Earth man Earth Day leader Denis Hayes wants to help save the world by changing the way we build PAGE 32 Holding your own business event 29 Easy freezer meals 36 CostcoJANUARY 2016 Tire eCenters Costco Connection 94 1 USpC1_Cover_Denis_Hayes_Torrance.indd 1 3/18/16 7:07 AM cover story Environmentalist Denis Hayes creates a living building Building OUR DIGITAL EDITIONS Click here to see Denis Hayes the talking about the Bullitt Center. future (See page 11 for details.) RICK DAHMS By Steve Fisher SUSTAINABILITY. IT’S A word that has was kind of destroying the gorge, clear-cut- pus teach-ins on civil rights and on the war in achieved a high level of visibility and desirabil- ting the forest that I hiked all around in as I Vietnam had created the scenes that ulti- ity worldwide. In a 2012 speech, United Nations was growing up,” he recalls. “I woke up every mately grew into movements around those Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, “Ours is single morning with a sore throat because of issues. And he thought that might make a world of looming challenges and increasingly uncontrolled sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sense for environmental and conservation limited resources. Sustainable development sulfide [from the mill]. Every now and then issues as well.” offers the best chance to adjust our course.” there’d be a major water-pollution excursion Nelson proposed an environmental Among those at the forefront of sustain- into the Columbia, and you’d look out and teach-in on college campuses in April 1970. able development is Costco member Denis [see] thousands and thousands of dead fish. “I had, by that time, decided that this was Hayes, president of the Bullitt Foundation. If And I think imprinted in me at that point is a field that I wanted to devote my career to,” neither of those names rings a bell, add them that it must be possible to make paper, and, in Hayes says. “So with the arrogance of youth I to your mental database of people and organi- fact, must be possible to have a fairly comfort- jumped on a plane, flew down to Washington, zations fighting for Earth’s future. able industrial civilization, without destroying D.C., and got a 15-minute courtesy interview the planet.” with the senator with the hopes of maybe get- The birth of an environmentalist Hayes received an undergraduate degree ting the charter to go back and organize [the Hayes was born in Wisconsin in 1944 but in history from Stanford University and then event at] Harvard.” spent most of his upbringing in the small headed off to the Kennedy School of Gov- The scope of his ambition at that point town of Camas, Washington. ernment at Harvard University. While there, a was to promote a local event at the college, “I grew up in the Columbia River Gorge, fortuitous situation resulted in his rise to but more was in store. That 15-minute inter- one of the most beautiful parts of the world,” national, and international, prominence. view lasted for a couple of hours, and led to Hayes tells The Connection during an inter- “A senator from Wisconsin, Gaylord the creation of Earth Day, beginning on April view at the Bullitt Foundation’s Seattle office. Nelson, was concerned with conservation 22, 1970. Nelson asked Hayes to coordinate “My father worked in the paper mill that issues,” Hayes recalls. “He had seen how cam- the events across the entire country. 32 e Costco Connection APRIL 2016 © YE LIEW / SHUTTERTOCK USp32_34_CoverStory.indd 32 3/14/16 9:48 AM NIC LEHOUX Everyone’s responsibility DENIS HAYES OF the Bullitt Foundation says local governments, businesses and ordinary citizens can do their part to save the planet. Be as efficient as you can possibly be. “That used to be a fundamental Ameri- can value, and at some point along the line we began to take pride in our ability to waste energy, to buy gigantic sport utility vehicles that get 9 miles to the gallon as a source of pride, and this doesn’t make any sense,” Hayes says. Local governments should update antiquated building codes and adopt green initiatives. Hayes points out that the Bullitt Foundation and the Bullitt Center’s designers had to challenge existing ordinances to gain maximum efficiency: “We have, in Seattle, a Living Building ordinance that was pioneered to work for this building, but now it’s out there and it’s available for other buildings.” OUR DIGITAL EDITIONS Click here to see Denis Hayes Businesses should invest more in talking about the Bullitt Center. efficient vehicles and other equipment, and (See page 11 for details.) build more efficient buildings. Hayes says, “It’s manifestly in society’s interest.” He says NIC LEHOUX BRENT SMITH FOR ROBIN CHELL DESIGN the Bullitt Center does not have energy costs: “When you take the amount of elec- “If this is what you want to do with your Clockwise, from left: Denis Hayes; the Bul- tricity that’s generated by our rooftop [solar life, it was the opportunity of a lifetime,” litt Center, which incorporates sustainable panels] and the amount of money we receive Hayes says. “We took it off college campuses, energy resources; the center’s spartan lobby; from the utility for the metered saved energy, and solar panels on the roof, which generate we actually run a profit.” renamed it Earth Day, made it something more electricity than the building uses. which was clearly pro-environment, and it just took off like crazy.” For individuals, Hayes says, “recy- An estimated 20 million participants Setting examples cling is a good place to start. If you’re not embraced the event that year. “It was pivotal,” While Hayes has stayed involved with sure which items are recyclable, contact your says Hayes. “And in the immediate aftermath it Earth Day over the years, he’s moved beyond local utility. Many have free charts to post created a political context within which it. He ran the nation’s Solar Energy Research where you store your trash. Drive energy- Richard Nixon created the EPA [Environmental Institute under the Carter administration, efficient vehicles or, better yet, walk, ride a Protection Agency] with an executive order; worked for think tanks, taught engineering at bicycle or take public transportation.” Congress passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Stanford and practiced law before being hired Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the in 1992 as president of the Bullitt Foundation. “Use LED light bulbs and buy Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Started in 1952 by Dorothy Bullitt, a Energy Star appliances,” Hayes counsels. Protection Act, the Environmental Education prominent Seattle businesswoman, the foun- “Many local utilities offer rebates for desig- Act; on and on and on.” dation’s mission is “to safeguard the natural nated products.”—SF In the beginning, Earth Day was mostly a environment by promoting responsible human national event. In 1990, it went global. Today, activities and sustainable communities in the 46 years after its creation, 192 countries cele- Pacific Northwest.” brate our planet each year, on April 22. Focusing on the Emerald Corridor—the Although it’s only once a year, it helps to cre- region from Portland, Oregon, through / SHUTTERTOCK © IADAMS ate an awareness that lasts year-round. CONTINUED ON PAGE 34 Additional resources For tips on living green, go to: ■ panda.org/how_you_can_help/ live_green/out_shopping ■ earthday.org/take-action ■ content.sierraclub.org/green-tips APRIL 2016 e Costco Connection 33 USp32_34_CoverStory_R2.indd 33 3/17/16 1:17 PM ABOVE: NIC LEHOUX; RIGHT: © NEW YORK DAILY NEWS / GETTY IMAGES BUILDING THE FUTURE energy per square foot as the average building Left: The Discovery Commons offers informa- CONTINUED FROM PAGE 33 in Seattle. The amount of water that we use tion about green building. Right: The rst Earth Day, April 22, 1970, attracted 1 million Seattle, to Vancouver, British Columbia—a per square foot is about one-twentieth what participants in New York City alone. metropolitan region with farms, forests, the average office building uses in Seattle.” parks, fisheries and watersheds, the Bullitt The building’s toilets use a half cup of Foundation is trying to create a model of sus- water mixed with biodegradable soap to foam tainable development for the world, Hayes the bowl per flush, creating safe, clean com- Costco’s approach explains. “At this point, the whole world is post, which is ultimately sold as fertilizer in a IN BUILDING AND running more than 700 rapidly becoming urbanized. We wanted to program run by local government. Rainwater warehouses and numerous depots around build in this area a model of what those cities is captured, purified and stored. Solar panels the world, Costco has adopted a sustainabil- could look like. Something where, if we suc- form the roof, creating a self-contained ity policy that focuses on energy efficiency ceed, people might come and study and say, energy source. Computers control automated and environmental responsibility. ‘Yeah, that’s the kind of place that we would blinds outside the windows, keeping heat The policy covers building design, like to build, too. How did you do it?’ ” from entering the building and eliminating energy management, recycling and other the need for air conditioning. Hayes says that areas, says Ali Moayeri, senior vice president Creating a living building with all the design elements in place, it’s not of construction at Costco. “These practices Toward that end, Hayes, and the founda- needed, even on the warmest days. are good not only for environmental reasons, tion, in need of new headquarters, wanted to The building does not have a parking they’re good for business in that they save create an edifice that would embrace its garage for automobiles, but it does have a room energy costs,” he says.