The Living Future unConference is an annual visionary gathering put on by the International Living Future Institute and Cascadia Green Building Council, who continuously draw together a sea of highly respected engineers, architects, entrepreneurs, government employers and educators to raise the bar for sustainable growth.
Unique to this year’s conference, we invited many members of the community to attend the conference and celebrate with us. Environmental Stewardship Coordinator Janet Cooper, a teacher, parent and student from Ecole Desrochers, several teachers from Jasper Junior/Senior High School, as well as Grande Yellowhead School Division Trustee Betsy DeClercq all travelled to Seattle to take part. Heck, even our SunDog bus driver was excited to be part of the action and momentum.
Arriving that evening, we quickly settled into our hotel before walking a few blocks through the hill-strewn streets of Seattle to the Westin Hotel where the conference was being held. For many in our club, this was their first time laying eyes on the unique layout of the city. For others, the many steep hills and busy streets were nothing new.
Seattle and Jasper, of all places, have started quite the partnership in developing education and green building. It was there in 2010 that five students from Jasper first travelled and encouraged green professionals to take up real youth engagement as a key to a sustainable future. Indeed, many Seattleites have seen the original flash mob—featuring the straight-faced Paul Butler walking down Patricia Street— that we produced that year.
It would seem Jasper students have built quite the reputation—various people in Seattle told us how anxious they were to hear and see what we had prepared for this year’s conference. But, before we could present, we had to see the fruit of our labours—the SEED classroom that Stacy Smedley, Ric Cochrane, and James Jenkins are donating to Jasper kids.
The prototype living classroom, set to arrive in Jasper this June, was set up in downtown Seattle as a feature of the conference: a symbol of what’s possible when hard work combines with grand visions. It was so hard to believe that it was there, waiting for us. It was an unforgettable moment.
Our eyes lit up, got really big and before we knew it, we were all running and screaming with excitement. It was more than we had ever imagined.
Believe it or not, it was actually an emotional moment for some members of the club who had invested so much personal time and care into bringing sustainable design and education to Jasper.
After seeing the SEED, in true Jasper fashion, we finalized our presentation in the final minutes and then took the stage in front of over 1,000 of North America’s leading green designers, entrepreneurs and educators. To match this year’s conference theme of “Resilience and Regeneration,” we shaped our presentation around resiliency education and the need for a resilient spirit when attempting to create sustainable change. In our presentation, we had to look no further than our own experiences, so we told the world about our route to SEED.
Overall, it was a very inspiring conference. Not only did we see a very animated David Suzuki, we also got to see the creator of the Living Building Challenge, Jason McClennan, share his thoughts on the green economy and the battle to make better lives for ourselves through a broader connection with community, culture and the land.
We were particularly pumped to see a presentation about the concept of “cosmomimicry” by the president of the Buckminster Fuller Institute, who, with stunning visual details, explained how trying to find another habitable planet was not only useless, but was actually causing more environmental apathy here on Earth. Finally, we caught a glimpse of the world’s first living office building, the Bullitt Centre, that recently opened its doors. It really is a stunning accomplishment.
As we drove home, back to our little mountain town, with all of these new ideas floating around in our heads, it felt as though we were lighting a path of regeneration. Soon enough the SEED building will arrive and hopefully it will ignite a spark for even greater change in the future—change inspired by youth.
