, Mark is keenly aware of the effects of climate change on our forests - especially because the fine hard woods the majority of his pieces are made from come from the sustainably managed forests of The Collins Companies.
Lee Jimerson is a Manufacturing Accounts Executive at The Collins Companies. The Collins Companies have been maintaining sustainable forests for over one hundred years and were one of the first forest products companies to receive Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification. The company applies Natural Step principles not only to maintaining their forests, but to operations at their various mills and within the head office in Portland as well.
Paul Schwer is a Principal at PAE Consulting Engineers, which specializes in mechanical, electrical, telecommunications and sustainable design. The company has received over 50 design awards recognizing the company's contribution to engineering excellence, lighting design and sustainability. The list of their projects which have received LEED Platinum, Gold and Silver certifications is inspirational. Paul is a recipient of Portland's prestigious "Better Bricks Award."
Dennis Wilde is a Principal at Gerding Edlen Development, which is currently completing Portland's South Waterfront Blocks, the largest urban development project in the United States. Environmental responsibility and smart design are central to Dennis' philosophy. He is Gerding Edlen's designated "green guy," and encourages increased sustainability in development projects while building a strong business case for the economic and social benefits of environmental responsibility. He is also an active board member of the Oregon Natural Step Network.