GREENFAB WILL BE TAKING A SHORT BREAK as I travel to Iceland for a two week photography trip with my dad.  This trip has been a dream of mine so when I RETURN THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 15th I will be anxious to share with you all that I have learned from the land that produces 70% of the nation’s primary energy from renewable sources.

Iceland is an island of thundering waterfalls, barren highlands, smoldering volcanoes, gushing geysers, bubbling mudpots, soothing thermal pools, the largest icecap outside the poles and not to mention the coolest turf houses in the world.

Here are a few articles that help explain the major role Iceland will play in our global future as we try to understand and use energy responsibly and efficiently.

>> MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY ENERGY AND TOURISM SPEECH

>> ICELAND’S ENERGY ANSWER COMES NATURALLY

>> ICELAND’S HYDROGEN SHIP HERALDS FOSSIL-FREE FUTURE

Click here to see BEAUTIFUL IMAGES from all of Icelands landscapes

WE’LL BE BACK IN TWO WEEKS!

The image above is a manipulation of a Daniel Bergmann original photograph

By: Johnny Hartsfield

On our Nation’s proudest day, GreenFab will not be sharing with you the top 5 ways to green your 4th of July party or how to have an Eco-friendly Independence Day.   By now we should all be making great strides to live this way everyday.  And frankly, we just hate to point out the obvious.  So, for this year’s 4th of July holiday, GreenFab would simply like to say - BE HAPPY and BE SAFE. 

The best thing we can do for our planet today is to spend time with friends and family sharing the passions and hopes we have for a more sustainable future.  Inspired dialogue leads to great things! 

GreenFab is ready to inspire the world about truly sustainable design…but we need your help!  We do not claim to know everything and that is why we are searching for inspired writers to share knowledge, projects and ideas related to sustainable design and healthier living.  As a contributing writer to our blog, you will become part of a social movement that will have a great impact on our future as a healthy planet.  We need your passion to make this happen! 

Step one (1) read what GreenFab is all about and review our easy-to-follow contributing writer guidelines.  Step two (2) contact us and share your stories.   If you and your story is a match, we will post it! 

Please contact us at info@green-fab.com if you are interested in becoming part of a growing team of inspired writers.  All contributing writers will receive proper credit and exposure for anything posted.  One time articles are ok and cross-posting is encouraged. 

Together, we can accomplish more!

By: Johnny Hartsfield

GreenFab understands that sustainable design and development is difficult to define.  With respect to the great work done by the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED rating system and Cascadia’s Living Building Challenge, we have defined our own meaning of sustainable development as: development that makes strides towards creating functional sustainable design systems.

We have created a set of nine SUSTAINABLE DESIGN SYSTEMS that we will use in a series of case studies to promote and highlight what we believe are truly sustainable projects.  The projects in each case study will be measured against these systems to better understand design intent and function.  Our ultimate goal is to bring great projects to you and make sustainable design more understandable.

Our first case study is coming soon so continue reading to learn about how each sustainable design system is measured.  GreenFab also incorporates these measurement tools into each of our own development projects to better inform our process.

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By: Johnny Hartsfield

What is the Green Living movement?  According to Executive Director Greg Searle, “we are the fusion of the green building movement and green lifestyles innovators.  We are Architects + Local food groups + Green transportation entrepreneurs + Engineers + Planners +Landscape architects + Recycling groups + Developers + Smart Growth advocates + Local Chambers of Commerce + many, many more.”  The Green Living Movement has one goal:  truly sustainable living.  Read more and become a signatory.

The time has come to take the conversation about sustainability to the next level. 

Mission of the Green Living Movement:  “We are dreamers, listeners, connectors, doers, use our influence to create better incentives, and we are bold and persuasive.”

Commitment of the Green Living Movement:  “We, the Green Living Movement, pledge to make sustainable lifestyles more convenient and attractive through every aspect of our work.”   

Click here to learn more.

Become a signatory and pass this on if you feel compelled.  It’s a virus worth spreading.

By: Johnny Hartsfield

While I was up at the Living Future “Unconference” last month I listened to Ruben Anderson give a short but inspired presentation on turning our street right-of-ways into food producing machines.  Ruben is a Vancouver, B.C. based writer and consultant with a focus on sustainability issues, and asks the question: would you give up your extra parking spot for a garden plot?

Most of us are already aware that America’s demand on foreign products such as oil, textiles and food not only hurts our financial economy but also dilutes product quality and integrity.  This also affects our health and our understanding of the connection between the farm and table.

In an article titled “Let’s Pave Streets Green“, published in The Tyee, an online magazine based in B.C., Ruben uses the street he lives on as an example of what we could do with the extra street space we just don’t use.  He explains that “the street I live on has several apartment buildings and five houses….and every person who lives on my street has underground parking or their own spot off the back lane.  Yet the street is lined-choked-with parked cars.”   This is his solution…..

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By: Johnny Hartsfield

Today I am on my first US train ride heading up to Vancouver B.C. from Seattle for the Living Future 08 unconference put on by Cascadia Region Green Building Council.  In Cascadia’s own words, “Living Future provides a different way of viewing our built environment in a way that requires new tools, new perspectives and better collaboration.”    

This will not be like most conferences held where expert figureheads speak of their knowledge and experiences.  Quite the opposite, the unconference is intended to be a forum where “deep green” professionals can interact in small groups with a panelist to be actively involved in creating solutions towards Living Buildings and Living Communities.

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By: Johnny Hartsfield

So I don’t confuse anyone about what GreenFab is, let me explain what’s going on in my first ever blog entry!

I am 31 years old and have spent the majority of my life to-date going to school, traveling, or working for someone else. My career paths have been all over the board with photography, environmental science, archeology, landscape architecture, and real estate. At one point, I even thought that it would be a good idea to open a drive thru coffee business in Switzerland - hmmm.

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